Support Me at Home (North Walsham) achieved a Good rating across all five key questions at its November 2023 remote inspection, maintaining the rating held since 2018. The service demonstrated consistently person-centred, well-governed care with strong staff continuity, robust medicines management, and high satisfaction among the 25 people receiving personal care.
Strengths
· Consistent, small staff group providing continuity of care, arriving on time and staying for agreed durations
· Person-centred care plans regularly reviewed with full involvement of people and relatives
· Safe medicines management with robust audits, retraining and competency assessments following errors
· Strong safeguarding systems with concerns reported to local authority and thorough records maintained
· Positive, nurturing culture with staff feeling valued and supported through regular supervision and appraisals
Quality-Statement breakdown (22)
safe: Systems and processes to safeguard people from the risk of abuseGood
safe: Assessing risk, safety monitoring and managementGood
safe: Staffing and recruitmentGood
safe: Using medicines safelyGood
safe: Preventing and controlling infectionGood
safe: Learning lessons when things go wrongGood
effective: Assessing people's needs and choices; delivering care in line with standards, guidance and the lawGood
effective: Staff support: induction, training, skills, and experienceGood
effective: Supporting people to eat and drink enough to maintain a balanced dietGood
effective: Staff working with other agencies to provide consistent, effective, timely careGood
effective: Ensuring consent to care and treatment in line with law and guidanceGood
caring: Ensuring people are well treated and supported; respecting equality and diversityGood
caring: Supporting people to express their views and be involved in making decisions about their careGood
caring: Respecting and promoting people's privacy, dignity, and independenceGood
responsive: Planning personalised care to ensure people have choice and control and to meet their needs and preferencesGood
responsive: Meeting people's communication needsGood
responsive: Improving care quality in response to complaints or concernsGood
responsive: End of life care and supportGood
well-led: Promoting a positive culture that is person-centred, open, inclusive, and empoweringGood
well-led: How the provider understands and acts on the duty of candourGood
well-led: Managers and staff being clear about their roles, and understanding quality performance, risks, and regulatory requirementsGood
well-led: Engaging and involving people using the service, the public and staff; working in partnership with othersGood
Support Me at Home is rated Good across all five key questions following a July 2018 inspection of this 77-person domiciliary care agency in North Walsham, Norfolk. The service had improved from its previous inspection, notably in medicines management, with only minor issues noted around the level of detail in some risk assessments.
Concerns (2)
minorCare planning: “people's pressure care risk assessments failed to identify what part of people's bodies were at risk of pressure ulcers”
minorStaff competency: “Some [staff] are not as good as others. [The staff are] not always [well trained], some need more shadowing than others.”
Strengths
· Medicines management had improved since the last inspection with no gaps on MAR charts and regular competency checks for staff.
· Robust safeguarding knowledge among staff with clear reporting processes and DBS checks prior to employment.
· Sufficient staffing levels maintained consistently, with care visits delivered on time.
· Holistic, person-centred care assessments documented physical and emotional needs in detail.
· Staff supported people to maintain independence and treated people with dignity and privacy.