Crossroads Caring Scotland - Forth Valley Service Support Service 2/6 The E-Centre Business Village Cooperage Way Alloa FK10 3LP Telephone: 01259 216760 Type of inspection: Announced (short notice) Inspection completed on: 1 November 2017 Service provided by: Crossroads Caring Scotland Service provider number: SP2007008963 Care service number: CS2008179307
About the service Crossroads Caring Scotland, the provider of the service, is a national voluntary organisation, Scottish Charity and a company limited by guarantee. The head office is in Glasgow. Crossroads have been supporting people since 1978. Crossroads Caring Scotland Forth Valley service covers Stirling, Clackmannanshire and Falkirk. It is registered to provide a care at home service. The service currently supports approximately 155 people in their own homes. The support can include providing respite for carers, supporting people to get out in their local community and to provide support to enable people stay at home, which includes personal care. Crossroads was overseen by a manager and three co-ordinators, one for each geographical area. Crossroads aims were: "To improve the health and well-being of service users by providing practical support with their home, enabling individuals to continue to live independently". What people told us We met seven people supported, three relatives and spoke with a further thirteen people by phone in the Falkirk area. An inspection volunteer also spoke with fifteen people by phone from the Stirling area. It was clear from speaking with the people supported that everyone was happy with their support. People we spoke with told us how the support had enabled them to continue living in their own home. People supported said the way the care workers had taken time to build up positive and respectful relationships had helped them gain confidence and trust in their support. Everyone we spoke with praised the quality of the support. Comments included: "Delighted with care from Crossroads They were wonderful. Have a lot of admiration for them I thought it was exceptional particularly based on previous service who were completely unreliable. The ladies who visit mum are very caring and really do help us out and provide a great service. It took a while to get there and we are very happy with the service now. Crossroads are now visiting my mum in the care home where she is for respite, it is invaluable in terms of mum setting in at the care home. We had an excellent service, fantastic and it made a difference to me. It brightened up my dad's day to see different faces. If it wasn't for them I wouldn't get out at all, I very much appreciate them. They have been the best thing to happen The carer wonderful, I know I can leave my mum and it is all safe and secure. Mum has great conversations. It is a wonderful service." Self assessment We did not request a self-assessment at this inspection. However we did look at the providers own improvement plan and action plan as part of this inspection. From this inspection we graded this service as: Quality of care and support Quality of staffing Quality of management and leadership 5 - Very Good not assessed 5 - Very Good What the service does well page 2 of 6
The service provided was flexible and responsive to people's changing needs. We found that the outcomes for the people supported and their family carers were very good and this was reflected in the feedback from all the people we spoke with. The support helped stop social isolation, helped people stay in their own home and also supported family/carers to have a break. People told us the support was invaluable to them and they did not know what they would do without this. We saw that each person supported had a team of care workers which meant there was better continuity for them. We saw that this enabled people to have support which reflected their needs in a consistent and reliable way. We saw that peoples support was regularly reviewed and discussed with them. This meant that people were able to successfully achieve the outcomes they wanted. We saw detailed person centred information about how each person wanted to be supported in their personal plans. The people we spoke with could not fault their support and the people we talked with were very confident in their staff. We saw at the last inspection that there were gaps in how the service was monitored and this had caused inconsistencies in support and in evidencing the quality of the service. At this inspection we saw that there had been a great deal of work carried out by the manager and co-ordinators to improve this aspect of the service. We saw a well-managed, responsive service which was reflected in the feedback from the people supported. Staff had the opportunity to meet with their line manager to discuss any issues. Staff had the opportunity to reflect on their work through one to one meetings and team meetings. This enabled staff to develop and enhance their skills. We saw very good systems in place to monitor the quality of the service, including reviews of personal plans, risk assessments, staff support and staff training. All of which linked into to a yearly development plan for the service. The manager also completed quarterly reports to the regional director which meant there was an overview of how the service was meeting the expectations of the organisation in terms of the quality of support and management. There were systems in place to gather the views of the people supported and their families. We saw these were effectively used to look at any suggestions for improvements both individually and for the overall service. We also saw that a recent staff survey had been completed. The results were very positive which reflected a professional, settled and motivated staff group. We saw there were very good links with local authorities which meant improved communication on peoples changing needs and access to assessments to increase or decrease packages of support. This benefited the people supported and their families. Crossroads Caring Scotland had a comprehensive range of policies and procedures in place to support staff practice. All staff received training on these policies. We saw that the values within the policies and the national care standards were clearly demonstrated by staff in their day to day work. In summary we found that since the last inspection the changes to the management of the service had led to improvements. There was a clear direction for the service. Whilst there was still work to be done to sustain the improvements we saw the work completed to date and led to improved outcomes for the people supported. What the service could do better page 3 of 6
We discussed that, for some people, the information in the personal plans could be expanded upon. Further work should be undertaken to look at ensuring peoples preferences of how they want to be supported are fully documented. We also found this was the same for risk assessment. Whilst these were clear and easy to understand, more detailed information was needed in some. We noted that some plans and risk assessments were updated saying "no change". In these examples the service could explain their approach to assessment and indicate how they evaluated people's care needs. Where changes are indicated, they should generate a typewritten update, rather than hand written additions to an existing document. All staff will be eligible to register with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) from October 2017 in care at home services. We discussed that further work would be of benefit in looking at how reflective accounts were used to show staff learning had been put into practice. We also discussed that staff appraisal and one to one meetings could link into the organisational objectives. This would mean that staff had a clear understanding of their role in meeting Crossroads objectives and expectations. The manager discussed that the organisation had a workforce development group which was looking at the actions from the organisational improvement plan. This included updates to policies, training plans for staff, updated personal plans with outcomes and updated I.T systems to enhance the service. We will follow up the actions identified at the next inspection. Requirements Number of requirements: 0 Recommendations Number of recommendations: 0 Complaints There have been no complaints upheld since the last inspection. Details of any older upheld complaints are published at www.careinspectorate.com. Inspection and grading history Date Type Gradings 6 Oct 2016 Announced (short notice) Care and support 4 - Good Management and leadership 3 - Adequate page 4 of 6
Date Type Gradings 21 Oct 2015 Announced (short notice) Care and support 4 - Good 4 - Good Management and leadership 4 - Good 21 Oct 2014 Announced (short notice) Care and support 3 - Adequate 3 - Adequate Management and leadership 3 - Adequate 16 May 2014 Announced (short notice) Care and support 2 - Weak 3 - Adequate Management and leadership 2 - Weak 21 Dec 2012 Announced (short notice) Care and support 5 - Very good 5 - Very good Management and leadership 5 - Very good 4 Oct 2011 Announced Care and support 4 - Good 5 - Very good Management and leadership 31 Aug 2010 Announced Care and support 4 - Good Management and leadership 4 - Good 2 Mar 2010 Announced Care and support 2 - Weak 4 - Good Management and leadership 4 - Good page 5 of 6
To find out more This inspection report is published by the Care Inspectorate. You can download this report and others from our website. Care services in Scotland cannot operate unless they are registered with the Care Inspectorate. We inspect, award grades and help services to improve. We also investigate complaints about care services and can take action when things aren't good enough. Please get in touch with us if you would like more information or have any concerns about a care service. You can also read more about our work online at www.careinspectorate.com Contact us Care Inspectorate Compass House 11 Riverside Drive Dundee DD1 4NY enquiries@careinspectorate.com 0345 600 9527 Find us on Facebook Twitter: @careinspect Other languages and formats This report is available in other languages and formats on request. Tha am foillseachadh seo ri fhaighinn ann an cruthannan is cànain eile ma nithear iarrtas. page 6 of 6