Dale Care - Newcastle (Extra Care/Homecare)

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 inspection of 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.

Staff made sure people’s care and treatment was effective by assessing and reviewing their health, care and well-being needs with them. The registered manager or member of the management team met with people and their relatives before packages of care started to ensure their needs could be met by the service. A relative told us, “At the beginning the manager came to do an assessment, they listened to everything I told them. The manager even told us about extra things we could have for [Name] that we were not even aware of.”

Staff 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 and current evidence-based good practice and standards. People were supported with their nutrition and hydration where required. People and relatives’ comments included, “[Name] has a soft diet. The carers know what to do, to support [Name] to eat, they never rush”, “The carers prepare my meals and ask me what I fancy to eat always” and “Staff aways encourage fluids.”

Staff at the service 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. The service had a system in place for staff to communicate with each other which enabled them to effectively deliver people’s care and support. Staff had access to an app on their electronic devices where updates and messages could instantly be shared between staff. A staff member commented, “We get information about people’s care needs on the App, before we start to work with them.” Staff made timely referrals and worked well with other agencies to ensure people's treatment needs were met. A relative told us, “If [Name] is unwell staff always act appropriately. [Name] has had a couple of falls; staff have either called the GP or dialled 111 or 999.”

Staff at the service supported people to live healthier lives and where possible, reduce their future needs for care and support. Staff had the knowledge to monitor and identify a deterioration in a person’s health. A relative commented, “Carers are very aware if [Name] is unwell, 2 weeks ago they were worried and called an ambulance, [Name] needed treatment, so it was a good response from them.”

Staff 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. There was evidence of regular reviews and action being taken immediately following changes to people’s health needs. A relative told us, “[Name] had a review 2 months ago.” During reviews, care needs were discussed to improve outcomes. Regular audits were also carried out to monitor and improve outcomes.

Staff at the service told people about their rights around consent and respected these when delivering person-centred care and treatment. People’s consent to care and support was respected by staff. Records relating to mental capacity contained all relevant information and were documented in line with the Mental Capacity Act guidance. A person told us, “My relative has Power of Attorney.” [Person with legal authority to make decisions for a person.]