Around the Clock Healthcare - Head Office

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 is the first assessment for this newly registered service. This key question has been rated Good. This meant people’s outcomes were consistently good, and people’s feedback confirmed this.

This service scored 62 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

People’s needs were assessed before care commenced to ensure staff were able to offer safe and effective support. Although these were not separately recorded the information was used to create people’s care plans. People we spoke to had not seen a copy of their care plan and reviews did not take place regularly. However, all feedback from people and staff confirmed the management team were available and contactable. They were also responsive to any changes that were needed to people’s support.

The provider did not always plan and deliver people’s care in line with legislation and current evidence-based good practice. For example, where people had their nutrition and medicines supplied through an enteral feeding tube there was insufficient information available in people’s care plans and staff spot checks to measure whether staff were offering safe support aligned to current good practice. Feedback from relatives confirmed they had no concerns about this, and staff told us they felt well trained and competent in this area of support.

The provider worked well across teams and services to support people. This included responding to changing needs and liaising with health and social care professionals. When staff supported children with health and care needs, they communicated effectively with parents to ensure seamless care. One staff member told us, “Management are good at anticipating the next step, they are good at meeting the children’s changing needs and ensuring consistency.”

The provider supported people to manage their health and wellbeing to maximise their independence, choice and control. Where appropriate, staff took guidance from parents of children, and from young people themselves, to support people’s independence. One relative told us, “Oh yes, [family member] directs their own care, they tell staff what they want support with. Depending on how they feel that day and what they are able to do for themselves, staff support them with what they need.”

People were supported to achieve good outcomes which met their own and their relative’s expectations. Their needs and any changes to their support was monitored and responded to by the provider. This was achieved through effective communication with people, families and professionals from other agencies. Feedback confirmed the provider offered flexibility when needed. For example, one relative told us, “They’ll step in for a few hours if I’m unwell,” and another said, “They’re flexible and will come early if [family member] has an appointment, I give them dates when [family member] isn’t going to be at home and it works well.”

The provider did not always inform people about their rights around consent. There was limited information in people’s care records to evidence that people and their relatives consented to the planned care or to other processes. For example, sharing information with other agencies or taking photographs if the person sustained an injury which needed to be documented. During the assessment the provider began to develop documentation to support these processes. We did not find any negative impact because of this. Positive feedback was received from relatives and staff about staff asking for consent before supporting people. Daily logs recorded by staff also showed that staff checked before supporting people with their care.