Home Instead Senior 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. At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained the same. This meant people’s outcomes were consistently good, and people’s feedback confirmed this.

This service scored 88 (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 and relatives told us the registered manager had completed an assessment of support needs before care was delivered. This gave them the opportunity to discuss people’s choices and preferences to plan specific packages of care and support. Where people required specific support and monitoring relating to additional healthcare needs, these had been incorporated into care plans and shared with the relevant external professionals. However, whilst we saw no impact to people, we did identify some discrepancies between care plans and risk assessment information when people’s needs had changed. For example, where a person had reduced their call times, not all documentation had been updated to reflect this. We shared our findings with the registered manager who told us they would review the relevant care plans.

Local leaders encouraged the safe use of innovative and new approaches to planning and delivering people’s care and treatment. Staff planned and delivered people’s care and treatment in line with what was important to people using the service and what mattered to people. Staff did this in line with legislation and current evidence-based good practice and standards. The provider could demonstrate how the use of nationally recognised tools were used to monitor peoples wellbeing and take proactive action to improve their health when needed. Staff worked collaboratively with local services to develop holistic ways of supporting people. There was evidence people and relatives were involved in changes to people’s care planning. This was reviewed on a regular basis or when people’s needs changed. Staff were encouraged to keep up to date with new guidance. There was an innovative and proactive approach to embedding evidence and best practise in service improvement. Leaders supported staff through training, supervision and competency checks to ensure they delivered care in line with legislation and good practice. Managers and leaders carried out regular checks on staff and observed their care practices to ensure they delivered quality care. Where appropriate, staff met people’s nutrition and hydration needs in line with current guidance.

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. When people started using the service, staff completed a comprehensive care assessment. This included discovering the person’s care needs, their wishes, the person’s life story and their health conditions. This information was put on record and available to staff on their digital care system. Staff worked alongside external professionals to achieve good outcomes for people, appropriate referrals had been made and documented in people’s care plans. The registered manager told us office staff have a daily “huddle” meeting to discuss any changes or important information which staff should be aware of each day. Staff told us there is good communication within the team and they were kept informed of any changes to the delivery of care. One staff member told us, “Management is always making sure staff are supported, we can always contact them if we need to know something, there is always someone on call”. The registered manager told us, “If it is identified that another professional needs to be notified and involved in the care, we support the client and their support network to make the referral, or we will do so on their behalf with their consent. This ensures the care remains safe, and effective”. Referrals were made to other external professionals when required, for example social workers, District Nurse’s, Occupational Therapists, advocacy services and GPs. External professionals said the service made appropriate referrals in a timely manner. One professional said, “Communication is fantastic, if you ask for something they will always get back to you ASAP, it has always been great”.

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. People told us they had regular access to external healthcare professionals where needed. People’s care plans showed healthcare professionals had been referred to and consulted, and staff were available to support people to health appointments if required. Information about people’s healthcare needs was reviewed regularly, and healthcare professionals had been part of people’s reviews. This meant staff had the latest information about people’s needs to support them to live healthier lives. Staff had received additional training to support people with certain healthcare tasks, such as diabetes and bowel care.

The provider routinely monitored people’s care and treatment to continuously improve it. They ensured that outcomes were positive and consistent, and they met both clinical expectations and the expectations of people themselves. The registered manager co-ordinated joint care planning meetings for some people with more complex needs to ensure they received care and support in a multidisciplinary way. This had positive outcomes for people, and in some cases had made improvements to people’s health and wellbeing. One professional told us, “They are superb, they go above and beyond, Home Instead really stand out as having the needs of the person being at the front and centre”. Systems were in place to continuously monitor people’s care, treatment and outcomes.

The provider told people about their rights around consent and respected these when delivering person-centred care and treatment. People and relatives told us staff asked people’s consent when carrying out care tasks. One relative told us, “They always say what they are going to do and give them a choice, even if they can’t manage a choice, they talk to them nicely”. Another relative told us, “They (staff) always ask them (relative) if they want them to go in the shower with them or to wait outside”. Records showed people, relatives, staff and relevant professionals were involved to assess mental capacity and ensure decisions were made in their best interest where people lacked capacity for a specific decision.