Devon home care company receives highest national accolade
A Devon home care service has been rated outstanding for the quality of care and support it provides to vulnerable people.
Bay Care has received the highest accolade from the Care Quality Commission after an inspection carried out in March.
The 100-strong team at the Paignton-based company were praised for the quality of the service provided across Torbay and the South Hams, with the commission proclaiming the company to be an ‘excellent role model’ for the caring professions.
The inspection looked in detail at how safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led the services were. People receiving care, their families and community professionals at other organisations were all highly complementary about the service.
Katrina Green launched Bay Care with Alan and Michelle Baker in 2010. This year has seen the company win silver awards for Employer of the Year and Business Growth in the Herald Express Business Awards and be recognised as a finalist in the Venus Awards 2018 for Company of the Year. Katrina, who is also co-founder of the Care Managers’ Network, won the Venus Award 2018 Entrepreneur of the Year.
She said: “The team deserve this praise. It’s the highest level of recognition nationally we can receive. What’s incredibly pleasing is the genuine kindness and affection from the people we care for, their families and fellow professionals in the local health and care sector across Devon.”
The Care Commission praised Bay Care for its commitment to providing the ‘highest quality care’, its strong links with the local community and for placing respect for people's privacy and dignity at the heart of the company’s culture and values.
The inspection, which ran from 12 to 20 March this year, included visits to people who used the service, their relatives, feedback from healthcare professionals involved with the service and interviews with care staff.
John Bryant, Head of Integration and Development at Torbay Council, said: “I am delighted to offer my congratulations to Katrina and the team on this outstanding achievement. I consider the company to be founded on quality and innovation, commitment and collaboration. This CQC recognition is only possible through the dedication all the staff and the wonderful job they do 365 days a year.”
The report praised Bay Care’s Dignity Champion initiative and Operation Connect programme, which sees staff spend time encouraging and helping people do their favourite things. It’s resulted in trips to the beach to fly a kite, planting seeds together, learning Italian, helping someone subscribe to a free knitting magazine and crocheting with them, and even sending one person a regular supply of large print crosswords in the post.
Examples of the commitment of staff included how they walked for miles in the snow earlier this year to reach people, including trekking five miles to get essential medicine to one person.
The inspectors noted that, ‘Without exception, people were keen to tell us how the staff treated them with kindness and respect’.
Katrina added: “We are passionate about making a difference to people's lives. We work with vulnerable older and younger people who all have their own individual needs. That’s why we don’t have a ‘one-size’ fits all approach and are always striving to do better, coming up with new ideas and always supporting our staff to be the best they can.”
