- Homecare service
197 Bagnall Road
Report from 21 May 2024 assessment
Contents
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
We assessed 6 quality statements in the effective key question and found areas of good practice. Our rating for the key question is good. People’s needs and rights were supported. People’s care and treatment were effective due to their health, care, well-being, and communication needs being assessed with them. People’s care plans were regularly reviewed and kept up to date. Staff were aware of people’s preferences and respected these in a person-centred way. People were aware of their rights around care and treatment. Staff had good knowledge of the mental capacity act, including capacity and consent.
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.
Assessing needs
People told us that their needs had been assessed and that this was done with their input. People did not raise any concerns regarding this.
Staff had good knowledge of how to support people’s needs. The registered manager talked with us about the importance of assessment and review to maximise the effectiveness of people’s care. They explained about reassessing people’s care needs after being in hospital. “We would have to reassess and changes to medicines must be incorporated into the MAR chart. We would do a general review, see if anything has changed, some people can really deteriorate in a short period.”
We reviewed assessment documents and found that the template was detailed but the document was not completed in full. This was discussed with the management team at the time to ensure details were effectively captured. Staff had access to documents on how to support people. Where people’s needs changed, these care planning documents were updated so staff understood people’s changes in needs.
Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
People told us they were involved in planning their care including what was important and what matters to them. One person told us, “Yes, I told them what I want and what I needed and they do that.”
We spoke with the registered manager about systems for ensuring people’s care provided what was important for them and what mattered to them. They told us, “We would put tools in use to monitor how much the person is eating, drinking, weight, MUST (Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool used to identify adults who are malnourished or at risk of malnourishment) to monitor their wellbeing.” Staff understood how to work with external health and social care providers, to provide support in the most effective way.
The provider was not supporting anyone with specific needs around nutrition and hydration at the time of assessment. However, there was a fluid and nutrition policy in place and the management team had a good understanding of tools that could be used to ensure people’s needs were met.
How staff, teams and services work together
People did not highlight any concerns regarding this.
The provider gave examples of how information was communicated across their team and also with other professionals to support people. They also considered how and when information was shared and told us, “Because our clients have capacity, we obtain their consent before we give out any information. Data protection is considered and how information is being passed so it is part of the care of the individual and for the person’s benefit.”
Partners did not share any concerns with us regarding partnership working.
People’s care plans included details of external professionals involved in people’s care, for example their GP. We reviewed documents including emails which evidenced they worked collaboratively with external partners to achieve the best care and support for people.
Supporting people to live healthier lives
People told us they were supported to live healthier lives including support if they needed to see medical professionals. One person told us, “Yes, I wasn’t feeling well and they [staff] had to phone 111 and then I had to see someone immediately.”
Staff had a good understanding of how best to support people to live healthier lives considering their physical and mental wellbeing and gave us examples of how they did this. One staff member told us, “Including prompting them to eat healthy and a balanced diet, also getting them to be involved in physical activities that they like, encourage them to limit smoking or stopping it completely if they’re okay with it, encourage them to limit alcohol and increase the rate they drink water.”
We reviewed care plan documents which evidenced people were supported to access medical services and contained details on what support people needed to live healthier lives.
Monitoring and improving outcomes
People told us their care was monitored and actions taken to improve their care outcomes. For one person this meant being supported to be as independent as possible. They told us, “Staff let me do what I can for myself, I try and do most things for myself but do ask for their help if I can’t.”
The management team described examples of how they had supported people with improved quality of life outcomes including a person who they had supported to access equipment to increase their independence. They said about this, “Their life is changed now, [name] is ever so happy now and we are happy too as we can see how their life has changed.”
The provider had processes in place to monitor people’s care, to identify any concerns or change in people’s care needs. We saw records which evidenced people’s care was reviewed.
Consent to care and treatment
People told us staff sought their consent before providing care and respected their choices.
Staff understood the importance of supporting people’s rights, seeking consent and respecting people’s decisions. One staff member told us, “I seek people’s consent before any care or support is provided. If someone refuses care or support, I will respect their decision, document appropriately and try to know if there is any concern for their refusal and inform my manager.”
We saw that there were processes in place, including the initial assessment which considers people’s capacity to consent, and the managers and staff were knowledgeable on this subject. Documentation included advanced decisions where appropriate.