PHH Care Ltd

On this page

• 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 good.

This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care.

This service scored 65 (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 treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity.

People and their relatives spoke highly of the staff and the quality of care they received. People described staff as friendly, caring and encouraging.

People told us, staff supported them with their personal care needs in a respectful and compassionate manner. One relative told us, “They are fantastic; they really like caring, they love their jobs.”

Staff took time to engage with people and promoted their comfort and wellbeing during care visits. Staff maintained people's dignity when providing support, working in partnership with people to deliver personalised care that reflected their preferences, promoted dignity and supported choice and control.

The provider treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. They took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

People and their relatives spoke positively about the personalised approach taken by staff. People told us, staff took time to build meaningful relationships and understand what was important to them.

Relatives also told us, they felt supported by staff. One relative said, “It's hard to motivate [person]. Carers always ask how I am.” This demonstrated staff recognised the important role relatives played in people's lives and considered their wellbeing, alongside the needs of the person receiving care

Staff we spoke with, described people's preferences, strengths and routines and explained how they adapted their approach to meet individual needs.

The provider promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

People and their relatives spoke positively about the flexibility of the service and the way staff responded to individual needs. One person told us, “They [staff] are very responsive; they come when it suits me.”

People also expressed confidence in staff's abilities to support their healthcare needs, although some people expressed some staff appeared better trained than others.

Staff respected people's decisions and involved them in choices relating to their care, respecting people's wishes when they chose not to accept certain aspects of personal care and offered people a choice of clothing, including selecting from multiple outfit options each day.

The provider did not always listen to and understand people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff did not always respond to people’s needs in the moment or act to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress.

Staff contacted healthcare professionals appropriately when concerns about people's health or wellbeing were identified. However, people’s daily records did not always evidence staff were responsive or knew what to do when people were in discomfort or distress.

Care records did not always provide clear instructions for staff regarding the management of people's symptoms. For example, 1 person had been prescribed an 'as required' [PRN] medicine, which was used for periods of distress. The protocol did not contain guidance outlining when the medicine should be considered, or the circumstances in which the medicine should be administered.

The absence of clear guidance meant staff did not have sufficient information to support consistent decision-making and ensure the person received timely symptom management

The provider did not always ensure there were sufficient staff deployed in a way that supported their wellbeing and enabled the sustainable delivery of care.

Staff were committed to their roles and spoke positively about caring for people, staff were passionate about the care they provided and demonstrated a strong commitment to the people they supported. One staff member told us, “I love the work I do, I love my job.”

Some staff described challenges associated with their workload, we heard, “Sometimes it's hard on myself and my team when we have a workload that takes a lot on us. None of my team have complained about the work itself, but the risk involved when travelling miles to get to clients. We've had several meetings where we have spoken about it, so I want to believe the manager is working on this, so we don't have to travel.”

Another staff member highlighted the impact of long working days, we heard, “The time we are out as domiciliary carers, you come in early and come back late, you don't have enough sleep. There's a lot of driving in between.”

The provider told us, staff have periods of time between care calls, in which they have provided staff with guidance and information to ensure staff take relevant breaks.