Care Givers Limited, a small domiciliary care agency serving three people, was rated Good across all five key questions at its first ratings inspection. While the service demonstrated sound foundations in safeguarding, care planning and staff support, governance systems and incident learning processes required development in anticipation of future growth.
Concerns (4)
moderate
Record keeping
: “One error not in line with regulation relating to disclose and barring checks (DBS) was brought to the registered persons attention.”
minorIncident learning: “A process for learning when things go wrong is for future development as the agency grows. The registered manager had difficulty in identifying examples of learning from events.”
minorGovernance: “The registered manager had some systems in place to manage and monitor the service on offer, but these were limited to the current size of the service and would need further development.”
minorComplaints handling: “A different person told us that they would not say anything as they felt they would be treated differently.”
Strengths
· Staff demonstrated good awareness of safeguarding procedures and knew who to inform if abuse was witnessed or alleged.
· Risks to people were assessed and safely managed with clear documentation of mobility, falls and continence risks.
· Staff were competent and supported through induction including shadow shifts with the registered manager.
· Care plans were detailed, regularly reviewed and reflected people's personal preferences, routines and choices.
· People and relatives reported staff were kind, caring and reliable, attending at times of the person's choosing.