Home Instead Mid Cornwall

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

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 good. At this assessment, the rating has remained 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.

Assessment processes were comprehensive and identified and included people’s physical, medical, emotional, social, and cultural preferences. This enabled the provider to match people with staff who shared similar interests and work experiences. We saw that assessments were regularly updated noting changes in conditions, or preferences, ensuring a holistic approach. One health care professional told us, “Their process of arranging introductions with new patients, documentation and high standards of care is to be commended.” Staff were informed of any changes to people’s care needs via the provider’s electronic app. This ensured any changes could be made and delivered in real time. Care staff told us, “Leaders make it clear what we are going into” and “we have a comprehensive knowledge of the background and what’s expected.”

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 staff were skilled and understood how to meet people’s individual needs and had a working knowledge of current best practice. They told us, “Induction captured your hobbies, skills and interests so that you could be matched with people…care staff and people have something in common, a helpful starting point to build rapport with people.” Care staff completed the Care Certificate, on-line training, face to face training and had never visited a person without first being introduced and shown what was expected in the call. One person told us “My [relative] contacted [Home Instead] when I was in hospital and realised, I would need support on going home. [Home Instead] visited me there and we had a long conversation about what support I needed and they really seemed to understand my need to remain as independent as possible.”

The provider always worked well across teams and services to support people. They shared thorough assessments of people’s needs when they moved between different services, so people only needed to tell their story once.

The service engaged positively with people’s relatives and involved health care staff to ensure peoples care needs were met. Managers and care staff worked effectively with health and social care staff. Professionals were highly complementary of the services’ collaborative approach and told us, “The staff team have always been a proactive and positive care provider who communicates well with the frailty team via email, telephone call or face to face for any new clients we may have asked them to consider supporting.” and “Leaders have always been flexible, if they can help they will, sometimes for emergency care provision and they support the team of care staff well.” A relative told us, “Earlier in the year, one of the care staff came to the morning call to find that [relative’s] leg had swollen to 3 times its size and was weeping badly. She immediately reported it to the office, then me and the GP. It was sorted by the District Nurse the same day and Home Instead liaised with her to make sure [my relative] got the treatment needed.” Visits lasted a least one hour which meant care staff became well-acquainted with people they were supporting and were able to notice even minor health changes. This allowed the management care team to liaise with other professionals to support with treatment.

The provider employed a ‘trainer’ who had completed an additional Train the Trainer course, enabling training to care staff working with people living with Parkinson’s Disease.

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

The service always supported people to access health services when needed. Care staff supported people during health appointments when required. Care staff were trained to report any changes in people’s needs, allowing the provider to respond appropriately to identified risks.

One person said, “The meals the care staff provide for me are good and if I fancy cooking, they will fetch and carry for me while I do it.”

One health care professional told us, “We often use Home Instead for our more able patients for social outreach support alongside personal care needs and they have always worked to identify the right carer with the right person depending on the care plan.”

With the person’s consent the provider informed a local GP team about a person’s changing mobility needs, leading to a quick assessment with the local occupational therapist and provision of a hospital bed and additional aids. By taking steps at the right time meant people stayed in good health.

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.

People and their relatives were consistently complimentary of the service provided. They were confident any concerns reported would be addressed and information was shared openly. One person said, “The care staff see what needs doing and just get on with it unless it relates directly to me personally.”

The provider used a digital care system that allowed the office team real-time access to notes as soon as they were submitted. The system ensured calls were not missed and medication was rarely forgotten, benefitting people by providing real-time information and effective quality monitoring.

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

Care staff understood the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and ensured they asked for consent and offered choices to people.

Where people were assessed as lacking capacity to make specific decisions, best interest meetings were carried out. Some people had a safe to keep their medication in, a capacity assessment had been carried out to ensure this was in their best interests and would try to do the least restrictive option by moving medication into another room. A relative told us, “Care staff are good at supporting and encouraging [relative] while he does what he can, but they only ask to take over if he is struggling.” One person stated, “I still like to do as much personal care as I can, but they respectfully support me, so I feel safe in doing so.”