Empathy Care24 Northampton

On this page

• Overview
• Person-centred Care
• Care provision, Integration and continuity
• Providing Information
• Listening to and involving people
• Equity in access
• Equity in experiences and outcomes
• Planning for the future

Responsive – this means we looked for evidence that the provider met people’s needs.

At our last assessment we rated this key question requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to good. This meant people’s needs were met through good organisation and delivery.

This service scored 68 (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 were at the centre of their care choices and they decided, in partnership with people, how to respond to any relevant changes in people’s needs. People’s care was given at regular times and where changes were needed to accommodate people’s changing needs, staff worked together to rearrange the rota to meet their needs. A relative told us, “[Name] has a hoist. It’s going alright, quite happy with [staff], the [staff] that come in are really good with [Name].” Another relative told us, “We keep the same [staff] because [Name] has dementia.”

The provider understood the diverse health and care needs of people so care was joined-up, flexible and supported choice and continuity. People were supported to have their care around their planned hospital and healthcare appointments. A person told us they liked to have an early call the day they have appointments, they said, “That’s why I like them to be in and gone by 7 a.m. and I can get to the appointment later that morning.”

The provider supplied appropriate, accurate and up-to-date information but these were not created in formats that were tailored to individual needs. People were not offered information in any other format than the standard publication of information about the service.

The provider made it easy for people to share feedback and ideas, or raise complaints about their care, treatment and support. Staff involved people in decisions about their care and told them what had changed as a result. People and relatives told us the provider was responsive to feedback, a relative said, “[The manager] listen, they seem to take things on board. I don’t have to contact them often.” A person told us, “They are not bad. When they changed my [staff], I rang up and it went back to normal.”

The provider made sure that people could access the care, support and treatment they needed when they needed it. Staff were allocated to regular visits so people could have continuity of their care. Staff had allocated travel time to ensure they could arrive on time and stay the allocated time.

Staff and leaders actively listened to information about people who are most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes and tailored their care, support and treatment in response to this. People living with dementia or long-term health conditions that required medicines at specific times were allocated specific timeslots and staff to ensure they received their care in a timely way.

People were not always supported to plan for important life changes, so they could have enough time to make informed decisions about their future, however, people’s care plans included information about what is important to them.