- Homecare service
Care Outlook (East Sussex)
Report from 13 February 2025 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of Assessment: 17 February 2025 to the 25 February 2025. Care Outlook is a domiciliary care service providing support to people in their own homes. The Care Quality Commission only regulates services providing personal care and not everyone supported was in receipt of personal care. The service supported 41 people, 27 of whom were in receipt of personal care.
We undertook this full assessment to follow up on an incident involving risk. We needed to make sure that people were being supported safely. We did not find any concerns or ongoing risk at this assessment.
The incident involving risk was isolated and had been managed appropriately. There was no ongoing risk and lessons learned had been shared with all staff. People were safeguarded from avoidable risk from staff who had been safely recruited and trained. Infection prevention and control was managed well and people were supported safely with their medicines.
People’s needs were assessed before they were offered support from the service. Other health and social care professionals worked well with the service at all stages of people’s care journey. People were given choice and were supported with some decision making by loved ones and staff.
Staff were kind and compassionate and people’s dignity was respected. People’s independence was encouraged by staff within the confines of safety. Staff welfare was protected by a caring and understanding management team.
Care was delivered in a way that suited people’s individual routines and catering for their preferences, likes and dislikes. People had a voice and were confident to speak to managers and staff about any concerns they had. The service was well led. The registered manager was approachable and supported people and staff. They maintained oversight of the service through a process of auditing and monitoring. Staff had opportunities to speak up and raise issues and staff from different cultures were supported.
People's experience of this service
People told us they felt safe when being supported by staff from the service. We were told that care calls were rarely late and that they would always be called if there was an unavoidable delay. People and staff got on well together and where possible the same staff would support the same people, so a rapport developed and staff were able to easily detect any changes in people. People and their loved ones told us that staff would support in making appointments with other professionals if needed and that the support they received was tailored to their specific needs. Staff were kind and compassionate and treated people with dignity. People were encouraged to be as independent as possible with support always at hand if needed. A person told us, “They are always very friendly, ask what I need, they look for jobs to do, they will help me getting the wheelchair into the car.” People were supported with decision making and where required, planning for the future. They had a voice, completed questionnaires and told us they were confident to raise any concerns they may have with staff and managers. A person said, “Yeah, always very friendly, I can’t fault them.”