The Healthcare Professional Services Limited

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• 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 service did not always ensure people’s needs were fully assessed in a way that gave staff all the information they required to deliver effective care.

Care plans and risk assessments were person‑centred, but they were limited in relation to the histories and backgrounds of the children and young people being supported by the service. This meant staff did not always have important contextual detail to understand their holistic needs. Some children’s communication plans were detailed and clearly described behaviours or indicators when a young person was happy or sad. Others were more limited in the information they provided, particularly for children and young people who did not communicate verbally. Although staff were knowledgeable about the needs of the children they supported regularly, staff providing cover in their absence might not readily have important background information. We discussed this with the manager who ensured us they would update care plans to ensure information was more detailed.

Care plans and assessments were otherwise very detailed about children and young people’s needs. Very detailed information and guidance was provided for staff on how they should provide support in relation to care tasks, including around the safe use and management of specialist equipment, safe moving and handling, eating and drinking and personal care.

The provider planned and delivered children and young people’s care and treatment in partnership with their parents. They did this in line with legislation and current evidence-based good practice and standards.

Care plans included person-centred guidance for staff on delivering the best care possible in line with individual needs and preferences. Staff followed guidance provided by specialist professionals, such as physiotherapists and speech and language therapists.

Staff had the training they required, and competency checks were completed for some specialist areas, showing the provider used competency‑based assurance to support care practice. We discussed with the manager the fact that some of the training that was subject to competency checks had not always been recorded and they assured us this would be done. Quality assurance processes were in place, and the service sought regular feedback from families, helping to confirm that care being delivered was effective and aligned with needs.

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 majority of liaison with other care and support services was carried out by the parents of the parents of the children and young people supported by the service. The parents we spoke with told us they fed back relevant information to staff and were satisfied that appropriate changes to care plans and practice were made. A manager told us that, where necessary, the service would always work in partnership with other professionals but at the time of our inspection, this responsibility remained with parents.

Staff worked effectively within their roles and received regular supervision. They told us they were provided with information relevant to their roles in a timely manner. which supported safe and coordinated care. Despite the lack of structured team meetings, staff collaborated well in practice, ensuring children and young people’s needs were met consistently. The parents we spoke with confirmed this.

The service supported people to live healthier lives and where possible, reduce their future needs for care and support.

People were supported to live healthier lives through person‑centred care planning, clear behavioural indicators and strong infection‑control practice. Where required, staff supported children and young people to eat and drink and to undertake exercises or other activities in line with professional and parental guidance.

The service 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.

Systems were in place to monitor and improve outcomes. Families were regularly asked for feedback, and spot checks took place. Care plans and risk assessments were reviewed regularly and updated where there were any changes in needs. Staff followed guidance from health professionals, such as physiotherapists and occupational therapists.

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

Staff described how they offered choices and sought consent from children and their parents when providing care and support. Information about capacity to make decisions was included in care plans. The majority of children and young people using the service were aged under 16 years and had limited capacity to make decisions about their care. Parents took the lead in supporting decision making with staff involvement where required, such as in offering choices about care.

Staff had received training in capacity and consent. The service’s policies and procedures reflected current best practice in relation to capacity and consent