Crossroads Care provides family carers with support to enable them to have a break from their caring responsibilities. It does this in a number of ways, including providing care services in carers’ homes to the children, people with disabilities and older adults with support needs which they support. It was this element of the service which we inspected and at the time of our inspection there were approximately 80 people being supported in this way. The service does not provide nursing care.

The inspection took place on 25 April 2016 and was announced. The service met legal requirements at our last inspection in April 2013.

A registered manager was in post 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.

Staff supported people to remain safe in their homes. People felt safe because they were familiar with the staff supporting them. Risks were assessed and measures put in place to keep people safe. Staff were given enough time to meet people’s needs. The manager was improving communication when care visits were cancelled. Staff worked with families where necessary to support people to take their prescribed medicines safely. The provider had a robust recruitment process in place to protect people from the risk of avoidable harm.

Staff felt well supported. Their skills and knowledge were developed so they could meet the specific needs of the people they were supporting. Staff understood people’s rights to make choices about the service they received.

Staff supported family carers in ensuring people had enough to eat and drink. Staff understood people’s health needs and supported people to have good access to health and social care professionals, when needed.

Staff had enough time to get to know people and their carers and spoke about them with affection. Staff cared about the whole family and were not focused on tasks being carried out. People were spoken to and treated with dignity and respect by staff.

People received support that was personalised. Detailed assessments meant support was tailored to their needs. People and their families were aware of how to make a complaint and there were a number of opportunities available for people to give their feedback about the service.

Staff were enthusiastic and motivated by the ethos of the organisation. The manager was pro-active about developing an open service where the focus was on the people being supported and their carers. There were systems in place to check the quality of the service.

During our inspection we looked at five people’s care plans and saw they all had signed consent forms for all aspects of care delivery.

We found that the type of care a person required had been assessed, risk assessed and reviewed to see if they were still appropriate had taken place. There were arrangements in place for unforeseen emergency situations and staff were trained to deal with these situations.

The provider had a safeguarding policy which related to vulnerable adults and children and this had been updated in April 2012. We saw that this policy and attached guidance had been issued to the staff team. We spoke with two staff who told us that all concerns would be reported to the office and they were responsible for observing and reporting concerns.

We looked at five staff members personnel files and saw that all of the staff had received regular training in various subjects and there were opportunities for further education. Staff received regular supervision and appraisal. We spoke with two members of staff who told us that the management team were supportive and provided any training that they had requested. On person told us, "My manager is always there if I need anything."

The service had a complaints procedure which was issued to all people who used the service and the staff team. We saw that there was a process for managing complaints.

The four people (family carers) we spoke with told us they were given information about the service and they and the person with care needs (the cared for person) were involved in decisions about their care. One person said “They asked what my needs were and what my (relative’s) needs were and what I was looking for from the service. They explained what they do and gave me more information than I expected, such as about other services that could be available to us to use, and I was very pleased with that.”

The carers told us that the cared for person’s needs were assessed and care and support was planned and delivered in line with their actual care plan. One person said, “We have a whole book and it has the support plan in it, they are quite good, they always do what they are supposed to.”

People confirmed they felt their relative was safe when being supported by staff from this service. They said that support was provided by regular staff with whom good relationships had been built up, and who they trusted. One person said “I do feel (person) is safe, she is quite alert and bright and would be able to say if she was unhappy with anything.”

People spoke positively about the staff working at Brentwood and District Crossroads Care Attendant Scheme. They told us that they found staff to be capable and well trained. Two people described the staff as "very caring people."

People told us they were satisfied with the quality of the service they received and that they felt that the service was open to receiving and listening to their comments and feedback. People described the service they received as "excellent" and "brilliant, I couldn't fault it."