Valley Care - Sheffield

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 newly registered 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. The management team carried out an initial visit to people prior to care commencing. This was to obtain vital information about them and their care needs and to find out how best to support them effectively. Regular reviews took place to ensure care plans reflected people’s current needs and any changes were made. Reviews also considered people’s opinions about the care provided. People told us they were fully involved in their care and were happy with the support they received.

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. People were supported to have access to food and fluids and where people were living with dementia, they were supported in an understanding way. Staff knew about dementia care and how to support people in line with their needs. The provider evidenced a good working relationship with external professionals to ensure people’s needs were appropriately met.

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. Care documentation was clear, informative and reviewed frequently. Staff and professionals, working alongside the service, worked together to meet people’s needs. Information was shared appropriately so people’s outcomes could be met. Team meetings were held throughout the year to ensure staff were up to date with changes and to give staff the opportunity to raise any concerns.

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. People had access to healthcare professionals and staff worked closely with them to ensure people’s needs were met. Staff and leaders escalated concerns to external services promptly and, whenever possible, arranged for a staff member to attend assessments or meetings. This ensured changes were fed back quickly and care plans revised accordingly. This meant the service had built an effective and close working relationship with external teams, which enhanced and improved the quality of care people received. One relative said, “The district nurse comes once a week to dress a wound.”

The provider routinely monitored people’s care and treatment to continuously improve it. They ensured outcomes were positive and consistent, and met both clinical expectations and the expectations of people themselves. The provider worked flexibly to meet people’s changing needs. For example, if a family member needed time away from their caring roles to attend appointments, the provider arranged for staff to support their relative while they attended. This supported people to remain living in their own homes for as long as they wanted to. Staff and leaders supported people to maintain their involvement in the community by attending places of worship and events. This improved people’s outcomes, had a positive impact on their well-being and helped them to feel valued.

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. Consent forms were complete to ensure people consented to their care and support. Where people lacked capacity, decisions were made in people’s best interests.