Platinum Care Services

On this page

• Overview
• Person-centred Care
• Care provision, Integration and continuity
• Providing Information
• Listening to and involving people
• Equity in access
• Equity in experiences and outcomes
• Planning for the future

Responsive – this means we looked for evidence that the provider met people’s needs.

At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has changed to requires improvement.This meant people’s needs were not always met.

This service scored 61 (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 always make sure people were consistently at the centre of their care and treatment choices.

People generally experienced caring and respectful interactions. However, this was not always consistent. On some occasions, care was delivered in a task‑focused manner, which reduced opportunities for people to direct how and when they received support.

People’s care plans were not always detailed to demonstrate how person-centred care was being delivered in line with people’s personalised preferences and needs. Staff met people’s individual needs relating to their direct, day-to-day support such as support with personal care, eating and drinking and some activities. However, staff did not always support people to develop their individual skills, to identify goals and aspirations and to work towards them. Strengthening the link between care planning and practice would help ensure person‑centred approaches are embedded consistently across the service and would ensure the principles of Right Support, right care, right culture were fully embedded.

The provider did not always understand the diverse health and care needs of people and their local communities, to ensure care was joined-up, flexible and supported choice and continuity.

Care was generally organised to support continuity; however, this was not always consistently achieved. Systems were in place to support information sharing across the service, and staff demonstrated an understanding of the importance of maintaining consistent care. Daily records, nighttime records, and staff handovers all needed improving to ensure people received fully aligned support. There was a clear recognition from the management team of where improvements were required. This demonstrated a service that was taking steps to strengthen coordination and continuity to achieve more consistent, joined-up care experiences for people.

The provider supplied appropriate, accurate and up-to-date information in formats that were tailored to individual needs.

People’s communication needs were recorded in their care plans including if the person was reliant on facial expressions, body language and visual prompts to aid their understanding. The registered manager had also recently implemented digital audio communication books. Each book contained key information taken from the individual's care plan, including daily routines, what was important to them, medication information, activities, safeguarding guidance, how to raise a concern or complaint, and personalised support strategies. Every page could be played aloud at the press of a button, enabling the individual to hear the information as well as read or view it. To further personalise the resource, the audio has been recorded using the voices of familiar staff members.

The provider made it easy for people to share feedback and ideas, or raise complaints about their care, treatment and support. Staff involved people in decisions about their care and told them what had changed as a result.

Relatives were invited to complete feedback questionnaires, and the most recent ones were shared with us and no concerns had been raised. All relatives spoken with told us communication with the registered manager and staff was effective.

A formal complaints procedure was in place including a recording system to log complaints.

People had opportunities to offer suggestions and give feedback about the service during ‘house’ meetings, although it was unclear how effective these meetings were. However, the registered manager had recently introduced digital audio communication books which were an innovative way of improving communicating with people.

Staff we spoke with understood the importance of communicating with people in a way that met their needs.

The provider made sure that people could access the care, support and treatment they needed when they needed it.

Discussions with the registered manager demonstrated an understanding of how to access specialist health and social care services, including referrals to external professionals such as speech and language therapists.

People had hospital passports and health action plans in place. (A health action plan helps identify any health concerns at an early stage to improve the person’s health outcomes). A staff member told us, “I know what to do in an emergency situation and would contact emergency services.”

Out of hours support was in place, covered by the management team to ensure staff always had access to advice and support.

Staff and leaders did not always actively listen to information about people who are most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes. This meant people’s care was not always tailored in response to this.

People had some access to activities and community engagement. However, opportunities to develop independence and life skills was more limited. This meant that, although individual needs were recognised, people were not always supported to achieve equitable experiences and outcomes in line with best practice for people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. The registered manager took immediate action to make improvements. They shared with us examples of people being supported with household tasks and gardening activities. They started to capture these in a photograph format for reflection and sharing with significant others.

People were not always supported to plan for important life changes, so they could have enough time to make informed decisions about their future, including at the end of their life.

People did not always have clear progression plans in place to outline how they would be supported to develop skills, increase independence or achieve their personal goals. This meant opportunities for growth were not always identified and promoted.

Following our discussions with the provider, they were keen to implement planning for the future, with people to ensure they had clear, person-centred plans that promoted their independence and meaningful outcomes, enabling them to plan confidently for all stages of their lives.