Optimal Care Plus

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• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

We reviewed 7 quality statements under this key question: shared direction and culture, capable, compassionate, and inclusive leaders, freedom to speak up, workforce equality, diversity and inclusion, governance, management and sustainability, partnerships and communities and learning, improvement and innovation. Staff were clear about their responsibilities and roles and felt supported by the registered manager and management team. Staff spoke positively about the leadership and culture of the service and felt able to speak up confident that the registered manager would actively listen and address any issues. The provider had quality assurance systems and processes in place to monitor the overall quality of the service, however we found in relation to staff recruitment processes these could be further improved. We did not find these improvement needs affected the safety and quality of people’s care and any future risks were mitigated by the actions taken by the registered manager during this assessment. The provider was actively involved in seeking out best practice guidance from different sources to drive improvements across the service.

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 registered manager told us, “I ensure staff understand and abide by the values of the service, treat everyone with respect and dignity, so people receive safe care. We don’t just send carers out; we arrange shadow shifts and check staff competency. I personally do spot checks. Staff need to be professional and respectful at all times, irrespective of the reason. If I see carers disrespecting this. I will address this with them.” A member of staff told us, “Person centred care is our vision, ensuring people are treated with respect and dignity. The registered manager always states how important it is.”

Leaders ensured there was shared vision and strategy and that staff in all areas know, understand and support the vision, values and strategic goals and how their role helps in achieving them.

The registered manager told us they were well supported by the nominated individual, quality manager and staff team. Staff were positive about the leadership of the service. Comments included, “The registered manager is fair to us all and they are friendly and approachable. From what I have experienced until now it is well managed,” and, “From what I can see the service is well managed, you are able to reach out to anyone if you need support, they take what you say seriously.”

Leaders were knowledgeable about issues and their priorities and were committed to wanting to make improvements to enhance the quality of the service, providing staff with support and opportunities for development in their roles.

Staff we spoke with told us they were confident their voices would be heard if they had cause to raise any concerns. A member of staff told us, “The registered manager is very approachable and fair to all staff. They provide a listening ear, offer advice and encouragement.”

The registered manager and senior team sought feedback from staff in various ways; for example, discussions in staff meetings, 1:1 supervision, and staff surveys to enable them to adapt and improve the quality of the service being provided to people and staff. The provider had a whistleblowing policy in place. Whistleblowing is the process which protects staff from being unfairly treated by their employer if they have raised a genuine concern about a person’s care. Staff meetings we reviewed showed evidence of Whistleblowing being discussed as part of the meeting’s agenda. The registered manager told us they have a ‘policy of the month’ which is incorporated into their staff meetings.

Staff told us leaders took action to continually review and improve the culture of the service in the context of equality, diversity and inclusion. Comments included, “The staff at Optimal Care Plus are very diverse and from all different nationalities, I feel we are treated fairly and equally,” and, “Equality and diversity are actively promoted here and in the case of anyone experiencing any inequality the manager/senior team would take action.”

Staff had undertaken equality and diversity training as part of their induction and had access to the organisations policy on equality and diversity.

Staff were positive about working for Optimal Care Plus. Comments included, “I love that I can look after people, my colleagues who have become friends. I am always learning every day,” and, “Our manager is approachable and fair to all staff members. The service is well managed, whenever you report a concern to them, they deal with it and provide a solution.”

The provider had systems in place to effectively monitor the quality and safety of the service. Audits were completed at regular intervals these included, care plan, medicines, spot checks and infection prevention and control and any actions taken in order to rectify any issues identified. Staff understood their roles and responsibilities and knew when to escalate things and to whom. Staff told us when they had any concerns, they could raise them, and they would be listened to. We saw feedback surveys received back from people and relatives who were satisfied with the level of service they received. A recent survey for a person recorded, “I am very happy with the care and the carers.”

People received care from a service that worked in partnership with other health and social care professionals where required to achieve good outcomes for them.

The registered manager told us how they worked with other professionals and received support and guidance when needed. They spoke positively about working in partnership with other health professionals and the local community and how this had led to better outcomes for people.

We requested information from partners however, we received no information in response to our request.

Arrangements were in place to ensure staff had a good level of partnership working with other agencies and professionals. Information was shared to the relevant professionals as required with the core purpose being to achieve better outcomes for people.

The registered manager undertook quality assurance audits to monitor the overall quality performance of the service and was committed to ensuring they and the staff team had access to training for their own learning and self-development. The registered manager told us, “In the last 6 months I have been committed to improve our practice, we are always learning. I have a good team, we attend groups, forums with other providers to share experiences and have recently introduced a new electronic mobile application to work alongside our existing application to enhance communication with staff/people using the service and improve access for relatives to their loved one’s daily notes in real time.”

The registered manager had systems and processes in place to monitor the quality of the service which included overviews of safeguarding concerns, accidents and incidents, and complaints. Any actions taken were clearly logged. and where appropriate information had been shared with the staffing team to ensure learning happens when things go wrong.