Carers Trust Tyne and Wear is a domiciliary care service which provides personal care for people in their own homes in order to provide respite for carers. The service also provides residential respite care for up to four people. The service is available to both adults and children with physical and mental health needs. At the time of this inspection 200 people were using the service. The provider is Gateshead Crossroads Caring for Carers which is a registered charity.

This inspection took place on 17 and 20 July 2017, and was announced. We gave 48 hours’ notice of this inspection because the service is a domiciliary care agency and we needed to be sure there was someone in the office available to assist with the inspection.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission 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.

At the last inspection, the service was rated Good.

At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

The provider had a robust recruitment process in place to ensure only appropriate people were offered employment.

The service ensured that sufficient hours were negotiated with the commissioning authority to ensure the person’s and their carers’ needs could be met safely. The provider used an electronic system to plan and produce rota’s for people and staff which took into account staff sickness and holidays to ensure continuity.

Systems were in place to identify, assess and manage individual risks to people. Risks to people were identified during the initial assessment process. Control measures were in place for staff support and guidance. Environmental risks also formed part of the initial assessment process. Risk assessments were reviewed on a regular basis.

Staff had received training in safeguarding and the implications of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA), and were aware of their responsibilities.

People’s medicines were mainly administered by their carers. Where care plans identified medicine were to be administered by staff we found these were managed safely. Staff were appropriately trained and had their competency to administer medicines checked regularly.

Staff received a robust induction which included shadowing a more experienced care support worker when commencing their role.

Training the provider deemed essential was up to date. For example, moving and assisting. Staff also attended training sessions on more specific subjects to meet the needs of the people using the service, such as percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy training (PEG). A PEG is a tube which is passed into a person’s stomach to provide a means of providing nutrition when oral intake is not adequate.

Staff told us they felt supported and received regular supervision and annual appraisals to discuss performance and personal development. We found care coordinators undertook spot checks to observe staff were supporting people appropriately.

Staff supported people with their nutritional needs where necessary. Health care needs were acknowledged and support gained from health care professionals when required.

Consultations took place with people and their carers to develop plans of support. Care plans were personalised and reviewed regularly.

People’s social and leisure needs were met with staff supporting people to access the local community and amenities.

We saw that systems were in place for recording and managing safeguarding concerns, complaints, accidents and incidents.

The service sent out annual surveys to people to gain their opinions and views on the service. We found several compliments cards outlining peoples and their carer’s satisfaction with the service they had received.

The provider had systems and processes in plac

Gateshead Crossroads Caring for Carers is a registered charity. It provides a domiciliary care service which offers personal care to people in their own homes, with the primary aim of providing short-term respite for carers. It also provides four beds for the short-term respite accommodation of people who need personal care. The service is available to both adults and children with a range of physical and mental health needs. At the time of this inspection 165 people were using the service.

This inspection took place over three days on 2, 3 and 15 December 2014. The first visit was unannounced. This service was last inspected in November 2013, at which time we found no breaches of legal requirements.

A registered manager was in post, having been registered in June 2011. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission 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 aim of the service was to provide support to family carers by enabling them to take breaks from their full time carer responsibilities, secure in the knowledge that support workers would replicate the care they gave as closely as possible. To achieve this, the needs of people were carefully assessed before any service was started, to ensure those needs could be fully met. People using the service, their families, and any professionals already supporting the person were fully involved in this process.

Detailed plans were drawn up to meet each person’s individual needs and wishes, and these were regularly evaluated to make sure they remained appropriate and effective. People told us they felt their care and welfare needs were consistently met, and that they received very good person-centred care.

The service always ensured that sufficient hours were negotiated with the commissioning agency to allow for the person’s and carers’ needs to be met safely and in an unrushed manner. People using the service told us both the organisation and its support workers were flexible and were accommodating in changing the support offered to fit in with their needs and preferences.

Good systems were in place to keep people using the service safe from harm. Carer support workers had been trained to recognise and report any actual or suspected abuse. They were knowledgeable about their responsibilities in this important area, and took them seriously. People using the service told us they felt very safe when their support workers were in their homes.

People being supported were offered suitable assistance with eating and drinking, where this was an agreed part of their care package. Staff followed the written guidance of family carers regarding a person’s nutrition, and were given training in any specialist techniques needed to carry this out safely.

Support workers closely monitored people’s health needs, where this was required, and acted in accordance with detailed instructions from the family carers.

Support workers provided occasional support to a small number of people with their medicines. New processes were being implemented to check that staff were fully competent to provide this support safely. A recommendation is made about the auditing of medicines.

People using the service spoke very highly of the skills and knowledge of their support workers and told us they were treated with care and respect at all times. They said their privacy and dignity were protected by their workers.

People told us they were regularly asked for their views about the service they received, in the form of annual surveys, telephone calls from the office and in formal reviews of their care. People said they felt listened to and able to influence the content and organisation of their support. They told us any concerns or queries raised with the service were taken seriously and responded to pleasantly and professionally. People we spoke with told us they had ever had to make a complaint. We saw only one complaint had been logged by the service in the previous year.

The service supported people in accessing their local community and tried to match its support workers to the person requiring support, in terms of hobbies, interests and personalities, where this was possible.

The registered manager demonstrated clear leadership and ensured there was an open and positive culture in the service. The management structure was being reviewed to allow the registered manager to concentrate more on the regulated activities provided by the service.

Staff told us they were clear about their roles and were proud of the quality of care they provided. They said they were happy working in the service, and that they felt supported and respected by the management team. Health and social care professionals we spoke with commented very favourably on the quality of both the care provided and the management of the service.