Homecare Solutions For You

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• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

Caring – this means we looked for evidence that the provider involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

This is the first assessment for this service. This key question has been rated Requires Improvement.

Requires improvement: This meant people did not always feel well-supported, cared for or treated with dignity and respect.

The service was in breach of legal regulation in relation to dignity.

This service scored 50 (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 did not treat people with kindness, empathy and compassion, or respect their privacy and dignity.

Care plans did not consistently reflect people's gender-specific preferences this meant we could not be assured people were always supported in line with their preference.

Care notes frequently lacked dignified language which had not been identified through the providers existing audit process.

Records did not always evidence support with personal care, including oral care, hair washing and clarity on whether people had received support with a shower or full body wash, with notes often lacking sufficient detail to demonstrated dignified and person-centred care.

We discussed our findings with the management team, who acknowledged that care notes were not currently audited for appropriate language or dignity related standards, however they confirmed this would implement this following the inspection feedback.

Despite our concerns identified, feedback from people using the service was mainly positive. One person told us, “I was worried about someone I didn’t know washing me, but they are so respectful and my dignity is maintained at all times “. Another said, “Yes, from day one, I was made to feel very comfortable with the carers helping me with my personal care, my dignity is respected and they are all so kind."

The provider did not always treat people as individuals and make sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences.

People and their relatives told us they were treated with respect. One person told us, “(Relative)is very safe with them, they have really got to know (relative) and are very aware of their personal needs".

However, we found care notes often were often task-focused and did not consistently show how support was personalised. Some care plans lacked sufficient life history and background information, making it harder for staff to fully understand each persons' s identity, preferences, and what was important to them. Improving the level of detail regarding people's choices, preferences and meaningful relationships, ensuring regular reviews, would help strengthen person-centred care.

The provider did not always promote people’s independence, so people did not always know their rights and have choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

People told us they had regular care staff who knew them well. One person told us, "(Relative)has 2 regular carers with 1 coming 6 days and the other 1 day and during holidays they cover for each other”. Another said, "My (Relative) looks forward to the carers coming, they have built up a very good relationship with their carers .(Relative) has 2 who cover the week between them”. However, as care plans and daily records did not always reflect what people could do independently or how staff encouraged them to maintain or develop their independence, this limited evidence of people being supported to have choice and control over their daily routines.

The provider did not always listen to and understand people’s needs, views and wishes. However, staff knew the people they supported well. People told us staff were caring and responsive, with carers demonstrating approaches when individuals became anxious or agitated. One person told us, “The carers are both very caring and as my (relative) can become quite agitated if I am not there they really know how to distract (relative) with suggesting different things to discuss."We saw evidence of the service appropriately contacting GPs and the local authority when required. People using the service and staff had access to out-of-hours support.

The provider did not always care about and promote the wellbeing of their staff. They did not always support or enable staff to deliver person-centred care.

Staff received regular supervisions and there was a lone-working policy in place, with new starter packs containing relevant health information. However, staff handbooks lacked guidance on breaks, wellbeing and support for people on sponsorship. Team meeting meetings did not show how staff were encouraged to share feedback. Overall, improvements were needed to strengthen staff wellbeing and support.