About the service: Crossroads Caring for Carers Wokingham is a charity run domiciliary care agency. Crossroads provides non-emergency support to people who are carers in their own home. Crossroads provides this support for both older people and children. The aim of the service is to provide short periods of respite for the carer by giving care and support to the person they care for. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting 23 people who were receiving person care.

People’s experience of using this service:

¿The registered manager reviewed, assessed and monitored the quality of service provided

¿ Recruitment processes were in place to make sure, as far as possible, that people were

protected from staff being employed who were not suitable.

¿ People’s medication was handled safely.

¿ All staff training records were up to date and complete.

¿ People’s needs were assessed, planned and reviewed to ensure they received support that met their changing needs.

¿Staff understood how to keep people safe and their responsibilities for reporting accidents, incidents or concerns. The registered manager had the knowledge to identify safeguarding concerns and to act on these appropriately.

¿ People views on their relative’s support was regularly sort.

¿ Relatives knew how to complain and knew the process to follow if they had concerns.

¿ The service regularly received positive feedback from people they supported

¿ One person stated, “We are very happy with the service. Everyone, all the carers and administration staff, are considerate and very kind.”

¿ ¿Recruitment processes were in place to make sure, as far as possible, people were protected from staff being employed who were not suitable.

¿People's right to confidentiality was protected and their diversity needs were identified and incorporated into their support plans where applicable.

Rating at last inspection: Good (Report published September 2016)

Why we inspected: This was a planned comprehensive inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor all information we receive about this service. This informs our ongoing assessment of their risk profile and ensures we are able to schedule the next inspection accordingly.

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

This inspection took place on the 30 August 2016 and was announced.

Crossroads Caring for Carers - Wokingham is a charity run domiciliary care agency. Crossroads provides non-emergency support to family members who care for people in their own home. Crossroads provides this support for both older people and children. The aim of the service is to provide short periods of respite for the carer by giving care and support to the person they care for. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting 84 people.

The service had a registered manager. 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 with staff and would be confident to raise any concerns they had. The provider’s recruitment procedures were thorough and medicines were managed safely. There were sufficient staff to provide safe, effective care at the times agreed by the people who were using the service.

There were procedures in place to manage risks to people and staff. Staff were aware of how to deal with emergency situations and knew how to keep people safe by reporting concerns promptly through processes that they understood well.

Staff received an induction and spent time working with experienced members of staff before working alone with people. The induction process corresponded with the 15 standards that health and social care workers need to complete during their induction period. Staff were supported to receive the training and development they needed to care for and support people’s individual needs.

People and their families were complementary about the services provided. The comments we received demonstrated that people felt valued and listened to. People were treated with kindness and respect whilst their independence was promoted within their homes and the community. People received care and support from familiar and regular staff and would recommend the service to others.

People’s needs were reviewed regularly and their care and support plans promoted person-centred care. Up to date information was communicated to staff to ensure they could provide the appropriate care and support for each individual. Staff knew how to contact healthcare professionals in a timely manner if there were concerns about a person’s wellbeing.

The provider had a system to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that people received and identify areas for improvement.

Crossroads Caring for Carers’ carer support workers provide a ‘sitting service’ to allow primary carers to spend a few hours away from those they care for. This provides reassurance that the person requiring support is safe in the primary carers’ absence.

We spoke with 16 people who use the service. All were complimentary. They described the service as “a lifesaver”, and several people commented on the flexibility and efficiency of the service. One person told us “I don’t think the service could be bettered.”

The provider ensured people were supported appropriately by assessing people’s needs. They ensured updates required to reflect changes in people’s needs were recorded promptly. People who use the service told us staff were respectful and caring.

The service took appropriate steps to ensure people were protected from harm. Staff were aware of how to report a safeguarding concern, and were trained to identify possible indicators of abuse.

Sufficient staffing levels were maintained to provide planned support and meet additional emergency and ad hoc support requests from people who use the service. People we spoke with said they appreciated the peace of mind provided by the emergency support the service offered.

The provider conducted quality assessments to ensure the service operated efficiently and safely. Feedback from people who use the service and from staff was considered to identify any improvements required.

We did not speak with people using the service as part of this follow up inspection.

Staff we spoke with confirmed they had been provided with extensive new training since our last inspection. They told us they felt the training had been very useful and had helped them develop the skills they needed to do their job safely and efficiently.

We found the provider had taken the necessary action to meet the essential standards we inspected and had introduced systems to monitor their own compliance.

In this report where we refer to the people using the service we are referring to the primary carers. In instances where information relates to the relatives or friends they support, we refer to the people receiving personal care.

At the time of this inspection there were approximately 80 people using the service on a regular basis. There were a number of additional people 'on the books'. They were people who had registered for the provider's emergency response service but had never had to use it.

Following the inspection we spoke with ten of the people using the service and eight of the ten carer support workers employed by the provider.

People using the service told us they had been given information about the fees and were clear on what services the fees covered.

They thought the service worked well with them to ensure their relatives and friends received consistent and appropriate care.

The people using the service felt the carer support workers had the skills they needed when providing personal care to their relative or friend. However, other evidence did not support this.

Comments received from people using the service were all positive and included: "They go out of their way to help you." and "My relative really likes the people they send, they are friendly, kind and helpful." Other comments included: "They are a life-line." and "I don't know what I would do without them."