A care provider in Salford has been rated as ‘outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission.

Home Instead Senior Care in Swinton received the accolade after inspectors found ‘an exceptional culture within the service.’

Debbie Westhead, Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care, added that ’employees were referred to as caregivers rather than staff. We found them to be passionate about ensuring people received a high level of care and support.’

She said: “All the staff should be very proud of the care they are providing and I hope other providers look to their example of what outstanding care should look like.”

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The founder of the Salford Care Service franchise of Home Instead pointed out they had achieved this in a short space of time.

Susan Robinson said: “We only opened our offices on 1st February 2016 so to have our first CQC inspection and get outstanding is quite phenomenal.”

Referring to the inspectors comments about the ‘caregiver’ term preferred by Home Instead, she said:

“People seem to prefer the name caregiver than care assistant or support worker. It’s somebody delivering care because they fundamentally want to deliver top quality care.”

She also spoke of how she came to create this branch of the international care service and her positive experience with Home Instead saying:

“I found Home Instead in 2015 when I was trying to find care for my mum. I couldn’t find the care that I wanted, but I found ‘Home Instead’ in Bury. The franchise hadn’t spread to Salford yet.

Only two months after first contacting Home Instead, Susan had gone through the process becoming a franchisee in her home city.

She said that the ‘exceptional’ culture stems from the top of Home Instead, which was founded in the United States in 1994.

“They want a type of person, they don’t just want anybody who can afford the franchise fee. They’ve got to have the same ethos and moral values as the head office does.”

National recognition

Home Instead’s accomplishments have also received recognition from the corridors of power, with a signed letter from Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, arriving just moments before the interview took place.

Ms. Robinson said she was ‘delighted’ to receive the letter, adding:

“That is absolutely massive and he signed it himself! I’m quite excited about that and it’s literally just arrived while you’ve been here.”

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