Assist and Care Ltd

Assist and Care is a family run domiciliary care agency situated in the Didsbury area of Manchester. The service provides personal care to adults with a range of physical and mental disabilities. At the time of the inspection there were 43 people using the service.

People's experience of using this service:

People said they felt safe with the staff who supported them. Staff had undertaken training in safeguarding and demonstrated a good knowledge of safeguarding issues and how to raise a concern.

Environmental risks were assessed, and individual risk assessments were in place within people's care plans.

Recruitment systems were robust. There were enough staff to fulfil the commitments made by the service and people said staff always turned up, were always on time and never left early.

People were supported by staff with their medicines as required. Staff received adequate training and had a medicines competence check prior to working alone.

Staff were aware of how to control and prevent cross infection and were supplied with enough aprons and gloves to use when delivering personal care.

Accidents and incidents were recorded and followed up appropriately to help prevent further incidents happening.

Assessments were thorough and care plans included appropriate information. People's care records included information about other professionals and agencies involved in their care and support. Visits were at least one hour long to enable the carer sufficient time to carry out all required tasks.

Staff were required to undertake a thorough induction programme and further training and refresher courses were on-going.

People's nutritional needs, preferences and risks were fully explored and recorded clearly within their care plans. Records of meal were completed for people as and when required.

The service worked within the legal requirements of The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA)

People spoke positively about the care and support received. The service had a discrimination policy, and

this was discussed within training, team meetings and staff supervisions.

People were involved in planning and reviewing their care and support and communication with people who used the service was good. People's privacy and dignity was respected.

Care files included information about people's routines, backgrounds, interests and hobbies. This helped the service match staff with people who used the service and to support any community involvement.

The service had a policy and procure in place around complaints and we saw evidence of how concerns were addressed, which was effective. People were aware of how to make a complaint.

The service was prepared to work with other professionals within the community if someone was nearing the end of their life and wished to remain at home.

Notifications about changes, events or incidents that the provider is legally obliged to send to CQC were submitted as required. There was an open-door policy so that people could pop in to the office whenever they wished, and staff felt well supported by the management.

Quality assurance reviews of care plans were undertaken on a quarterly basis. People who used the service were encouraged to make comments about their support. Annual reviews of care were undertaken, and medicines reviews carried out regularly.

The management were members of professional associations and worked in partnership with other agencies as required. They had good communication and engagement with the wider community.