Gladstone Care Limited

Updated 19 December 2024

Date of assessment: 05 March to 18 March 2025. This service is a care at home service.

Staff understood their safeguarding responsibilities and felt able and confident to raise any concerns. During our last assessment of the service, we identified the provider had not always submitted notifications about safeguarding incidents to the Care Quality Commission. Improvements were found during this assessment and the registered manager reported they understood their regulatory responsibilities.

The service had not maximised opportunities to learn from feedback given from the previous assessment regarding more robust oversight to monitor safeguarding incidents, accidents and complaints. Assurances were provided and immediate actions taken to address this during the assessment.

Risks to individuals and staff were identified and well managed. Risks associated to people's health conditions would benefit from further detail to guide staff in how best to support them. The service was responsive to this feedback and immediate action was taken.

The service undertook all required recruitment checks prior to people commencing employment at the service. Staff received the induction, training and support they needed to carry out their roles effectively. There were sufficient staff deployed to meet people’s needs. Medicines were managed safely with regular auditing in place.

People’s needs were assessed and person-centred support plans and risk assessments were in place to guide staff. People’s capacity to consent was identified, documented and respected.

Managers and staff knew people well, and respected and treated people as individuals. Staff placed great importance on advocating for people and promoting positive outcomes. Staff told us they felt valued and listened to. A staff member said, “We are listened to at staff meetings and managers take on board what we have to say.”

Staff involved people in decisions about their care. Staff spoke positively about the support provided from the service and told us management were approachable and easy to contact.

Updated 19 December 2024

People told us they felt safe using the service and staff were respectful and showed people kindness, compassion and dignity. People said, “They are caring and gentle and they do things before I ask them which is great”, “They treat me with respect. They don’t rush me and give me the time and independence to dress myself” and “They treat me very well with dignity and courtesy.”

People told us staff had the skills they needed to support them. One person told us, “[Person] is PEG (Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy) fed, and staff went to the hospital for training and then came to shadow at the house. Very competent.”

People were positive about the service and the way it was managed and organised. People told us staff arrived as planned and stayed for the agreed length of time.

People told us staff consistently wore personal protective equipment and supported people to maintain good personal hygiene.

People were consistently positive about support staff provided with their medicines and told us staff promoted independence to self-administer. People told us staff helped to maintain as much of their independence as possible.

People and their relatives told us they were involved during the care planning process and in making decisions regarding the care and support provided. People told us their care plan was tailored to their needs and fully accessible.

People told us they were happy with the service provided and people consistently reported they were shown a high level of care. People told us staff knew them well and were consistently positive about staff taking the time to talk to them. People told us, “They are like family now”, “They know me very well, always laughing and joking” and “They love to see me, and I love to see them.”

People told us staff respected their privacy and treated them as individuals.