Westminster Homecare Limited – Clacton and Tendring

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

Effective – this means we looked for evidence that people’s care, treatment and support achieved good outcomes and promoted a good quality of life, based on best available evidence. This is the first inspection for this newly registered service. This key question has been rated good. This meant people’s outcomes were consistently good, and people’s feedback confirmed this.

This service scored 67 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The service made sure people’s care and treatment was effective by assessing and reviewing their health, care, wellbeing and communication needs with them. Whilst care plans recorded basic information, this did not fully reflect the knowledge and person-centred support being provided by staff in practice. The registered manager confirmed there were already plans in place to further develop care plans, in collaboration with people and those important to them, as part of the ongoing care plan review process.

The service planned and delivered people’s care and treatment with them, including what was important and mattered to them. They did this in line with legislation and current evidence-based good practice and standards. The service ran initiatives such as a ‘Food focus fortnight’. This encouraged staff to think about ways to present food to make it healthy and appetising, and to appeal to any changes in taste, for example, for people receiving cancer treatment.

The service worked well across teams and services to support people. They made sure people only needed to tell their story once by sharing their assessment of needs when people moved between different services. The service also worked in partnership with people and their family members to deliver effective care. A professional who works with the service said, “We have worked closely [to support] an adult with dementia and [their] carer which has been a joint partnership between us. [Westminster Homecare Limited (Clacton)] are supporting the family above and beyond.”

The service supported people to manage their health and wellbeing to maximise their independence, choice and control. The service supported people to live healthier lives and where possible, reduce their future needs for care and support. For example, the service worked with a community urgent response team to reduce unnecessary admissions to hospital, and to support people to safely manage their health conditions at home.

The service routinely monitored people’s care and treatment to continuously improve it. They ensured that outcomes were positive and consistent, and that they met both clinical expectations and the expectations of people themselves. This included considering support for people’s mental wellbeing and quality of life. Staff also described how they monitored and reported any changes to people’s care needs, such as their mobility. This meant people could be reassessed if needed, or equipment put in place to support improved outcomes for them.

The service told people about their rights around consent and respected these when delivering person-centred care and treatment. People confirmed they were offered choice and control. A relative told us, “[Staff] are very good with [person], they listen and respect [person’s] decisions.” Staff received training on the Mental Capacity Act and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). However, some care records needed to be clearer about people’s capacity to make decisions, and staff knowledge in this area needed to be developed and embedded. We raised this with the provider who told us they would deliver enhanced training to develop this area further.