Affinity Trust - Domicilary Care Agency - Leeds

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

Assessments of people’s needs were completed prior to them joining the service to enable the provider to determine whether their needs could be met safely and effectively. The provider identified outcomes during the assessment process, and these were used to develop individual care plans.

The provider planned and delivered people’s care and treatment 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.

Staff followed guidance and evidence‑based instructions provided by health professionals. For example, 1 person required a modified‑texture diet due to their health needs. The speech and language therapy team assessed them and supplied detailed guidance, which staff implemented consistently. This ensured the person received food and drink that were appropriate for their needs and supported their health.

The provider 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.

The service carried out initial assessments with people and their family members to understand their wishes, needs and desired outcomes. Staff told us they had sufficient time to spend with people through allocated one‑to‑one hours and felt confident in their roles, describing themselves as well‑equipped to meet people’s care and support needs.

The service demonstrated a good understanding of how to work effectively with other professionals, such as GPs, district nurses and speech and language therapists, to ensure people received the specialist support they required.

The provider supported people to maintain their health and wellbeing in ways that promoted independence, choice and control. Staff encouraged people to adopt healthier lifestyles and, where possible, helped them reduce their future care and support needs.

People were supported to make informed decisions about their care by staff who understood their individual needs and preferences. Staff promoted healthier choices to enhance wellbeing, while recognising and respecting that people had the final say in decisions about their care. A staff member told us, “Our manager implemented a good meal plan whilst still giving people choices of what to have, so we do try to ensure they’re eating healthily and enjoying it, while following the Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) guidance. We will sit with people to make sure they’re eating and safe.”

Staff routinely monitored people’s health and ensured they could access appropriate external healthcare services when needed.

The provider did not always routinely monitor people’s care and treatment to continuously improve it. They did not always ensure that outcomes were positive and consistent, or that they met both clinical expectations and the expectations of people themselves. Care plans had not been robustly reviewed either routinely or following incidents, to show improved outcomes and quality of life for people.

The provider did not always tell people about their rights around consent and did not always respect their rights when delivering care and treatment. Mental capacity assessments had been completed; however, they had not been reviewed for a significant period, despite some people’s needs having changed. The provider recognised the need to update these assessments in line with the Mental Capacity Act and had included this work in their action plan. They had begun the process of reviewing and updating assessments at the time of our visit.