About the service:

Crossroads Care Kent is a domiciliary care provider that was supporting family carers to have a break from their caring role. When needed, staff were providing personal care to people in their own homes. Most of the people being supported were elderly, and some had dementia. The service also supported people at the end of their lives. At the time of our inspection there were 30 people receiving support.

People’s experience of using this service:

¿ People were not always asked about all of their protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. This meant staff might not know everything they needed about the people they were supporting. This was an area for improvement.

¿ People received safe care and support from staff. Staff knew what actions to take to ensure people were protected from abuse. People and their relatives told us they felt safe. One relative said, “I wouldn't allow anyone in or go out and leave my wife if I did not feel she was safe. But we've known our carer a long time she's like one of the family.”

¿ Staff were recruited safely. The registered manager made sure there were enough staff before considering supporting new people.

¿ People and their relatives told us they thought staff were well trained.

¿ Staff worked well together to ensure people received joined up care and support. People said they knew staff well, and felt staff knew them well.

¿ There was a strong person-centred culture at the service. People and their relative complimented the caring nature of staff, with a relative telling us, “They are so kind, they with read to my wife and bathe her feet for her if she asks.”

¿ Staff were able to develop positive and trusting relationships with people and their relatives. One relative said, “Sometimes at night [loved one] has hallucinations. The carer deals with it in a compassionate manner, talking and reassuring them.”

¿ People received personalised care which was responsive to their needs and preferences.

¿ The service had a registered manager who was dedicated to providing good-quality care which promoted an open and fair culture.

¿ Audits were in place to assess the performance of the service and actions were taken when concerns arose.

¿ The service had developed strong links with the local community in innovative ways.

Rating at last inspection:

Good (report published 21 June 2016)

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection. We found the service continued to meet the characteristics of Good.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor the service through the information we receive. We will carry out another scheduled inspection to make sure the service continues to maintain Good.

We inspected this service on 30 March 2016. The inspection was announced.

Crossroads Care Kent had an office base in Wateringbury and the organisation supported people across the West Kent area. The service was registered as a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own homes. Crossroads Care Kent, a charitable organisation, supported people and relatives who were carers. They provided support to people to enable relatives to take a break for an average time of three hours a week. This enabled relatives to do their shopping, to attend an activity, or commitments such as meetings or appointments.

There was a registered manager at the service. 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.

Crossroads Care Kent was managed by a board of trustees who undertook their role on the board on a voluntary basis. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) was the senior officer in the organisation and was involved in the day to day running of operations, giving support to the registered manager. Care managers managed the teams of staff who provided support to relatives and their loved ones in the community.

The service provided enabled relatives to be able to carry on in their caring role. Offering personal time to follow their interests or to undertake important tasks that may otherwise prove impossible. A crisis service was also provided for short term support, for instance until an assessment for an enhanced care package was carried out. . For example, people being discharged from hospital were provided with a three week period of care to support their relative at a time when more care may be required. Or if a crisis arose when people’s care needs increased dramatically due to dementia. A six week period of care may be provided to support the relative until a permanent increased care package was arranged.

The service had caring staff who enjoyed their role, gaining real job satisfaction. They were described by relatives and the people they supported as being happy and friendly. Because staff supported the same people every week, they knew families well and became an important, trusted person in their lives.

People’s privacy was respected by staff who understood the importance of maintaining people’s dignity. Staff understood their responsibilities in upholding confidentiality. Records were stored in lockable cabinets in a secure setting, only available to those who needed to access them.

People and their relatives were given a guide before they started using the service so they knew what standards to expect and information about the organisation such as contact details. Assessments were carried out with people and their relatives to establish what was important to them to help them to get the best from the time they would have available. Staff were matched with people to make sure they had similar interests as far as possible to ensure the success of the support. Staff said the organisation was very good at getting this right, it always seemed to work really well.

People had a care plan that was person centred, giving staff the tools to be able to support people well. People chose what they wanted to do during their support time, for instance, going out shopping, or for a walk in the park, or to stay at home and do crossword puzzles or chat together.

People and their relatives told us they felt safe in the hands of their staff. They knew who to talk to within the organisation if they had concerns and felt confident issues would be addressed. Although everyone said they had not needed to do this for anything other than very small matters. Staff spoke with knowledge and competence about safeguarding people from abuse