Seven Hills Homecare

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. This is the first assessment for this service. This key question has been rated 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. When people first began their support an initial assessment was carried out to obtain details about their care and support. After using the service for 6 weeks a review of the initial plan took place to ensure people were happy with their support. People were involved in reviews and contributed to their care plan so it would accurately reflect their needs and preferences.

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. Care plans detailed how people preferred to be supported. Care records showed external professionals had been involved in people’s care. For example, food and fluid charts were maintained where people were at risk of malnutrition and/or dehydration. This ensured people’s dietary intake was safely monitored and action taken to address any concerns.

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. Staff and leaders communicated well with each other and external professionals involved in people’s care and support. Daily care records were completed and accurately reflected care and support provided.

The provider 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. Staff and leaders worked well with external professionals such as district nurses, GPs and therapy services. Staff were keen to follow the advice given by external professionals to ensure people’s outcomes were improved. One family member said, “My relative has a catheter that gets blocked sometimes and also it was bypassing and the carers picked up on this and dialled 111 to get assistance.”

The provider 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. Staff and leaders were competent in identifying situations which could improve people’s outcomes. For example, one person was supported to access more appropriate seating and this had improved their quality of life. Another person who had recently been bereaved was supported to access a local café where they had been used to going with their relative. This had supported the person in the grieving process and improved their outcomes.

The provider told people about their rights around consent and respected these when delivering person-centred care and treatment. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) provides a legal framework for making particular decisions on behalf of people who may lack the mental capacity to do so for themselves. The MCA requires that, as far as possible, people make their own decisions and are helped to do so when needed. When they lack mental capacity to take particular decisions, any made on their behalf must be in their best interests and as least restrictive as possible. People can only be deprived of their liberty to receive care and treatment when this is in their best interests and legally authorised under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. When people receive care and treatment in their own homes an application must be made to the Court of Protection for them to authorise people to be deprived of their liberty. We found the service was working within the principles of the MCA. We found people gave consent for their care and were involved in all decisions about their support. Care plans included information about consent and detailed the support people required if they lacked capacity to consent.