Avant Healthcare Services ltd

On this page

• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

Caring – this means we looked for evidence that the service involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect. At our last inspection we rated this key question good. At this inspection the rating has remained good. This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care. People received care from kind and polite staff. Their privacy and dignity were respected. People were able to make choices about their care and were treated as individuals. Staff felt well supported and there were systems to help promote good staff wellbeing and give them opportunities to develop their skills and career. We did not assess all the quality statements within this key question. We did not identify concerns relating to these areas which we judged as being met at our last inspection.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

People received kind and compassionate care. Their privacy and dignity were respected. Staff spoke positively about the people they cared for. People using the service and their relatives told us they had good relationships with the staff. Some of their comments included, ‘’They are all really sweet and [person] has built up a nice rapport’’, ‘’I am a private person and I find it difficult accepting help but the carers are all really lovely’’, ‘’[Person] and the carers have a warm relationship and they talk non-stop together’’, ‘’[Person] and the carers adore each other and it is entirely mutual’’ and ‘’The carers are really beautiful people.’’

People were treated as individuals. Personalised care plans were in place and people told us these were followed. People using the service and their relatives gave examples of how care and support reflected individual needs. One relative told us, ‘’They know [person] so well, no one else can look after [person].’’ Another relative commented, ‘’The carers always [treat] person as their own. They take a pride in [person’s] achievements, and they love to share experiences with [them].’’ The staff explained they found shared interests with people and they used these to enhance conversations and activities. People’s cultural and language needs were considered as part of their assessments, and the agency tried to match staff who had an understanding of these or shared culture.

People were supported to make choices. The staff spoke a range of different languages and relatives confirmed that people were supported by staff who could speak in people’s first languages. Staff working with children and adults who did not use words to communicate had training to help them use the most appropriate communication methods. Relatives confirmed staff offered people choices in a meaningful way and respected these. People were supported to be independent when they wanted this and were able. For example, some people explained how the staff supported them with mobility and encouraged them to undertake tasks themselves. Staff supporting children and adults with a learning disability helped people to access colleges, schools and leisure activities. People were able to make choices about the gender of their care worker. Care plans included personalised information about people’s likes, dislikes, social needs and how they communicated. Care plans reflected a good understanding of people’s needs, including relevant assessments of people’s communication support and sensory needs.

There were good systems for supporting staff wellbeing and enabling them to develop their skills. Staff confirmed this, telling us they felt supported. All staff took part in regular individual and group meetings with their line manager to discuss their work. Staff were given opportunities to be coached and have a mentor to develop new skills and work towards promotion. This included additional training to help develop their knowledge and skills. The provider rewarded good practice with awards, team building sessions, special commendations and recognitions of achievement in newsletters, sharing positive feedback from others and asking staff to share their own examples of good practice. A staff representative attended management meetings to represent staff views and to share their feedback.