Bexley Home Care

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

People’s individual care needs were assessed to ensure that they could be met before they joined the service. The service was working within the principles of the MCA. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff assisted them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service upheld this practice. Staff had a good understanding of the MCA and the management and staff team ensured people were supported to consent and make choices about their support as far as possible. However, people and their relatives had not always completed ‘care to consent’ forms.

This service scored 71 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

We saw people’s individual needs were assessed to ensure that their needs could be met before they joined the service. One relative said, “The care company did an assessment before [person] started with the service.” Another relative said, “[Provider] did an assessment at the start.”

The provider confirmed that they completed an initial assessment prior to providing care and support to people.

Whilst assessments mentioned people's health needs, we found that health conditions risk assessments were not always detailed. This meant that staff did not always have information about people's health conditions, including potential risks and guidance on how to mitigate them safely. People’s assessments included people’s health needs, background, personal care requirements, likes and dislikes and allergies. These captured their care and support needs which informed their care plans.

We did not look at Delivering evidence-based care and treatment during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at How staff, teams and services work together during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at Supporting people to live healthier lives during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at Monitoring and improving outcomes during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

Records showed that not all ‘consent to care’ forms had been signed by either the person and/or their relative, if appropriate.'. There was no explanation recorded as to why the consent form were not signed. Signed consent forms reflects that people /or their relatives, if appropriate, are happy and have given their consent to being supported by Bexley Home Care with their health and care needs. People were supported to make choices about their care and support needs.

We raised the issue in relation to consent to care forms with the provider, who told us some people and their relatives did not want to sign consent forms. The provider confirmed that they would start recording the reasons when people and relatives had not signed consent forms. Staff told us they respected people’s rights to make their own decisions about what they wanted to eat, to wear or wanted personal care and sought their consent before supporting them. The provider and staff we spoke with, were able to demonstrate a good understanding of the principles of the MCA and understood what actions to take if someone had refused care.

The service was working within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA). There were policies and procedures in place and staff had received MCA training. If a person lacked capacity to make specific decisions, they would ensure the best interests decision making process was followed, which would include involving relatives, healthcare professionals and a power of attorney if required.