Carewatch Report
Summary
Carewatch (Windsor) provide home care services in The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. This is the second survey we have carried out.
At the time of the last survey the Care Quality Commission (CQC) published a report (October 2018) rating the service as 'Requires Improvement'. A further visit to see if required improvements had been made resulted in an update published in March 2019 which, again, found the service 'Requires Improvement'.
In April 2019 the service came under a new provider; the service has not been inspected since this change.
Below are the main findings from the 2018 survey with updates from the 2020 survey.
Key findings
- 2018 - A significant proportion of the respondents (on average a third) are unhappy with the continuity of staff providing their care and support, staff's understanding of their health and support needs and being treated like an individual.
- 2020 - Almost everyone who responded said they had the same staff most of the time. Almost everyone said the care staff understood the health and support needs of the person they provided care for and treated them as an individual. This was also shown by the fact that many people said that staff turned up at the requested time but were also flexible if the person needed to change the time.
- 2018 - Although the majority of people know who to contact if they need additional support for their health and wellbeing, a third of unpaid carers/relatives do not feel supported by the care team or know where to go to get independent support.
- 2020 - Almost everyone who responded knew who to contact for additional support for their health and wellbeing. The majority of respondents who answered and had family / unpaid carers said that family / unpaid carers felt supported and knew where to go to get independent support.
- 2018 - The survey results and additional comments indicated serious problems with care and support visits including timings, lateness and inflexibility and serious problems with communication including response to complaints and concerns raised (although there was a high level of awareness about how to make a complaint or raise a concern).
- 2020 – The majority of people are happy with the company that currently provides the support and where concerns have been highlighted these appear to be with particular individuals or with communication with the office. No serious concerns, such as missed medication, were mentioned in the 2020 responses.
The results and recommendations from the last Healthwatch survey shared with the Care Governance Board and CQC, and the subsequent actions taken by the Local Authority as contract holders and the CQC as regulators, appear to have resolved many of the issues people receiving support, and their family carers, were experiencing.
Currently no one responding to the survey has highlighted a serious concern that would need referring to the Safeguarding Board or CQC.
Recommendations:
- The provider should ensure there are robust procedures in place to ensure effective and accessible communication with clients and their families; advising them of unavoidable delays of care visits, the timeframe to responding to telephone calls/emails, and that these are communicated to clients and relevant family members and monitored to ensure they are being met.
- All social care teams should continue to ensure people who receive support and their unpaid carers/relatives are given information about local independent support and sources of information such as Healthwatch WAM, the CQC and advocacy services.
