Austen Allen Homecare - East Kent

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 assessment for this newly registered 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.

The provider made sure people’s care and treatment was effective by assessing and reviewing their health, care, wellbeing and communication needs with them.

People’s needs were assessed appropriately and reviewed over time. Care plans reflected individual circumstances and levels of support required, and were updated when needs changed or concerns were raised. Staff checked care plans, spoke with people and escalated changes in need. People we spoke with confirmed this. This ensured care remained appropriate as needs changed.

The provider 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.

Care delivery reflected relevant guidance and professional input where required. Training, supervision and care planning aligned with recognised approaches to support, including when health professionals were involved. This ensured care was delivered in line with good practice. People gave positive feedback about staff competence, including, “The carers use a hoist to move me. Every one of them is excellent. I think they must have had good training”, and “The carers appear to be well trained. If a new carer is employed, they shadow a more experienced one at first until they are confident.”

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. Staff worked effectively with each other and external professionals. Communication routes and escalation responsibilities were clear, and supervision arrangements supported consistency across the team. This ensured people received coordinated care.

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

Care focused on maintaining wellbeing and preventing deterioration. Staff supported people through encouragement, monitoring and timely escalation rather than undertaking tasks unnecessarily. This supported people to maintain their wellbeing and reduced the risk of deterioration.

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.

Care planning focused on achieving outcomes for people. Monitoring through reviews, supervision and feedback identified where care needed to change. This was used to adjust care delivery. This ensured the service understood whether people’s needs were being met and could make improvements where required.

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

Consent was considered and documented in care planning. Spot‑check supervision confirmed that staff sought consent before providing care and respected people’s rights and choices. Staff assumed people had capacity to make decisions unless there were concerns, and allowed people to make unwise decisions where appropriate. This ensured people’s rights were respected and care was delivered in line with legal requirements.