Passionate About 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 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 service made sure people’s care and treatment was effective by assessing and reviewing their health, care, wellbeing and communication needs with them. This included initial assessments of people’s needs prior to care packages commencing as well as reviews of people’s care at agreed intervals or when people’s needs changed. This helped to ensure care plans and assessments were kept current and reflective of people’s needs. One relative told us, “They (staff) came out to do an assessment and went through safety issues for me and [person’s name]. They always log in and out and leave comments of how he has been and what they have done.”

The service 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. Senior staff conducted competency assessments to ensure staff were following best practice and the advice provided by relevant health professionals. The manager told us how they worked closely with health professionals and the local authority ensuring they took advice to keep people safe living at home.

The service 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. Records showed the service worked closely with many health professionals, including social workers, occupational therapists, community nurses and doctors. One person told us, “They are kind, caring, friendly and efficient-they called the ambulance for me when they saw that I was poorly.”

The service supported people to manage their health and wellbeing to maximise their independence, choice and control. The service supported people to live healthier lives and where possible, reduce their future needs for care and support. People's care records demonstrated they had been supported to access relevant health services, including GP and community nurses. Information about people's diagnosed health care needs were recorded in their care plans and included information about how this might impact on them. For example, for one person their health condition meant they were at risk of having a stroke. Information provided staff with how to monitor their health and if they had any concerns what action to take.

The service 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. Staff recorded details of the care and support provided during each care visit. Office staff monitored these to confirm people’s needs were being met. The service worked with district nurse to keep records where needed of peoples input and output and any concerns were passed on to the district nursing team.

Systems to gain and record consent had improved following our last inspection. The service told people about their rights around consent and respected these when delivering person-centred care and treatment. There were policies and procedures in place to ensure valid consent to care was obtained. People told us staff sought their consent before delivering care. Staff had a good knowledge around the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and how to practically apply this in their everyday roles. Where people had appointed a power of attorney, the provider ensured this legal authority to act on a person’s behalf was verified. This helped to ensure the provider was following the correct procedures around gaining consent to care.