Archived: St Clements Care Services Limited

Below is a summary of what we found. The summary is based on what we found during the inspection, speaking with the company director, staff members, people who used the service and/or their relatives and from looking at records. If you want to see the evidence supporting our summary please read the full report.

Is the service safe?

People were treated with respect and dignity by staff.

There were no systems in place to ensure managers and staff learned from events such as accidents, incidents and concerns.

We saw that most staff had received their initial training during induction. However, when we looked in staff personnel files we were unable to see evidence that any refresher training had been undertaken to maintain staff skills and knowledge. We found all staff files contained all relevant pre-employment checks, including Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) checks and reference checks from previous employers.

We found there were enough staff to cater to the care needs of people.

Is the service effective?

Where possible, people's care records were assessed with their involvement and with the involvement of relatives and relevant others, including healthcare professionals. However, we found in care records that some individual care plans and risk assessments were overdue a review.

Is the service caring?

People's preferences and needs had been recorded clearly and care and support had been provided in accordance with these needs. We saw evidence through daily records that people were given choices and, where appropriate, these choices were catered to.

Is the service responsive?

People, or relatives of people, knew how to complain if they were unhappy or had any concerns. However, before we carried out this inspection, we had received information of concern from a relative of someone who used the service stating that a complaint had been made 5 months prior to our inspection, but a response not received. We spoke with the company director about this, who assured us that he would look into this and seek to respond in a timely manner.

We were shown the results of satisfaction surveys that had been sent out to people who used the service and their relatives. We were also shown the results of surveys that were sent out to staff on a bi-annual basis.

Is the service well led?

The service worked well with other agencies and services to ensure people received the most suitable care. This included work with GP's, social workers, community nurses and other relevant professionals.

There were no systems in place for the provider to audit and monitor the quality of the service.

Staff were clear about their roles and had a good understanding of the ethos of the service. Staff felt comfortable in speaking with the manager and it was clear that a good working relationship was maintained.

We found that people were satisfied with the care they received and felt that staff were caring, consistent and reliable. They made comments like, "The staff are very thoughtful and all are lovely.' And 'I have never had a missed call and they are always prompt.' And also 'They do listen to you and how you want things done.'

We confirmed that the service had a safeguarding policy in place and that the staff were trained and understood their role in the protection of vulnerable adults and children. This meant people were protected from the risks of abuse.

We looked at the recruitment process and found that the service made the required checks to help ensure that only suitable staff were employed.

We spoke with staff who explained that they had the right training and were well supported by the agency. We also confirmed that there was effective leadership and good systems were in place to monitor the care, treatment and support people received.