Compassion First Home Care

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 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 71 (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.

Assessments were completed prior to receiving a service from Compassion First. This ensured the service could meet people’s expectations from the start, to support good outcomes. Assessments included how people wanted their care delivered, when, for how long and what equipment they required to support them safely. This helped people receive personalised care from the start. People’s important information from their assessments became a base for a care plan that gave staff information to follow at each care call. People and those important to them were involved in the assessment and planning process. Staff were confident they had the right information to support people in a personalised way.

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.

People and relatives said they were involved in how their care was structured and delivered. People said the service matched their expectations. One person said, “I am very satisfied with the care.” Another person said, “I would recommend this agency.” One person told us how staff came at the times they wanted and even if staff had done what was needed, staff spent time with them which made them feel valued.

Staff relied on people’s care records, as well what people said at each care call to deliver the care people needed. One staff member said, “New care plans take time to get right as we update them. We let the office know if it needs updating, it then goes on the app (on staff handheld device). Staff told us they completed daily logs to evidence the support and interventions they had undertaken during each visit. This demonstrated how staff supported people in line with their agreed needs. Care staff completed these for each care call, but we found better monitoring of those records, could help indicate additional support needs. The operations director was aware care record entries was an area they had identified to improve.

Staff told us their training helped them to undertake their roles effectively. Staff we spoke with said they shadowed experienced staff, were introduced to people and supported experienced staff to get to know the person they would be supporting. One staff member told us they all worked well as a team which benefitted those people they supported.

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 services.

People and relatives said they were involved on how their care was delivered and if other health professionals were required, this was arranged. One relative told us how staff took ownership to get their family member the support they needed. This relative said, “They are meticulous in checking it all off on their phone, they put cream onto her. When I tried and could not get through to the district nurse, one of the carers (staff) did it for me to get them to come out and check on her skin.” This relative went on to say, “The district nurse was satisfied with what the carers (staff) were doing and was not concerned.”

Staff had access to people’s risk assessments and care plans on their handheld devices they used to log the care they delivered at each visit. The registered manager told us this supported positive information sharing because staff had immediate access to people’s care plans when they needed to. Staff told us any changes in people’s needs was communicated to them through handovers or from looking at previous care calls via their electronic handheld device. The registered manager worked with South Warwickshire integrated single point of access which is a service where care providers could access the right urgent clinical support, at the right time for people in their 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 wherepossible, reduce their future needs for care and support.

People said staff helped them, but staff were mindful they did not take away their choice or independence. People felt in control of what happened and when. If people wanted to increase or change their call calls, this was supported. If people could administer their own medicines, prepare their own food and drinks, or wash themselves with minimal or no support, this was achieved. People said they were comfortable and confident to say what they wanted.

Staff told us they felt confident to share any changes with the person, their family or office staff to achieve positive outcomes. One staff member gave us an example. They said, “[Person] had a support frame around the toilet, but they were struggling to get up, almost falling. I mentioned to his wife that you can get a toilet seat riser. I showed her pictures on my phone and she bought one.” This staff member said their suggestion helped this person to continue to do things for themselves. We asked staff what they did if people did not have family to rely on. Staff said they would work other health professionals to get any equipment or aids to help best support people.

The provider did not always effectively monitor people’s care and treatment. Theyensured outcomes were positive and consistent, and that they met both clinical expectations and the expectations of people themselves. However, further improvements were required to evidence consistently good care.

Records were kept for recording what tasks staff had completed at each care call which staff referred to when needed. However, we found some shortfalls in some records, including no topical cream chart application records when staff administered prescribed topical creams. Some daily records did not actually record reasons why a person refused personal care, despite their care plan saying this. For another person who could be anxious, there was limited information to tell staff why or what the triggers were and how to manage this safely. The operations director and care staff we spoke with agreed this required improving. However, staff conversations showed us they knew people well and from staff’s knowledge and the support they provided, we were confident no one had come to harm. We recommended to the registered manager they considered how they recorded some task-based activities and to consider better recording to help identify further support. The registered manager told us following our visits, this would be addressed.

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

The provider informed people about their rights regarding consent and staff respected these when delivering person-centred care and treatment. Staff demonstrated knowledge of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and upheld people’s rights under the Act.

At the time of assessment, most people receiving support had the capacity to make decisions about their care. No one was subject to any deprivation of their liberty, and restrictive practices were not in place. In some cases, people had relatives who were involved with the planning and agreement of the care provided. People and those important to them, made choices about how that care was provided by staff. Staff worked with people and their family members and any relevant health professionals to ensure any decisions reflected people’s individual wishes. Staff described the importance of seeking consent. Staff understood it was imperative to offer people choice and to always seek their agreement to what people needed.