Dementia Care & Support at Home Limited

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 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.

Before people started using the service their needs were assessed. Staff and teams worked well together both internally and with external agencies. This was confirmed by the positive feedback we received from people and professionals who worked with the service. Comments from people included, “The care plan has been reviewed, and they come to the house and if there are any changes to my loved one’s health, I would ring the office and discuss it with them. I feel we have a good rapport and can speak openly and honestly to them, and they listen” and “They will often support practically, for example, sending carers to solve the issue at hand, often going the extra mile.”

The provider planned and delivered people’s care and support 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. For example, some people had specific nutrition and hydration care plans in place which followed guidance provided by healthcare professionals, and this provided staff with information about the support people needed to eat and drink.

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.

A social care professional shared with us a positive example of when service worked well together, they said “One of my service users had a negative experience with a previous care agency, where I had to initiate safeguarding procedures. The family had lost trust in carers. I changed the agency to Dementia Care Support and asked [member of staff] to meet with the family and put them at ease before supporting this person. [Member of staff] did so without hesitation and understood the families concerns. I received some positive feedback from the family in the following weeks about [member of staff] support and manner. This was greatly appreciated.”

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. Comments from people included, “Without the support from the carers my loved one would not be able to stay at home, I am very pleased with the company and would recommend them to anyone” and “Quality of care my loved one receives Is very good they work well with the district nurse who is doing the dressings on my loved one’s arm, they are very accommodating”.

Staff routinely monitored people’s care and support in order to help maintain people’s well-being.

People’s care records were reviewed and updated to reflect their current needs. Comments included, “I can’t fault the care my loved one has had, their care plan was reviewed, someone came to do a home visit, and we discussed if there were any changes and what was going well” and “I contacted the office one day as the timings of the call was later then expected the office staff sorted it straight away.”

The service told people about their rights around consent and respected these when delivering person-centred care and treatment. People had care plans in place regarding capacity and their decision-making abilities. Staff had received training in the MCA and had a working knowledge of capacity and consent. A social care professional commented, “I would encourage some staff to adapt their approach to people who display resistance to care or are challenging to support. I think this could prevent issues being reported to us around people declining care. However, I recognise that this is not always feasible in complex circumstances.”