Pinnacle Care Professionals 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

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 83 (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 always made sure people’s care and treatment was effective by thoroughly assessing and reviewing their health, care, wellbeing and communication needs with them.

The registered manager excelled at ensuring a thorough assessment of people’s needs was carried out to ensure they could effectively meet people’s holistic needs, as well as ongoing review and assessment to ensure information remained current. There was open and honest communication with people, and the registered manager told us they always considered how they would feel if they were the person. They told us, “[It’s important to] be curious and not judgemental and try to think about things from their perspective if I was in their shoes how would I want to receive communication and information. It is a privilege to support people; with every person I have learnt something.”

Communication was carefully considered to ensure people received information and could communicate their needs and wishes effectively. The registered manager had implemented an individual WhatsApp group for a person’s specific staff further to discussion, and with their consent, so the person could ask staff to communicate messages to their staff team using this which they found reassuring, supported with reduction in the persons anxiety and resulted in effective and timely care. We saw a person living with complex barriers to communication was effectively supported through the implementation of a specific tool created by the registered manager so they could communicate with staff about their needs, preferences and choices which was empowering.

These robust processes ensured people received support that met their needs, even when things changed, and supported them to communicate and receive communication to support their choice, autonomy and control over their care.

The provider always 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. They worked to develop evidence-based good practice and standards.

Care plans contained detailed information on how best to support people to ensure what was important and what mattered to them was included in their day-to-day support. Records evidenced documented guidance was consistently followed by staff.

People and relatives told us about their experience with the planning and delivery of care was like and feedback was consistently positive. One relative said, “[Registered manager] talked about likes and dislikes and went through everything and listened to what we needed. I am very impressed”.

People’s nutrition, hydration and personal care needs were effectively met and documented as required, we saw that if people declined support this was recorded and alternatives offered. People were fully involved in planning their meals with staff, taking nutritional advice into account. Staff were aware of people’s individual preferences and patterns of eating, which was also documented in people’s care plans. People were offered choice of what they wanted to eat and encouraged to eat a balanced diet whilst respecting people’s autonomy and capacity to make unwise decisions around food.

In addition, people’s mental wellbeing was carefully considered as well as respecting people’s choice and things that mattered to them as an individual, for example maintaining their appearance and hygiene. One staff member told us about supporting someone to paint their nails as this was something they liked to do. A relative told us about their loved one’s support with bathing, “[There are] 2 different carers come so that there is cover. Both of them visited initially and found out how [relative] likes it all to happen and then they do alternate weeks. It works so well.”

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.

We saw records of numerous interactions and the proactive engagement of a variety of professionals; we also saw that the registered manager and staff team regularly acted on behalf of people when appropriate to do so to support them accessing the right care at the right time.

One professional working with the service said, “My experience of Pinnacle although only short so far has been one in which I have found refreshing in my role in adult social care.”

The provider always supported people to manage their health and wellbeing to fully maximise their independence, choice and control. Staff supported people to live healthier lives and where possible, reduce their future needs for care and support.

The service was exceptionally flexible to support people to remain as independent as possible. For example, the registered manager rapidly introduced as required additional support for a person residing with a relative who was often away from home for extended, unscheduled periods. This meant the person could remain living in their home in line with their choice to do so.

The registered manager and staff team were very aware of the impact social isolation could have on people and ensured they had support to maintain their mental health as well as physical health needs. For example, one person told us about issues with declining mobility, they said, “I can’t get out now. I love my garden. Today the carer was looking in the garden, and she took a photo of my Camellia for me to see. That was so kind, things like that make a difference you know.” A staff member told us, “If the person is crying or having a hard day, I will sit with them and listen to everything they’ve got to say and then we do the jobs when they are settled and feeling a bit better.”

We saw numerous examples of the registered manager and team proactively seeking support from external professionals, for example contacting an occupational therapist to carry out an assessment for equipment for a person that they felt was at risk of falling. This proactive, flexible and person centred approach meant people were able to maximise their independence, choice and control over their lives whilst maintaining their health and wellbeing.

The provider routinely monitored people’s care and treatment to continuously improve it. They ensured that outcomes were positive and consistent, and that they met both clinical expectations and the expectations of people themselves.

We saw the registered manager carried out regular reviews of documents and of people’s care to ensure their personal and clinical outcomes were met and they engaged appropriate professionals, for example, the GP, district nurse, psychiatrist and occupational therapist, if they identified any concerns. For example, a person supported was regularly weighed and there was a concern regarding weight loss which the registered manager contacted the dietician about to support to address.

The team understood the importance of monitoring and supporting with people’s mental wellbeing. One relative said, “[Relative] biggest problem is loneliness. The carers will take them for a walk or to the garden centre, they are really good.”

This ensured outcomes met clinical expectations as well as those of the individual.

The provider told people about their rights around consent and respected these when delivering person centred care and treatment.

Staff engaged with people using their preferred method of communication including using person specific communication aids and providing information in a format that people understood to support them to make choices.

We saw capacity to consent had been considered through documentation in care plans and staff had a clear understanding of capacity and consent. Staff sought people’s consent before carrying out any care and support. Where relatives had Power of Attorney and could make decisions about people’s care on their behalf and in their best interests, this was also documented effectively.

These measures supported people’s choice and ensured, when people were unable to make a decision for themselves, that the right people were involved in decision making so that it was in line with the persons wishes and preferences, made in their best interests, and within a legal framework in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.