Elsie's Help at Home Limited

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• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

The registered manager who was also the nominated individual maintained good oversight of the service and continued to visit people to ensure their care packages were delivered safely. A nominated individual is a requirement of the regulations under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulations).Their core responsibility is to supervise the management of the regulated activity provided by the service. They also play an important role in the leadership of their service and driving improvement through robust governance. The service was relatively small and the registered manager was actively looking for a deputy manager to support them with oversight. A HR and Recruitment manager was available for oversight when the registered manager was not available. People and relatives told us the service was well led and they had confidence in the management team.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Staff were positive about the culture of the service and told us they enjoyed their work. A staff member told us, “I am enjoying the new role. The manager is approachable and supportive, they know all the staff.” Another staff member said, “I would recommend this company, they are very flexible with work, they ask us what hours we can do and try to accommodate.”

The registered manager communicated with their staff team well. They understood, now their business was growing, the importance of ensuring regular formal supervision and staff meetings were in place and had recently started to formalise these processes.

The registered manager was knowledgeable and clear about their responsibilities to recruit a staff team which matched the values of their organisation. A staff member told us, “This is a company with carers that care, I can tell [registered manager] goes to all new people, one of the clients I regularly go to is very nervous around new staff and [registered manager] is great with them and works hard to ensure they have the right carers.”

The service had care co-ordinators out in the field supporting staff and responding to any concerns. Processes were in place to support staff and ensure they were able to contact senior staff at any time.

Staff told us they felt confident to speak up and raise any concerns they might have. A staff member said, “I can speak up, I have never had a problem with a client but I would let them know everything or if we were struggling to fit everything in.”

The registered manager encouraged staff to raise any concerns they had; they said, “I drill down into everything, I look at visit notes, I answer the phone, all clients can ring me directly and so can staff.”

Staff had received training in equality and diversity and told us they were treated fairly.

The registered manager had a good understanding of individual staff needs and provided support and guidance, which staff confirmed they received.

Staff told us the management team completed spot checks and regularly reviewed care packages at the service. The registered manager told us they were auditing medicines and staff files and, whilst they looked at care notes, they were not formally auditing these. They informed us they would be starting to audit the care notes in the new year.

Whilst the current governance arrangements were effective, the registered manager understood they would need to strengthen these processes so they were able to effectively analyse their data as the business grew. The registered manager was very visible in the service and knew the people they supported and the staff supporting them.

Whilst people and relatives using the service had self-referred, they told us the service was supportive and well led. Staff liaised with any professionals involved with their care.

Staff understood the importance of working with partner agencies as part of people’s care. The registered manager told us, “I try to make contact with any professionals involved in people’s care.”

As part of planning, we had not received any concerns from partner agencies.

The registered manager had all the information they needed to ensure they could contact any relevant agency if the need arose. We could see they had referred to safeguarding authorities when any concerns arose.

Staff told us they were encouraged to update their training on regular intervals and the registered manager accessed additional training if a need was identified.

The registered manager had good oversight of learning and improvement. They were knowledgeable about where to access best practice updates and how they could introduce these to staff. They had recently linked with a training company so they were able to offer staff the opportunity to gain further qualifications in care.