Gemcare South West Plymouth

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.

At our last assessment we rated this key question requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to 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 before they began to use the service. Their views were listened to when assessments were carried out. Each person had a care plan. One person said, “I am new to this service, but what l can say is up to now everything really seems to work well.”

Staff told us care plans had improved and gave them the information they needed to provide the right support for each person.

A health professional had recently worked with the service on a new care package. They told us the assessment was thorough and person-centred. They said staff had escalated concerns appropriately and were responsive to emails but could be slower when responding to an action request.

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 plans had been reviewed and now contained person centred information about people’s needs and related health conditions.

Staff had guidance on how to meet people’s needs in relation to areas such as pressure care, catheter care, diabetes, and nutrition. One staff member told us they had completed diabetes training and described how a diabetes care plan told them what to look out for and what action to take if the individual became unwell.

We did not look at How staff, teams and services work together during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

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.

Staff worked with other professionals to make sure people’s needs were met. Where the staff identified people’s lives could be improved, they contacted other professionals for advice and follow up. This included working with district nurses and occupational therapists to ensure people had the support and equipment to maintain their independence where possible. An occupational therapist’s feedback praised the staff who had supported a person with the introduction of new equipment. One person told us how staff supported them to do exercises the occupational therapist had given them.

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.

Staff recorded details of the care and support they delivered at each visit. Any concerns logged would send an alert on the system. Staff also told us they reported concerns to the office so information could be shared with health professionals. Some staff told us communication was better, others said it still needed improvement. One staff member said they were confident action would be taken if they felt a person needed extra time at their visits. Another staff member felt there was sometimes a delay in professional input being sought. The manager told us they were continuing to work on improving communication which was discussed in staff meetings.

However, one person told us, “I wasn’t feeling too good and one of my then regular carers took one look at me, called my relative and the GP and I was sent to hospital. That’s what I mean about them being brilliant.”

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

Staff had completed training in the Mental Capacity Act and knew how to apply this in practice. Staff knew to seek consent before delivering care.

Where a person had been assessed as lacking capacity to make decisions, best interest decisions involving appropriate people had been completed.