Alina Homecare Specialist Care - Southampton and Hampshire

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

People told us they were supported the way they wanted to be supported. Overall staff told us support plans were a comprehensive assessment of each person’s needs. Assessments recorded people’s communication methods, hobbies and interests, goals, and capacity to make decisions. Positive behaviour support plans were in place to guide staff on how to respond should people display distressed behaviours. People told us they were supported to access health care services as they needed. This included making and attending appointments. Staff knew people well and this helped to ensure they were able to anticipate their needs and seek appropriate support or guidance. People had annual health checks and hospital and dental passports were in place to assist external healthcare professionals to understand people’s needs.

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.

Systems were in place to ensure support plans identified people’s needs. Assessments documented people’s needs in relation to nutrition, mobility, and cultural needs. Where people had rare or unusual medical conditions, support plans included information about these and how they might impact on the person. Assessments recorded people’s hobbies and interests, goals, and capacity to make decisions. One person’s records described how they required support with their finances as they had difficulty understanding coins. One person had a personalised plan guiding staff about how they should respond in the event the person experienced a seizure. The support plan was informed by guidance from relevant healthcare professionals. People’s individual personalities and preferences were reflected in the support plans and staff were aware of these. To support people engaging in their key work sessions, an easy read version of the form was available. Communication needs were identified and communication passports in place. People’s capacity to consent to their identified support needs was assessed and supported by mental capacity assessments. Positive behaviour support plans were in place to guide staff on how to respond should people display distressed behaviours. The assessments viewed were up to date and a system was in place to review these on an annual basis or in the event of the person’s needs changing.

People weren't always able to confirm if they had been involved in their care planning. Where they could, they confirmed they were involved and had co-produced their care plan. People told us they were supported the way they wanted to be supported. People now had key workers who supported them with menu planning, paperwork and to feedback about their care treatment and support. Feedback gathered from relatives indicated they were not consistently being invited to be involved in care planning or in reviews. We discussed this with the registered managers and providers. They assured us they would make further efforts to ensure that where appropriate consent was in place, relatives were invited to reviews and to comment on people’s care and support plans, but also to have access to the electronic recording system where they would be able to see how their family member was being supported each day.

Overall staff told us support plans were a comprehensive assessment of each person’s needs. One staff member said, “Yes all of the clients we care for have an up to date and thorough care plans” and another told us, “The clients risk assessments and care plan are all up to date as they go under review every year and we have lots of help from health professionals and the office”. Staff told us people’s care planning documentation was personalised. A registered manager told us, “We have a system in place for reviewing and updating care plans. If a review is needed earlier, it will happen…. We get the circle of support involved as often as we can to ensure people’s voice is heard”. Some staff raised concerns about the duplication of documentation, for example. recording food and health and safety records on provider’s electronic recording system and then also on paper records. They felt this process could be streamlined.

We did not look at Delivering evidence-based care and treatment during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at How staff, teams and services work together during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

Staff knew people well and this helped to ensure they were able to anticipate their needs and seek appropriate support or guidance. Staff told us how they supported people with their healthcare appointments, liaising with the local learning disability team, ordering medicines, or attending the dentist. One person’s representative told us ‘‘I collaborated with various healthcare professionals to meet the needs of the clients I support. This includes ordering medications from the pharmacy when supplies are running low, contacting the GP to schedule appointments when I observe any health-related concerns, and reaching out to 111 for advice when there are changes in my clients' daily activities that raise concerns about their health or well-being”. Staff could describe how they could identify if people required pain relief or needed a referral to a relevant healthcare professional. One staff member was able to describe how they were supporting a person they supported to work towards weight loss following a GP's recommendation. This was being achieved through promoting healthy eating, whilst respecting the person’s choices, and increased physical activity. In another example, a staff member told us how they supported a person to manage flare ups of a health condition in line with the advice from a health care professional. A registered manager told us, “We have a monthly system to track annual health checks and dental check-ups. We support people with [range of conditions], we have information on the diagnosis, what that looks like for the individual and what support they need”.

People told us they were supported to access health care services as they needed. This included making and attending appointments. One person told us how staff were encouraging and supporting them to lose weight and assisted them to weigh themselves each week. Another person told us, “The staff help me with what healthy snacks I can have which makes me feel safe”. A third person told us staff helped them to make appointments to see their GP. They said, “Staff support me, but the doctor talks to me”. Relatives overall felt staff supported their family member to monitor their family member’s health and wellbeing. One relative told us, “They let me know if [person] is poorly” and another said, an annual health check has been carried out…. staff take them for blood tests and check-up”. A third relative said, “There haven’t been any medical emergencies, but I do have confidence that the staff on the ground would deal with it”.

There were process in place to help staff focus on risks to people’s health and wellbeing. For example, we saw examples where tools such as Restore2 Mini and DISDAT had been used. Restore 2 Mini is a validated tool used to identify deterioration of people’s health and changes from their normal presentation. DISDAT is a tool that helps staff identify distress in people with severe communication difficulties. Protocols for the use of ‘As required’ medicines were in place which described how the person might present if they were unwell. People had annual health checks and hospital and dental passports were in place to assist external healthcare professionals to understand people’s needs. There was evidence staff worked with numerous health and social care professionals to meet people’s health care needs. A healthcare professional told us, “I made a referral to the learning disability health team who provided a [care plan] for toenail care, the service engaged with the occupational therapist, and they are working towards the plan provided”.

We did not look at Monitoring and improving outcomes during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at Consent to care and treatment during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.