Tamar (Manchester)

Staff were not always recruited safely. There were several documents missing from the recruitment and selection process to check if staff were suitable to work at the service, such as gaps in employment history unexplained and references not always being obtained.

Staff had not received training relevant to their role to enable them to carry out their roles effectively. Training was due to soon take place for these staff members after the provider signed up with an external e- learning provider.

The providers systems to monitor the quality and safety of the service required significant improvements. The shortfalls we found during this inspection had not been identified and addressed by the provider's own systems. The management team welcomed the inspection and were open and honest about the challenges they had faced, but confident these could be resolved.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests. However, the policies and systems in the service did not consistently support this practice and we have made a recommendation about this.

The two staff we spoke with were aware of their responsibilities to record and report any concerns of abuse. However, the staff employed had not been provided with safeguarding adults training. We were assured staff would soon complete this.

Staff were kind and caring and went over and above when they could see that people required further assistance. One person told us, "The staff genuinely do care."

People received person centred care. Their care plans showed they had been consulted and involved in the care planning process.

There were enough staff to support existing care packages. The registered manager was not accepting any new care packages to avoid staff being spread too thinly. People were supported by a stable staff team, who knew them well.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk