Archived: Q Care - Devon

All people we spoke with by telephone who currently use the agency told us that they found the care staff very supportive and helpful. Comments included:

'It's all good.'

'I am very pleased; the carers come at the right time.'

'I feel safe with the staff, they are trained well.'

'Nothing is too much trouble. The carers help me maintain my independence as much as possible. They are very supportive.'

'If I have any concerns, they are followed up.'

'The staff are very caring and helpful.'

People we spoke with who received a service from Q Care said that their care and welfare needs were being well met. We were told by people that staff supported them appropriately with daily living tasks, including personal care and meeting nutritional needs.

People we spoke with confirmed that they felt safe and supported by staff from Q Care. They had no concerns about the ability of staff to respond to safeguarding concerns. They felt that their human rights were upheld and respected.

People we spoke to said that staff were supportive and helpful. Staff were able to speak confidently about the care practices they delivered and understood how they contributed to people's health and wellbeing.

People we spoke with confirmed that Q Care sought their views about the quality of the service they received and that this information was sought by questionnaires. We were able to see that where improvements were needed they were followed up by the agency.

' Be reliable or flexible for people using it.

' Follow agreed care plans for people.

' Report and follow up safeguarding concerns in a timely way that protects people.

' Identify changes in people's needs in a timely way

' Seek support from appropriate professionals in a timely way, when changes occur to people's needs.

' Have effective communication systems.

' Have experienced and skilled care workers in sufficient numbers to meet the needs of people.

We carried out a responsive review with an inspection to Q Care Ltd. Devon on 14th and 21st October 2011. We looked at the key outcomes 1, 4, 7, 14 and 16.

We were not investigating the alert because this is being looked at as part of the safeguarding process. The purpose of our review was to check compliance in these key outcome groups for people currently using the agency.

We looked at the records of three people in detail; where possible we spoke to the individual and or their carer. We also spoke to 13 people by phone about their experiences with the agency. We spoke to three family members of people who receive care from the agency. We also spoke to six care workers by telephone, and had discussions with three care workers and the manager at the agency office.

People who received care and support from the agency were very positive about the way they were treated by care workers who support them. Comments included ''The carers are all very nice and mature' and 'they come on time, unless something awful has happened.'

People told us that care and support given by their 'local' team of carers was usually on time. In their opinion care workers supported them in a way that met their needs.

We saw that there were gaps in training and supervision for care workers. For example, a person with mobility needs was being cared for by a care worker that did not have up to date moving and handling training, or experience with specialist equipment. This places both care workers and people using the service at risk.

We have been assured by the agency that systems are now in place to ensure that individuals' visits do not get missed. This had been raised as a safeguarding concern for people and is being investigated by the safeguarding team of Devon County Council. People that we spoke to said that the service was reliable, that visits were usually only late if traffic was an issue or adverse weather conditions had delayed care workers.

An area that people felt could be improved was customer service skills. We found that quality systems had not always been followed, or lessons learnt, which would have improved the service people received.