First Choice Carers Ltd

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.

Managers assessed people’s needs and choices. They met with the person and their representatives to discuss these. People and their relatives confirmed they were involved in assessments and planning their own care. The provider told us they matched staff skills and personalities to meet people’s assessed needs. The assessments were used to create care plans. These were detailed, personalised and regularly reviewed.

Staff provided evidence-based care and support. People told us staff were well trained. All staff completed a range of training and were supported to undertake qualifications in care. Staff explained the training was helpful. Managers also ran sessions for staff to improve their knowledge and to discuss key areas of practice.

Staff were given a range of guidance documents covering different areas of their role, this included information about best practice and guidance about how people’s conditions may affect them. Staff told us this helped ensure they could provide good quality care.

Staff and managers worked well together. The provider had developed a range of ways for staff to communicate. These included formal meetings as well as spending time in the office for informal support. Staff completed logs of the care they provided and shared important updates with each other about the people they were caring for. Managers held regular staff meetings which included discussions around key procedures, best practice and areas of interest. Staff were able to contribute their ideas and learn from each other.

Managers communicated well with other professionals, alerting them to changes in people’s needs or concerns.

Staff supported people to remain healthy. Managers assessed and recorded information about people’s healthcare needs. These formed part of people’s care plans and included guidance for staff. Staff liaised with healthcare professionals when needed.

Staff supported people to make healthy choices with healthy eating options. They supported some people to exercise, with activities outside their homes. Staff had identified 1 person had poor nutritional intake. They alerted their GP who prescribed supplements to help them maintain a healthy weight. Staff assisted another person to understand about healthy diet choices and to be involved in preparing their own meals. Managers reported this had improved the person’s physical and mental health.

Staff monitored people’s wellbeing. People were asked to discuss their own personal objectives and the support they needed from the agency to achieve these. The provider developed care plans designed to work towards these objectives. Staff monitored progress in meeting these. Managers met with people to undertake regular reviews of their care and monitor whether outcomes were being achieved.

People consented to their care. They were involved in care planning and were asked to sign agreements about different aspects of their care. Information was presented in formats people could understand. People using the service and relatives told us they were offered choices and staff respected these. The provider carried out assessments of people’s mental capacity when needed. For people who lacked the mental capacity to make certain decisions, the provider liaised with their representatives to make sure these decisions were made in people’s best interests.