The Regard Partnership Domiciliary Care South West received an Outstanding overall rating at its October 2018 inspection, with Outstanding ratings for Caring and Well-Led, and Good ratings for Safe, Effective, and Responsive. The service demonstrated exceptional person-centred care, strong leadership, robust governance, and a deeply embedded culture of compassion, equality, and continuous improvement, with only one minor documentation gap identified regarding best-interest safeguard guidelines.
Concerns (1)
minorCare planning: “guidelines in relation to these agreed safeguards had not been written clearly for staff to follow. This was discussed with the registered manager who said they would ensure this was completed as a matter of priority.”
Strengths
· Exceptionally compassionate and person-centred staff team who built strong, trusting relationships with people and treated people's homes with deep respect.
· Outstanding governance with regular audits, a real-time computer system, and strong multi-agency partnership working driving continuous improvement.
· Highly experienced and proactive registered manager with 19 years' experience, actively engaged in leadership development, best-practice networks, and external forums.
· Robust and personalised care planning including individual communication tools (social stories, 'now and next' boards, easy read materials) tailored to each person's needs.
· Strong equality, diversity and cultural competency culture, including recruiting a carer of the same nationality to support a non-English-speaking person.
The Regard Partnership Domiciliary Care South West received a Good rating across all five key questions at its March 2016 inspection, with staff demonstrating compassionate, personalised care and robust safeguarding and governance practices. Minor issues were identified around confidential record storage in communal areas and the personalisation of financial management arrangements, both of which the registered manager promptly addressed.
Concerns (2)
minorRecord keeping: “information about people had been stored in a cupboard within the communal dining area. We saw this cupboard was open during our inspection and staff used the dining table to write their daily notes.”
minorPerson-centred care: “Some of the arrangements for managing and supporting people with their finances were not personalised... it was not evident if people had made choices about these arrangements.”
Strengths
· People felt safe and were relaxed and comfortable with staff; positive body language and interactions observed throughout.
· Robust recruitment practices including DBS checks, probationary periods, and consideration of people's needs and preferences when recruiting staff.
· Staff had received regular training including the Care Certificate, medicines administration, safeguarding, and Mental Capacity Act.
· Staff received regular supervision, annual appraisals, and felt well supported by management.
· Care and support plans were personalised, regularly reviewed, and included detailed information about preferences and routines.