Solution Care 247 Northamptonshire

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 inspection for this service. This key question has been rated requires improvement. This meant the effectiveness of people’s care, treatment and support did not always achieve good outcomes or was inconsistent. During the assessment, we found the service was in breach of legal regulation in relation to consent to care and treatment.

This service scored 58 (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. The registered manager and provider met with people before packages of care started to ensure their needs could be met by the service. The registered manager completed a needs assessment which detailed people’s health, communication, interests, preferences and support needs. A person told us, “When I was discharged from hospital the company assessed me and matched a carer for me that has turned out to be successful.” However, further development was required to ensure this information was reflected in all people’s care plans.

The provider did not always plan and deliver people’s care and treatment in line with legislation and current evidence-based good practice and standards. Nationally recognised tools were not always used to assess and monitor risks to people. The registered manager and provider had not always considered current evidence-based good practice in relation to medicines and assessing a person’s capacity. People were supported with their nutrition and hydration, where required, and people’s care plan detailed the support people required with their nutrition and hydration needs. Records showed care staff monitored people’s skin integrity. A person said, “The carers monitor my skin and will apply cream when needed.”

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. The service had a system in place for staff to communicate with each other which enabled them to effectively deliver people’s care and support. The registered manager worked well with other professionals to ensure people received effective care and support. A professional who worked with the service told us, “There is good communication between the carers and management at [the service]. The management raised a concern because carers had informed them that [person] continued to develop multiple wounds, though the district nurses were visiting regularly. The safeguarding concern created an opportunity to do an (multi professional) meeting and improve [person’s] quality of life.”

The service supported people to manage their health and wellbeing to maximise their independence, choice and control. However, people’s care plans required further detail around individual health conditions including signs of deterioration and what action staff should take in response to these signs. Most people using the service managed their own health and wellbeing with the support from their families. People and their relatives told us they were confident staff would recognise any deterioration in a person’s health due to them receiving support from a consistent staff team, who knew people well.

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. People had positive outcomes as a result of receiving support from the service. For example, with the support from staff, a person’s skin integrity improved and they no longer required support from the district nursing team in managing this. A person told us, “The exercises and input from the carers make me feel as though I am not wasting away.” A relative said, “The carers are kind and well trained and the service is allowing [person] to stay in their own home, which is what they want.” A professional working with the service said, “A lot of collaborative work was done with the community occupational therapy team and the care provider from until [person] had appropriate equipment.”

The provider did not always tell people about their rights around consent and did not always respect their rights when delivering care and treatment. Mental capacity assessments were not completed in line with The Mental Capacity Act 2005. For example, a person had been deemed to lack capacity, however, there was no record of which specific decision this related to, no record of the person being involved and no record of any best interest decisions taking place. The person’s care plan detailed they lacked capacity, which was inaccurate. However, people told us staff respected their choices when delivering care and staff demonstrated a knowledge of the importance of seeking a person’s consent prior to supporting them with their care and support needs.