Royalcare- Thanet

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.

At our last assessment we rated this key question Good. At this assessment the rating has remained Good. This meant people’s outcomes were consistently good, and people’s feedback confirmed this.

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.

The provider made sure people’s care and treatment was effective by assessing and reviewing their health, care, wellbeing and communication needs with them. Generally leaders would met with people and their representatives, to understand their care needs and preferences before a service was offered. They also reviewed information from health care professionals such as GPs and nurses. This was to ensure staff had the skills and capacity to meet people needs in the way they preferred.

Occasionally people would be offered a service at short notice to keep them safe, such as when they were discharged from hospital or were awaiting transport to take them to another service. At these times leaders used assessments from health care professionals to understand people’s needs and plan their initial care. Further assessments were completed as staff got to know people and their preferences. Staff confirmed they always had enough information about people to provide their care and “The manager accompanies us when we start supporting new clients”.

Leaders planned and delivered people’s care 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 provider used nationally recognised assessments tools to plan people’s care. For example, Waterlow assessments were used to identify the risk of people developing skin damage and the outcomes were shared with health care staff and commissioners.

Heat health alerts had been issued by the government in the months before our inspection to warn people how the very high temperatures were likely to impact on their health and wellbeing. The provider had reminded staff to encourage people to drink frequently and ensure drinks were accessible between visits. They monitored the number of urinary tract infections, which may be a sign people were dehydrated and not drinking enough, so further action could be taken if needed.

Staff and leaders 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. They shared information about people’s changing needs to support healthcare professionals provide the equipment and treatment people needed. This included pressure relieving equipment to keep people’s skin healthy. Staff confirmed they worked well with healthcare staff. They said, “Sometimes we contact district nurses, for example if there are catheter problems. We work really well with healthcare professionals”.

Staff made sure people knew if they would be late for a visit. For example, staff were delayed during our assessment as they were supporting another person during an emergency. They followed the provider’s policy and informed the registered manager so they could contact the next person and explain why staff would be late. This helped people to understand why their care was delayed on a particular day. People confirmed delays did not happen often.

Staff and leaders supported people to manage their health and wellbeing to maximise their independence, choice and control. Staff supported people to live healthier lives and where possible, reduce their future needs for care and support.

People’s records contained information for staff about their health conditions and the support they needed to stay as healthy as possible. Staff identified changes in people’s health and contacted the relevant health care professional. These included GPs and district nurses as well as specialist nurses. Changes to care and treatment were reflected in people’s care plans and communicated to staff.

Staff had gone out of their way to make sure people always had medicines they needed. This included staff contacting GPs when prescriptions requested were not agreed promptly and collecting medicines to ensure people could take them on time to remain comfortable.

Leaders 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. Leaders reviewed people’s care every 3 months or before if their needs changed. This was to ensure people’s care always met their needs and preferences. People confirmed they were involved in reviewing their care and pans changed as their needs changed.

Leaders and staff told people about their rights around consent and respected these when delivering person-centred care and treatment. As part of the assessment process, leaders obtained evidence of who was able to make decisions on people’s behalf and who people wanted to be involved in decision making. They knew where records were kept so they could be shared with other professionals.

Everyone using the service was able to make day to day decisions. Guidance was included in people’s care plans about how to support them to make decisions, such as showing them items and making sure they were able to hear what staff were saying. Leaders checked staff’s understanding of the Mental Capacity Act during staff meetings to assure themselves staff knew how and when to support people to make decisions. When needed, leaders had been involved, with others, in making decisions in people’s best interests. This included how to support people to remain at home when this was what they wanted to do.