Community Care Advice Centre

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 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 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.

People had choices and their preferences were included as part of assessments.

People’s needs were regularly assessed. Records showed the service assessed people’s needs to ensure the care they received, reflected their needs and the level of support they required. Reviews included assessing people’s needs on support required according to their level of independence.

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 good practice and standards.

People received evidence-based care and treatment. Care plans included the support people required with care and treatment. Feedback was sought from people through surveys to ensure evidence-based care and treatment was delivered.

The registered manager gave a number of examples where through care and support people had become fully independent following hospital admission. Records confirmed this.

The provider worked well across teams and services to support people.

The service worked in partnership with health and social professionals if people were not well, to ensure people were in the best of health.

Daily notes were completed after care was delivered to people, which included tasks completed and wellbeing of people to ensure continuity of care.

Staff told us they worked well with each other and external services and were supported by the registered manager well. A staff member told us, “I do like working for them. We support each other, we are a great team.”

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 supported to live healthier lives. The service carried out assessments on people’s care and health to ensure they could be supported to live healthier lives.

The registered manager and staff told us that people were always supported to live healthier lives. Care plans promoted independence and included the support people needed with reviews carried out to assess if people required further or less support based on their rehabilitation. People also received support from nurses and physiotherapists when required.

The provider routinely monitored people’s care and treatment to continuously improve it. They ensured that outcomes were positive and consistent.

People's care and treatment was being monitored to improve outcomes such as gaining independence through care and support. Reviews were carried out regularly to ensure people’s support and outcomes were monitored. Spot checks were being carried out to ensure people received safe care according to their needs.

The registered manager and staff told us people’s outcomes were always monitored through reviews and feedback. During reviews, care needs were discussed to improve outcomes.

The provider did not always record people's consent to care and treatment appropriately.

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) provides a legal framework for making particular decisions on behalf of people who may lack the mental capacity to do so for themselves. The Act requires that, as far as possible, people make their own decisions and are helped to do so when needed. When they lack mental capacity to take particular decisions, any made on their behalf must be in their best interests and as least restrictive as possible. We checked whether the service was working within the principles of the MCA.

All staff participated in regular training sessions designed to ensure that their knowledge and understanding of the MCA framework remained current and robust. Consent was sought as part of pre-assessments to assess people’s needs. However, consent had not been recorded from people for the service to provide care and support. The registered manager told us consent had been sought and people had given verbal consent. This had not been recorded on the care plan as the section on people providing consent had not been completed. The registered manager told us they would ensure consent was appropriately recorded.

Management and staff were aware of the principles of the MCA and the need to ask for consent. Staff told us that they would always request people’s consent where possible before doing any tasks. A staff member told us, “Of course, each visit I will ask for consent before doing anything.” People and relatives confirmed this. A person told us, “They always asked permission to do things for me.” A relative commented, “They always asked permission before they did things and then got on and made sure everything was done properly.”