The Business Centre

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 good. At this assessment the rating remained unchanged.

This service scored 67 (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 did not always make sure people’s care and treatment were effective because they did not always check and discuss people’s health, care, wellbeing and communication needs with them. Most people and relatives told us they had been part of an initial assessment and care plans reviews. However, this had not always resulted in good quality care planning where we identified not all healthcare needs were documented and guidance was not always given to staff.

The provider usually planned and delivered people’s care and treatment with them, including what was important and mattered to them. However, the provider had not identified, or risk assessed support needed for people with additional bowel care needs or provided staff with guidance for people who required support from medical devices. We shared this with the provider who took action to ensure these were put in place. Where some people required care plans and risk assessments relating to their individual specific health conditions these were in place. Some risk assessments were in place to help identify risk factors specific to each person, such as manual handling, falls and pressure care. This helped to provide staff with information on how to manage and minimise these risks and provide people's care safely.

The provider worked across teams and services to support people. Staff spoke positively about the support they received from their colleagues and managers and how they felt like they were part of good teamwork. People told us they were happy with how staff worked with external professionals to benefit them. One person said staff would be receiving training with the physiotherapist before introducing some new equipment. Staff told us the provider had implemented communication systems to share updates where they were informed of any changes. For example, 1 staff member explained the process for communicating when a person’s needs changed, which may result in amendments to their care delivery. They told us, “I would report any changes to care plans to the care coordinators, if it was a referral needed to dietician for example, I would escalate this, then the office will change the care plan”.

Some people were supported by relatives to access healthcare appointments, and where needed this information was shared between both relatives and staff. Most relatives felt this worked well, although there had been an occasion where instructions had not been followed by staff which resulted in a person needing to reschedule a health appointment. Care plans demonstrated where the provider had liaised with external healthcare professionals and where changes had been made. One external professional told us staff had supported a person with their health condition, they had planned their meals, completed their shopping and helped them prepare appropriate meals. This helped the person to manage a healthier lifestyle.

Staff monitored people’s care and treatment, and the provider had processes in place to review people’s care records. A staff member told us they had raised a concern about a person who did not have enough time allocated to them to complete their care needs safely. Managers had made the necessary arrangements and increased the person’s allocated time.

The provider told people about their rights around consent and respected these when delivering care and treatment. People and relatives did not raise any concerns in relation to this. Consent and capacity had been considered when completing people’s care plans, although not all parts of assessing people’s capacity had been documented well. This was a documentation issue and had no impact on the person receiving care and support. We shared this with the provider who told us they would update the relevant documentation. The provider was working within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty (DOLS), and staff had completed the relevant training.