This was an announced inspection, which took place on 29 September and 4 October 2016. This is the first inspection of the service since the provider changed to the Carers Trust.

Crossroads Care Bury, Manchester and Tameside is registered to provide personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection, the service was only providing the service in the Bury area. Crossroads Care Bury, Manchester and Tameside is part of a national charity and supports family carers to enable them to continue to look after relatives of all ages who have a disability or life affecting illness. Crossroads is a not for profit organisation.

Crossroads provides carers with flexible short breaks and personal care services for the people they care for. At the time of our visit, the service was supporting 52 adults and 25 children with various personal care needs. The frequency of visits ranged from one visit per week to four visits per day depending on people’s individual needs.

The service had a registered manager in place. 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.

People told us they felt safe using the service. Staff we spoke with were able to recognise and knew how to respond to should they suspect that abuse was happening. There were robust recruitment procedures in place to help ensure that people were supported by staff who were suitable to work with vulnerable children and adults.

People received very good continuity of support from reliable staff who knew both the family and the person they were caring for very well. Staff had the time they needed to support people in an unhurried way.

Individual and environmental risks had been identified as part of the assessment and care planning process.

Systems were in place for the safe management of medicines as well as infection control and protection procedures.

Carers and where able those they were caring for were actively involved in the assessment of care and support needs to ensure their views and choices were respected. People who used the service and their families were also actively involved in developing their care plan to help ensure that personal preferences were taken into account.

Staff we spoke with had an understanding of the Mental Capacity Act and how to ensure that people’s rights were protected.

The provider ensured that staff had the knowledge and skills they needed to support people safely and effectively. Staff we spoke with told us that there was good communication and teamwork and they were supported well by the management and office team.

We saw that carers, young carers, trustees and volunteers could access training about specific health needs and also other training such as reminiscence therapy and the grieving wheel.

People told us that they thought that reliability, flexibility, continuity and familiarity provided by the service were essential to them. One person being cared for said that the service was, “Reliable and provides good continuity which is important. I feel safe with them and they respect that this is my house.” Another person said, “They get to know both you and your family.”

Parents told us about how the support they received from Crossroads enabled them to have quality time with the cared for child’s siblings, with school and outside the home activities. They said this time was very important to them and helped to enhanced day-to-day family life.

The service worked in partnership with many other organisations and agencies within the local community. They actively supported the Musical Memories group for people with dementia and their families. This helped to promote community presence and reduce people’s sense of social isolation.