Tuesday 24 April 2018

Focus on the Client-Carer Relationship Leads to Outstanding CQC Rating

Home Instead Senior Care, based in Croydon, has been rated Outstanding overall by the Care Quality Commission following an inspection in March 2018.

The service, which looks after older people in their own homes, was rated Outstanding for being caring and responsive. It was rated Good for being safe, effective and well-led.

Clients and their relatives without exception were extremely positive about staff.  One person said: "Staff are all very compassionate and nice." A relative said: "Staff are friendly but professional, I am very impressed." A third relative said: "Staff are very focused which is what I need them to be but also pleasant and friendly. They are positive and they engage with mum."

A member of the management team met with clients and their relatives before they began receiving care to check how they wanted to receive care.  As a result people's care plans were comprehensive and fully reflected their needs.

People were carefully matched with the staff who supported them based on cultural, linguistic, religious or social needs. One relative said: "They found a regular carer who is also from the same country as my family and we share a language as well as a culture. The carer understands our culture she knows exactly how my mum would like to be treated and does so."

Other examples of successful matches included where a person was passionate about sport and enjoyed talking and watching matches with staff and another person who was very religious and enjoyed singing gospel songs with staff.  As a result of this matching, they were able to build trusting relationships together.

People received their care in an unhurried manner. One relative said: "The carers make sure that he goes at his pace." A second relative said: "Staff are gentle and unrushed." The director said how important it was that everybody felt as if they mattered and they made every effort to ensure this. For example, the provider only accepted visits of a minimum of one hour to ensure staff had sufficient time to provide companionship to people. The provider scheduled visits so staff had sufficient time to travel between people and staff told us they did not feel rushed in any way when providing care.

The service took a key role in the local community, establishing strong links with the local hospital. A dementia nurse based in the hospital said the provider had been a "pillar of support to the hospital and the local community". The provider was a member of the Croydon Dementia Action Alliance (CDAA).  The CDAA encourages and supports communities and organisations across Croydon to take practical actions to enable people to live well with dementia.

Debbie Ivanova, CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care, said: “Home Instead Care consistently provides a caring service for its clients and Croydon is yet another example of this.

“I was particularly impressed with the way the provider matched up staff and clients that had similar interests and the way this cemented good relationships between them in a number of instances.”

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