Archived: Call Us

Updated 1 March 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 25 January 2016. It was carried out by one inspector and was announced. 48 hours’ notice of the inspection was given because the service providing the regulated activity ‘personal care’ is small and the manager is often out of the office. We needed to be sure that they would be in the office. We were assisted on the day of our inspection by the office manager and registered manager.

Prior to the inspection we looked at the provider information return (PIR) which the provider sent to us. This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. Additionally we looked at all the information we had collected about the service.

During the inspection we sought feedback from people who use the service, their relatives, staff and health and social care professionals. The people using the service were not able to tell us verbally about the care and support they received. We obtained the views of two relatives of people who use the service who spoke on behalf of their family member. Additionally we spoke with the registered manager, four members of staff and received feedback from three social care professionals.

We looked at documents relating to four people’s care and support that they received. In addition we looked at one staff recruitment file, staff training records and documents, which included electronic documents that related to the management and quality monitoring of the service.

Updated 1 March 2016

Call Us provides a domiciliary care service to children and adults who may also be receiving other types of therapeutic interventions from other health and social care providers as part of a complex care package. The service specialises in providing supervised contacts, providing respite services for children and adults with special needs and caring for older people and people with enduring mental health problems.

At the time of our inspection the service was supporting approximately 70 people. However, there were only five people who were receiving services under the regulated activity personal care. The people were adults who had a range of needs such as learning disability, physical disability, sensory impairment and mental health.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the service is run.

The provider had limited processes to assess and monitor the quality of the service that people received. Additionally feedback the service had formally gained from people, their families and health and social care professionals had not been fully evaluated to enable the service to identify trends and/or areas for improvement. We have made a recommendation about best practice in quality assurance and monitoring processes.

People’s families who spoke with us on behalf of their relatives told us that they felt their relative was safe with staff and that they would be confident to raise any concerns they had. The provider’s recruitment procedures were robust. There were sufficient staff to provide safe, effective care at the times agreed by the people who were using the service.

There were procedures in place to manage risks to people and staff. Staff were aware of how to deal with emergency situations and knew how to keep people safe by reporting concerns promptly through processes that they understood well.

Staff received an induction and were supported to receive the training and development they needed to care for and support people’s individual needs.

People's families and professionals who were involved in their care were complementary of the services Call Us provided. The comments we received demonstrated that people were valued by the service and were listened to. People were treated with kindness and respect whilst their independence was promoted within their homes and the community.

People’s needs were reviewed regularly and their care and support plans promoted person-centred care. Staff knew how to contact healthcare professionals in a timely manner if there were concerns about a person’s wellbeing.