Empress Social 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 was the first inspection since the service was registered on 30 July 2020.
 

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.
The registered manager told us they completed a full needs assessment before deciding if the service could meet people’s needs. We reviewed three care plans and saw that they were very detailed and person centred. People were usually visited within seven working days of the service receiving a referral. People and or family members were fully involved in the assessment and development of their care plans. People’s preferences, goals, and aspirations were recorded as well as how and when they would like to be supported. People’s individual communication needs were assessed and staff communicated in whatever way the individual person could manage. For example, facial expressions or body language. Staff were trained to ensure they have the skills and experience to meet those people’s needs. People’s needs were kept under regular review to make sure their care was current and continued to meet their needs.
 

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.
The service worked with individuals to ensure that all care plans and risk assessments were personalised to the person they were supporting.

Where the service supported people who had a learning disability and autistic people staff received specialist mandatory training. Staff were also trained in positive behavioural support. Empress Social Care Ltd works in partnership with the Hertfordshire care providers association [HCPA] as a training partner to deliver in person training to a more advanced standard.

We noted there were ‘Champions’ in place who supported staff in several areas. There were champions for overseeing safe medication protocol, infection prevention and control, dementia, safeguarding, positive behavioural support, and a mental health champion who expertise was in mental capacity assessment/act (MCA)within the current staff team.
 

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.
The provider had established effective partnership working with professionals and organisations to achieve seamless care. The registered manager told us they selected staff based on their experience to work with people with specific health conditions, wishes and or aspirations. This approach ensured the enhanced sharing of information amongst the team with a lead keyworker and senior staff member leading the team, with oversight and support from management.

Staff told us they were given an opportunity to really get to know the people they were supporting, and their families and this approach helped support a cohesive care support network. Regular team meetings to help ensure staff were kept updated if there were any changes to people needs, health or well-being. The registered manager attended at least one of the fortnightly team meetings for each person, in addition to the monthly staff meeting. All staff undertook the care certificate as a minimum and were encouraged and supported to take up National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) training in health and social care to develop their knowledge.

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.
 
The provider worked in partnership with the people they supported to help them maintain healthy lives as much as they were able and wanted to.
The staff at Empress Social care worked with people and families to develop healthy activities where people could enjoy some light exercise whilst being supported by staff in their own homes and in the community. We saw from peoples care records and feedback from the registered manager the activities people done included trampolining, regular walking routines, clay pigeon shooting, football, and swimming.

People who were supported with meal planning and cooking used fresh produce including fruit, vegetables, and healthy snacks.

Staff supported people to book and attend health appointments, and where required they supported the person to attend appointments. The registered manager told us they often consulted with medical professionals when required for example to provide updates on how the person was doing.

People were supported to maintain their NHS Purple Health Folders, which hold the person’s health records and are completed by all professionals who provide any support.
 

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’s skills, life experience and strengths were discussed with them and those involved in their care, to understand how people’s short, mid and long-term life choices, goals, ambitions and outcomes could be planned. People’s outcomes were related to health, daily living, wellbeing goals identified through annual health reviews.  Some people required a more targeted support with managing distress, expressing frustration, and agreeing measures that may reduce the severity of the episode. In addition, a range of tools including ABC charts and Positive Behavioural Support helping to minimise harmful and negative behaviours.
 

The provider told people about their rights around consent and respected these when delivering person-centred care and treatment. The provider had a system in place to make sure people were asked to consent to their care and support plan and for it to be recorded and kept under regular review. Staff told us they were aware people could refuse some or all their support. People were offered a clearly written and easy-to-read consent policy and consent forms for them to agree or not. The registered manager told us all staff are trained in the Mental Capacity Act and completed refresher training on an annual basis.
The registered manager told us if they thought a person lacked capacity, and they had a nominated lasting power of attorney (LPA) in place their LPA signs consent on their behalf. Empress uploaded consent forms and retained copies of LPAs.