Way Ahead Care LTD

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• 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 at their new registered address. This key question has been rated good. This meant people’s outcomes were consistently good, and people’s feedback confirmed this.

People’s needs were assessed and regularly reviewed. The provider worked closely with health and social care professionals to ensure people received positive outcomes.

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.

People’s care and support needs were assessed before their care package started. The information from this assessment, and any additional information from the local authority, was used to develop the person’s care plan and risk assessments.

The registered manager told us the service would be moving over to an electronic care planning system on the 1 April 2025. They said they had used the system before and were confident this would ensure a more robust oversight of people’s care needs.

People gave us mixed feedback about their involvement in their care plan. Comments included, “I think I helped set up my care plan when I began with them. I think there is a copy here somewhere, “I was involved with her care plan, and it is followed most of the time”, “I can’t remember if I was involved with a care plan when I started having them. My carers seem to know what things I like, and they talk to me in a nice way” and “I can’t remember if I was involved in the care plan at the start, but they do everything right as far as I can tell. They are all lovely to me.”

A staff member told us, “Every service user has a file in their house with all details regarding their care plan and it's mandatory to read at every call.”

The registered manager told us a review of people’s care plans was carried out annually or earlier if there was a change.

Staff had knowledge of specific health needs relating to each person and knew the treatments they required and how to source specialist support if needed.

The provider has an equality and diversity policy in place. This gave information to staff about promoting equality and respecting diversity which helped ensure that people were valued and had the same access to all opportunities whatever their differences.

The provider’s staff allocation system ensured people had staff appropriately matched to people they cared for. For example, those wishing for only female or male staff.

The management team and staff worked well across teams and services to support people. The provider supported people to try and live healthily and engaged with other relevant professionals to review and assess people’s needs on a regular basis.

A social care professional told us, “The whole service including the staff in the field and staff in ECH [extra care housing] are and have embraced the positive impact [registered manager] has had on the service and her attention to detail. There are several MDT’s [multi-disciplinary team meetings] that take place regarding some of our clients and [registered manager] is always willing to go above and beyond to ensure the very best outcome for clients.”

Changes to people’s care were incorporated into their care plans and shared with staff so they had the most up to date information on how to support each person.

The management team and staff supported people to manage their health and wellbeing to maximise their independence, choice and control. Staff supported people to try and live healthier lives and where necessary worked with health professionals to maintain people’s health. A staff member told us, “The vision is to provide high-quality, person-centred care that empowers individuals to maintain their independence and wellbeing, while upholding values like respect, dignity, flexibility, safety and quality. How I can demonstrate them in my role is by encouraging service users to do as much as possible for themselves and supporting their autonomy.”

People told us they were supported appropriately and to maintain their independence. One person told us, “They are well trained and always ask my consent before they do things. They encourage me to do little things for myself like making a sandwich and a drink sometimes. They seem to know how to treat people well and they are good carers.”

One person told us, “They shower me and give me my meds and meals. They write it all up in the book that is here. They always wash their hands I think before any meal prep. I am happy with them, they come on time, and I have never had a missed call.”

Staff completed training for nutrition and hydration and its importance in how to support people preparing meals. Staff worked with people to promote a healthy diet whilst acknowledging people’s right to make choices.

The management team and staff regularly monitored people’s care to ensure their wellbeing. Staff involved people in their care and reviewed aspects of people’s lives with them. Staff supported people to engage in a range of meaningful activities to take risks. People’s care plans detailed what they liked to do, and staff gave people choice and offered alternatives it they wished to do something different. One staff member told us, “Not everyone is the same, we do different care based on the service user’s needs.”

People were able to consent to their care and treatment. Staff were required to gain and record people’s consent at each visit they completed. People expressed their views about the support they wanted, and these were detailed in their care plans. People understood their rights around consent and the provider worked with them to make sure their views about their care were respected. One person told us, “I do feel that the staff know what they are doing. They ask my permission to do things for me. I think they are well trained”.

The provider ensured people were supported to make decisions about their care whenever possible. Where people lacked capacity, and a power of attorney was in place, the provider had a copy of the power of attorney document to ensure the appropriate nominated appointees were consulted when required.