Seren Healthcare Solutions 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.

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

This service scored 71 (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.

Care plans provided a full assessment of people’s needs, they gave detailed information about people’s health and communication needs and were regularly reviewed.

Staff we spoke with were knowledgeable about people’s needs and knew where to find this information.

People and their relatives were fully involved in planning the care and support they needed.One relative said, “They are really conscientious they've asked for lots of information I wouldn't have expected.”

The provider 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.

Where people required support with eating and drinking, nutrition and hydration care plans were in place and food and fluid monitoring charts were completed consistently. Monitoring tools were completed for people at risk in areas such as constipation and pressure sore damage.

We found one person’s constipation care plan was unclear around when their prescribed as required medicines should be administered. The clinical lead told us more detailed information for staff was available at the person’s home and would be added to the electronic care plan.

Oral health assessment tools were in place for people and care plans detailed the support people required in this area.

People with complex health needs had detailed health assessments which gave specific information on how to support them and contact details for professionals involved in their care. A professional told us staff had ‘good clinical knowledge’.

The provider worked well across teams and services to support people. Where people had specific health needs which were overseen by health professionals the service worked with the person, their family and the health professional to ensure a joined-up approach was followed.

New guidance or protocols were added to people’s support plans and risk assessments. The provider’s clinical lead also worked with health professionals to arrange any specific training for staff which may be required.

Communication between teams was effective in providing staff with the information they needed to support people safely. Staff told us the electronic app they used enabled them to receive regular updates on people, including handovers. One staff member said, “When you log in it prompts you to read the handover from the day before so communication between us is good.”

Documentation which shared important information was in place if people needed to go to hospital, this included hospital passports for some people. One person told us “I've got all the protocols in place for when I go into hospital.”

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 were encouraged to be independent and have control in their own lives, for example eating and drinking routines detailed what people could do independently and where they required support.

People who had a learning disability were supported to have annual health checks with their GP.

People’s regular health appointments, for example dentist, were mainly managed by them and their families, systems were in place to ensure the provider was updated on the outcomes of these appointments.

People’s interests and preferred activities were recorded in their care plans. Staff supported people to access their local community where this was part of their planned care and support.

One relative told us, “Staff get my relative up and out and about, this keeps them mobile and active, and they sleep better for it. Staff are good at anticipating their needs and know what's good for their health.”

The provider 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.

Care plans included goals and outcomes for people and included detailed information on how to support people to achieve these.

The provider held regular care plan reviews with people and their relatives. A relative said, “Yes we had a meeting at the start, and we've had several meetings since, we discuss how things are going and any changes that are needed.” When new documentation to support people had been introduced following a care plan review a relative told us, “We have been sent them to look at and make changes if we want. Everyone is involved at every stage it is fantastic.”

The provider told people about their rights around consent and respected these when delivering person-centred care and treatment.

Staff shared their knowledge of how to support people to consent to their care. Staff confirmed they used tools to help communicate with people where required and felt knowing the person well and how they communicated was important.

People and relatives told us staff asked their permission before providing any care and support, checking they were happy to receive care. One relative said, “They ask my relative what they want to do, they go with whatever they want to do.”

Where relatives had told the service they held decision making powers for people such as Power of Attorney for Health and Welfare the registered manager did not always have evidence of this, we saw evidence had been requested.

People’s care plans detailed people’s capacity to make decisions and consent to their care. An overall mental capacity care plan was in place for people who lacked capacity, this covered decision making and stated how decisions should be made in the person’s best interests for all areas of their care.

However, the provider had not completed their own decision specific mental capacity assessments and best interest decisions for people, including for any restrictions in place for people in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act (MCA). Where the service had completed mental capacity assessment and best interest decision for people, this grouped all decisions related to the person’s care and support needs together. This included medicines administration, the use of equipment and daily care needs into one assessment rather than being decision specific. We fed this back to the registered manager to address.