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© 2010 SureCare West Yorkshire
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C M Community Services Ltd (trading as SureCare–
Staincliffe House, Halifax Road, Batley WF 17 7RB
Telephone: 01924 404570
Office hours are 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. The offices are closed on bank holidays. There is an answer phone service to leave messages outside office hours
For Emergency or Urgent calls which cannot wait until the office is open.
On-Call Telephone:07734 703385 email:enquiries@surecarewy.com
At SureCare we recognise that discrimination is unacceptable. Our policy on equal opportunities relating to work has been developed in accordance with the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, and the Race Relation Act 1976. In this policy "direct discrimination" means discrimination where a person is treated less favourably than others are or would be treated in the same circumstances, on the grounds of sex, race, colour, nationality, or national or ethnic origins.
Statement of Purpose
SureCare –
We are an approved provider of care and support services to the community and have been established locally since 2001.
Services are provided on an individual basis according to need. They are designed to preserve the independence, dignity and self-respect of the individual.
SureCare is an equal opportunity employer of trained staff competent to provide general and personal care and other support services.
As an employer we are committed to training as part of our continuous improvement programme. We have received the Investors in People national award because of the high quality of our staff development programmes.
We support service users in their own homes and in the community including when they are away on holiday or on day trips.
Our service users are people of all ages and backgrounds. They may be physically disabled or have special needs such as learning or mental health difficulties or problems of challenging behaviour. They may have single or multiple impairments.
They are from all of the ethnic and cultural backgrounds represented in our community.
We also provide specialist services. These include respite and palliative care. We support people in their own homes with healthcare needs who would otherwise have had to remain in hospital.
Our Care Director and Registered Manager is Dr Christine Hall: B.Ed, MSc, Ed.D, RGN, RSCN, RHV.
(Bachelor of Education; Master of Science; Doctor of Education; Registered General Nurse; Registered Children’s Nurse, and Registered Health Visitor.)
Chris is based at Staincliffe House and has over 30 years experience in nursing, health visiting and as a university lecturer/practitioner in paediatric and general nursing. She has been an examiner for several universities, a member of a national healthcare committee and part of the management of a national nursing organisation.
All SureCare care workers have completed a 4 day induction training in accordance with statutory regulations. They have had Criminal Records Bureau checks at the enhanced level for the protection of vulnerable adults and the protection of children. They have achieved or are committed to achieving the learning disability qualification (LDQ) and the NVQ level 2 qualifications in care. Some have an NVQ at level 3.
They are encouraged to undertake additional specialist training. In-house training programmes include those related to specific healthcare needs or physical disabilities, to the child with its family and to palliative care at home.
Quality Care
SureCare endeavour to provide the highest possible care and we want to know of ANY concerns, dissatisfaction, worries or niggles however slight. This guide details our Complaints Procedure.
We hope that you will feel able to come to us with your concerns. We will always respond.
You are free to ask that your concern or complaint be made known to the Care Director and another professional - for example your social worker.
You also have the right to express your concerns or complaint to the
registration authority which is the Commission for Social Care Inspection. Their local
office is in
We aim to be your first choice local provider of care services.
Charter of Rights
SureCare wish to inform and assure all customers and service users that the Care Standards Act (2000), the Children Act (1989) and Safeguarding Children (2002) and all Health and Safety legislation underpin all our service provision.
All individuals, regardless of race, nationality, colour, creed, sex or sexual orientation have the right to be treated as individuals, have the right for their independence to be respected and the right to be treated with fairness and courtesy at all times.
All persons have the right to receive information and can be involved, consulted and express preference or choice in all aspects of their care.
All SureCare customers and service users have the right to complain without fear or discrimination, have the right to a flexible response service and the right to have their safety ensured.
All individuals have the right to confidentiality of information, to a caring approach and to effective communication regardless of language, sight or hearing difficulties.
SureCare Aims and Objectives
We aim to support service users so that they may enjoy a good quality of life with care provided on an individual basis according to need and preserving independence, dignity and self-respect.
Care plans are reviewed on a regular basis with the service user, their relatives and/or their representatives. The objectives and methods of care plan achievement will be agreed with the service user.
Services User Groups
We support the following service user groups:
Children and Families
Frail elderly
Older people
Individuals with mental health difficulties
Independent living support, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Adult and young physically disabled persons
Persons with special healthcare needs
Persons with challenging behaviour
Persons with specific ethnic or cultural needs
Persons with single or multiple impairments
Persons needing respite or palliative care
Some of our service users have complex health needs and are supported to live at home with a variety of medical technologies such as ventilation, tracheostomies, parental nutrition and gastrostomies.
Many service users are supported in the community as well as in their own homes. Support in the community can involve a wide variety of daily living and social activities involving travel by public or private transport including days out or holidays.
Matching Carers to Service Users
Staff are allocated to clients by taking into account the client needs and preferences which are matched as far as is practical to staff with appropriate attributes. These staff attributes include:
We recruit staff with specific attributes if there is a long term requirement to meet unusual combinations of client needs.
Aa key worker is allocated to groups of service users with similar needs. Individual service users who are being provided with large packages of care also have a key worker.
New staff will need to be introduced from time to time to extend familiarity, maintain resources and provide back up cover during holidays and sickness.
Only as a last resort, for example a last minute illness of your scheduled carer, will there be a visit from someone who is not familiar. Under these circumstances we will do our best to let you know in advance that this is going to happen. These staff will be competent to carry out your care.
Quality Assurance
SureCare aims to provide a high standard of care. We will seek information from you about your experiences to assist us in the further development of our services.
Staff will seek your comments about their work. Questionnaires will be sent to you at least once a year. A manager will visit at least every six months.
Quality assurance records are kept.
Changing your Care Plan
If you believe changes to your care plan should be considered you may need to contact the Social Services Information Point (SIPS). Their telephone numbers are at the end of this Guide.
Alternatively you can contact us. We will advice you of further actions that may be necessary.
Working with Vulnerable Adults and Children
It is the policy of SureCare to adhere to:
The Children Act 1989,
Safeguarding Children 2002.
The Department of Health Circular (1988/89)
The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Incl. Exemption Order 1975)
The Care Standards Act 2000
Health and Safety at Work Act (1974
Management of Health & Safety at Work regulations 1999.
The COSHH Regulations 1989,
Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998.
The RIDDOR Guidelines, Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992
We carry out stringent background checks as part of a rigorous recruitment process. All staff have completed a Criminal Records Bureau disclosure at the enhanced level. We ask for checks to be made for working with vulnerable adults and with children.
All staff have provided us with at least two satisfactory written references
about competence, ability, trustworthiness and experience.
Service User Contracts
Some of our service users are referred to us by organisations such as the NHS Primary Care Trusts or the Social Services department of local governments such as Kirklees Metropolitan Council. Our contract is then with that public sector organisation who usually define the terms and conditions of that contract. We invoice them for the services provided to their named clients.
Many of our service users are private clients. They pay SureCare directly for the services they receive. Most receive financial support towards the cost from schemes such as Direct Payments and the Independent Living Fund.
Private clients or their representatives sign a contract to accept the SureCare terms and conditions of business.
The private client or SureCare may terminate a contract by giving four weeks notice in writing to the other party. We aim to avoid the conditions which might lead to either party wanting to end a contract.
Charges and Invoices
We aim to price our care at reasonable rates. These rates reflect the particular needs of the client and the times of day that the care is needed.
Our charges are normally reviewed annually but we reserve the right to amend charges at other intervals. At least four weeks advance notice in writing is given before any changes.
Invoices are sent every four weeks. Payment is requested within seven days of receipt. The company reserves the right to charge interest on any sums outstanding 28 days after the date of the invoice.
Cheques should be made payable to C M Community Services Ltd and sent to our Staincliffe House offices.
Complaints Procedure
We want all service users to be aware of our complaints procedure and use it if needed.
What is a complaint?
We want to know of ANY of your concerns, dissatisfaction, worries or niggles, however slight. This applies whether you are the service user or a relative or any other responsible person. Only by knowing about these issues can we provide an explanation or remedy and seek to improve.
An informal complaint is one we might receive verbally or by telephone or as a result of us asking questions at a quality review.
A formal complaint is one received by us in writing, by letter or email or fax.
How do you complain?
In the first instance, we hope that you will feel able to come to us with your concerns. Please tell ANY senior member of our staff. They will give you a blank form to register your concern or complaint - or indeed your compliments.
You may already have one of these forms with your care plan.
It may be that your concern can be resolved easily with a verbal answer to you. Even then we have instructed our senior staff to make a written report to us to note the concern and the way it was resolved. Please do not be put off if our staff take notes when they are talking to you.
If you consider a concern or complaint to be more serious you may prefer to put it in writing and send it to the Care Director. Alternatively you can make the concern or complaint verbally to the Office or your carer. The carer may need to take notes and you will be asked to countersign their notes to confirm they are accurate.
What happens to a complaint?
Concerns and complaints are treated seriously. Those received in writing will receive a written reply, whether or not a meeting has taken place to discuss any point raised. If you want a written reply to a verbally expressed concern or complaint, please make that clear at the time.
You can ask that your concern or complaint be made known to another professional, your social worker for example. We will do this as quickly as possible.
Our process for dealing with complaints is as follows.
The care director or general manager or in their absence their authorised representative will acknowledge receipt of a complaint within 2 days if received by telephone or 5 days if received in writing.
Details will be recorded or cross referenced by SureCare on an internal complaint form. Actions to resolve the complaint will be identified and implemented.
The response of the complainant to the outcome of the actions will be recorded. If the complainant is not satisfied with the outcome and is not a private client then with his/her agreement a report will be submitted to the purchasing authority.
Complainants will be reminded of the right to complain to the registration authority.
Complaint to the Registration Authority
The registration authority is responsible for registering SureCare and inspecting regularly to ensure that required standards are maintained. Each individual has a right to express concerns or complaints directly to that authority without talking to us first.
We hope that you will come to us first and give us the opportunity of resolving any matter but we recognise your right to contact the registration authority before or after you have contacted to us. Their name and address is:
Commission Social Care Inspection
LS1 2ND
Tel: 0113 220 4620
The Ombudsman
With any complaint to a registration authority, you must give the authority adequate time to investigate and reply properly. If you remain aggrieved however, even after (or perhaps as a result of) the registration authority’s investigation of your complaint, you can complain further to the Local Ombudsman.
Usually these complaints are made through a local councillor who should be able to assist you to make your complaint. In certain circumstances it is possible to complain directly to the ombudsman and the Citizens Advice Bureau may be able to assist.
The local ombudsman is only allowed to investigate certain types of complaint. The restrictions are too complicated to detail here. You should be prepared for the ombudsman not to be able or allowed to investigate your complaint.
Cover for holidays, emergencies & sickness
Our staff are required to give us at least four weeks notice of their holidays or any other unavailability. This is to allow us to organise alternative carers for you during their absence. These alternative carers will be introduced to you if you have not met them before. You can be confident that they will be aware of your care plan.
We will try our best but cannot guarantee to provide an alternative carer for someone who tells us at the last minute that some personal emergency or last minute sickness prevents them carrying out their scheduled visit to you. If this happens we will discuss with you the best possible solution to getting over what should be a short term problem.
We have back-up staff to accept work at short notice but you may not know that person. We may not have time to introduce them to you first. Under these difficult circumstances we will check with you that that is acceptable. We may also have to propose a visit at a different time from that originally scheduled.
Visit Times
Visit times are determined by the service user’s wishes and the availability of carers. We try hard to meet service user requirements but it is not always possible. Sometimes a compromise is necessary.
Punctuality is a high priority with us. Carers should arrive and normally must leave on time. If a carer knows they will be more than 15 minutes late they are required to notify the office or our out-of-hours officer. We will then notify you.
There might be an occasion when the carer is with you longer than planned to help with a sudden and hence unexpected care need.
Schedules
You will receive schedules giving the names of your carers and the dates and times of their visits.
We would appreciate you signing that the visits have taken place at the times indicated. You may need to amend the printed details. Your Key Worker will bring your signed schedules back to our office.
What Care Staff Must Do
Follow the directions and instructions laid down in their Staff Handbook.
Visit at the scheduled times and provide care in accordance with the care plan
Inform their manager if they are unable to visit on time or fulfil the requirements of the care plan
Respect service users and their confidentiality.
Obey the rules regarding financial transactions.
Undertake all training in accordance with regulations.
Only undertake duties that they have been trained to do.
Avoid placing at risk the health or well-being of themselves or their service users.
Follow instructions from management unless they might reduce service user safety.
Report to the office any accidents or similar incidents, however minor.
Communicate any change in a service user circumstances to the office
Be a good representative of SureCare, adding to our positive reputation.
What Care Staff Cannot Do
Care staff can feel uncomfortable if you ask them to do things that we do not allow. As a general rule they cannot provide a service that is not specified in the care plan, or which may place themselves or others in danger.
Carers cannot extend their role beyond the care plan until they have been assessed by management as competent and there is formal agreement between the service user and SureCare.
Actions such as administering medication, lifting heavy or bulky items, accepting gifts and monies are forbidden.
Confidentiality
We have strict confidentiality policies to protect both staff and service users.
We expect service users to be able to trust their care worker and to be able to talk freely to them, being confident that anything they say will not be repeated to others.
If care workers break confidentiality and management is aware that has happened then disciplinary procedures will be followed.
Breaking a service user confidence might be appropriate is if the carer believes that by not doing so they are endangering the well-being or life of that person or someone else. However a carer would not be allowed to make that exceptional decision. It can only be made by the care director or a support manager.
Where information about service users originates from outside agencies such as district nurses, social workers and GP’s etc. we are required to obtain permission from those agencies before we can disclose it to service users.
We have to obtain consent from these agencies if information from them is to be stored within service user files. Access to service user data is restricted to authorised persons.
Information held by SureCare is confidential in accordance with the Data Protection Act.
Service User Keys and Key Safes
Service Users’ keys will not normally be held by care staff. Other solutions to maximising the security of the home of the service user must be found if at all possible.
There are risks if someone other than the service user or a family member holds keys to the home of the service user. We want alternate methods to key holding to be agreed.
Our preferred option is a Key Safe, supplied and fitted in a suitable location.
If there is no alternative to SureCare holding keys the procedure is to be:
1. Keys will be labelled and kept in a key safe at Staincliffe House.
2. If a key is lost by a carer the replacement will be obtained by SureCare but the service user will be responsible for any and all consequential costs due to reduced security such as changing locks.
3. There must be agreement in advance how the keys are returned if the care service is terminated. The service user takes full responsibility in the event of any loss or consequential costs.
4. An agreement covering all of the above points will be signed by the service user or authorised representative and a SureCare support manager or general manager.
Anti Oppressive Practice
Section 2 of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 requires SureCare West Yorkshire to provide healthy and safe working environments and premises with adequate amenities. Within this requirement the need for anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive work environments is explicit.
We have a duty of care for all of our employees and provide an adequate working environment and support systems. We will not allow them to be abused in their workplace. Similarly we have a duty of care for our Service Users and will not allow them to be abused by our staff. Application of the following rules ensure the legislation is upheld.
We are an equal opportunity employer and care provider. We will not allow any of staff or service users to be abused because of their gender, age, ethnic origin or any aspect of their background.
Allegations of abuse by an employee will be investigated and if appropriate will lead to disciplinary action.
Allegations of abuse of an employee by a service user will be investigated and if appropriate will lead to the partial or complete withdrawal of our services.
We recognise that both receiving and providing care can at times be stressful and ‘slips of the tongue’ do occur. There is a difference however between that ‘slip’ and behaviour which undermines the psychological and physical well-being of the person on the receiving end. Abuse is when the intensity or length of the behaviour causes distress.
Surecare employees have their Carer Handbook which provides information about all aspects of working for SureCare including examples of unacceptable behaviour and the disciplinary processes if proven.
We have some service users with challenging behaviour and unfortunately carers have occasionally experienced abuse when delivering care. The following list of examples is not exhaustive.
Clients sometimes request as service which is not in the care plan, not agreed in advance and cannot be granted at the time. This can lead to distress. Requests have been for domestic services, supporting another family member, looking after pets and at short notice asking to go out in the car of the Carer.
Consequences
The consequence of proven abuse by a Service User may be the partial or complete withdrawal of our services.
We will always do our best to meet preferences from a client for a carer of particlar gender or background, but our overriding commitment is to meet the needs of the Care Plan.
If a Carer is turned away on arrival, or at any time during the scheduled visit, then that Carer will not be replaced for that visit. If the Service User becomes highly emotional and verbally or physically aggressive the Carer will leave and not be replaced until the next scheduled visit.
Accountability
There are occasions when the Service User accept personal accountability for the consequences of a service which is a special request. These will have been formally agreed well in advance.
A relatively common request is to assist with medication, ointments or eye
drops. SureCare will normally only prompt medication. A less obvious example of a request is a request for the Carer to leave the
house for an errand ot to walk a dog etc. when the Care Plan
makes it clear the Service User is at risk in the absence of the
Carer.
Useful telephone Numbers
Listed below are organisations, which may be able to offer useful advice and support.
|
Agency/Organisation |
Telephone Numbers |
|
Citizens Advice Bureau |
01924 326066 |
|
Age Concern |
01977 552114 |
|
KMC Social Services |
01484 223000 |
|
Continence Advisory service |
01274 879963 |
|
Alzheimer’s Disease Society |
01924 373264 |
|
British Diabetic Society |
020 7424 1000 |
|
British Heart Foundation |
01937 835421 |
|
The Stroke Association |
0113 2601167 |
|
Parkinson’s Disease Society |
0808 800 0303 |
|
Royal National Inst. Blind |
0845 766 9999 |
|
Racial Equality Council |
0161 835 3500 |
|
Multiple Sclerosis Society |
01977 555266 |
|
NHS Direct |
0845 4657 |
|
|
Accessibility | Website Map | Contact Us
© 2010 SureCare West Yorkshire
Website Designed by Designition Ltd
© 2010 SureCare West Yorkshire | Printed from: www.surecarewy.com/care-services/service-user-guide/