AN upper dale home care provider continues to be outstanding, according to health inspectors.
Middleton Care Ltd has retained the top Care Quality Commission rating overall for the second time in a row following an inspection in August.
A team of 35 carers and three office staff provide a personal care service to 78 clients living in their own homes in and around the Teesdale area.
The company was rated as outstanding for being well-led and caring. It was also judged as being good with regards to being responsive, effective and safe. This follows a previous CQC inspection in April 2016 when the company was originally commended for its “outstanding” efforts.
Yvonne Metcalfe, managing director of the company since 2005 and carer, said: “I am bursting with pride at heading up a company which has grown and achieved so much without trying to.
“We did not sit on our laurels and become complacent. We knew we had to maintain our goals.
“We work so well as a team because we only get the best from ourselves by being supported so well from each other.
“I have to stress that this achievement is fantastic and gives us all a boost but at the end of the day we are only doing our everyday job and the people we work for, our amazing clients, make our jobs so much nicer.
“I know my staff are as proud as I am of our great achievements over the years and I know, they with me, thank our clients for their great contribution to our success.”
During the visit last month, inspectors noted that the company “ensured people were at the heart of their care and support” and clients received “a high standard of person centred care” from members of staff who were described as being “exceptionally kind, caring and considerate”.
The report said: “We saw the staff team had gone above and beyond and worked in their own time, or gone out of their way for the benefit of people using the service, to ensure their care needs had been met and to ensure they were safe during adverse weather in a rurally remote area.”
Inspectors spoke with clients, relatives and staff during their visit who told them that the service was “extremely well-led and managed”.
It was also noted that staff received high levels of support that enabled them to provide outstanding care. Training opportunities for staff remain an important part of the mix as well as a rigorous recruitment process.
Ms Metcalfe said: “We don’t just take anyone on because if you get a bad apple and you don’t get rid of that apple, it will ruin it for the rest. I am trying to promote care. I want every company to be like us.”
Inspectors did recognise that the company’s management team had expanded since its last visit. They saw this as a positive change.
