Tiggo Care evidences CQC’s effective quality statements as part of providing a high standard of home care. Find out more!
As care providers, we’re all committed to doing the best for the people we support. CQC’s quality statements are a good reminder of the commitment we make to the people we support, their families, and our staff.
CQC’s quality statements are summed up in five key words:
- Safe
- Effective
- Caring
- Responsive
- Well-led
At Tiggo Care, we endeavour to ensure that our services meet these descriptions at all times. We know that not only is it important to provide a great service to the people we support, it’s also crucial to evidence that we’re doing it.
Evidencing what we do gives us accountability. It proves that we are following our own guidelines and providing the best possible service for the people we support, as well as our own staff team. It also means that, should anyone have any questions about our actions at any point, we could answer them fully and honestly.
In this blog post, we will explain how we evidence that our service is effective.
What is effective service?
An effective service is one where clients have their needs assessed, and their care reflects those needs. Because of this, clients will have the best possible outcomes.
Services are person-centred, and work together with other organisations where necessary.
The service has a culture of improvement, and is led by people who want to explore best practice.
Assessing needs
We provide effective care for the people we support by assessing their needs thoroughly and accurately. This may include our initial assessment process, but also regular reviews. We want to assess their care needs, but also any other wishes, concerns or difficulties they may have. The people we support should be involved in the assessment process, and feel confident that they have been understood.
Why is assessing needs important?
Accurately assessing a service user’s needs is important to any care provider. At Tiggo Care, we want our clients to feel comfortable with the home care or live-in care that they will receive, and confident that it will help them meet their goals.
A comprehensive needs assessment allows us to write the appropriate care plan for each person we support, which helps both our staff team and our clients.
How to evidence needs assessments?
Our needs assessments are an important part of providing care. Each client will have a written individual care plan, needs assessment and 12 risk assessments available in their file. This is accessible either through our app or in a physical folder, depending on their needs and abilities.
We collect evidence about people’s experience of the needs assessment process in several ways. Everyone who is involved in the process can comment on it – we ask for feedback from our clients, their families, and our staff teams.
Our clients and their families can fill in quality assurance surveys, and leave reviews and testimonials for us. In addition, our compliments, suggestions, concerns and complaints log captures comments about people’s experiences and any actions we’ve taken in response.
We also collect quality assurance surveys from our staff team, and online reviews from staff.
Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
We provide effective care by working with the people we support. They should be involved in the planning and delivery of their own care and treatment. They are the people who know what matters most to them. We follow evidence-based good practice and have high standards.
Why is delivering evidence based care important?
Delivering evidence-based care and treatment means that our clients are likely to have the best possible outcomes. We know that many of our clients have complex medical needs, and we have a responsibility to them to provide the highest quality support.
We want our clients to be involved in the process so that they feel comfortable with receiving support from us.
How do we evidence people’s experience of our care?
Our care records provide evidence of what we have done with each client at each care visit. Our detailed client profiles, including their needs assessment, care plan and risk assessments, show the support that they need.
During our initial assessments and care plan reviews, we ensure that the people we support are involved in the process.
We ask for feedback from our staff teams, the people we support, and their families. This is done through quality assurance surveys, reviews and testimonials, as well as through our compliments, suggestions, concerns and complaints log.
How staff, teams and services work together?
We provide effective care by working well as a staff team, as well as with other organisations and services. We want to ensure that the people we support have easy transitions between services. Where appropriate, we can share information with other healthcare professionals to make life easier for the people we support.
Why is working together important?
As care providers, we are proud to work with other health and social care professionals to ensure that our clients have the best possible outcomes.
Many of our clients work with multiple healthcare professionals regularly. This may include district nurses, GPs or pharmacists. If we, as a care provider, can work together with these organisations, we can make life easier for the people we support.
If someone we support is moving to a new service, we want to ensure that they have a seamless transition. If we’re welcoming a new client, we want to make sure that they feel comfortable and happy with the transfer process. We know that transitions of care can be stressful, and, if poorly-managed, can have an adverse effect on a person’s treatment or health. We hope that by working together with other professionals, we can mitigate those concerns.
How do we evidence working together?
We keep detailed records of the work we do for the people we support. This includes detailed care plans, plus records and minutes of any meetings related to our clients – especially transitions between services, which we know can be complicated. If we discuss one of our service users with their GP, pharmacist or other professional, we keep notes of these conversations.
We collate feedback from everyone involved in the process. This includes the people we support, their families, our staff teams, and any partner organisations involved.
Our clients and their families can feed back to us through surveys, reviews, testimonials, and our compliments, suggestions, concerns and complaints log. Our staff team are encouraged to fill in quality assurance surveys and leave online reviews about their experience. In addition, we ask for feedback and welcome comments from other healthcare professionals working with us.
Supporting people to live healthier lives
We provide effective care by supporting our clients to manage their health and wellbeing. We want them to be as independent as possible, making healthy choices and remaining in control of their own lives. The people we support are involved in their own health and care decisions.
At Tiggo Care, we understand that everyone is different and has different needs and wishes. We want the people we support to be able to make their own choices about their health. We know this is especially important for people who have personal care needs, learning difficulties or chronic health conditions, as often they don’t feel like their voices are heard.
How to evidence people’s experience of being supported to live healthier lives?
The people we support all have their own detailed client profile, including an individual care plan, along with 12 risk assessments. Risk assessments allow us to support our clients to make their own choices where possible.
Our service users and their families are involved in care planning, including our initial care assessment and regular reviews.
We ask for feedback from the people we support, their families, and our care team. Our clients and their loved ones can give evidence about their experience through quality assurance surveys, reviews, or our compliments, suggestions, concerns and complaints log.
If other health and social care professionals are working with our clients, we ask for their feedback too.
Monitoring and improving outcomes
We provide effective care by monitoring the care given to the people we support. This helps us to continuously improve. We want to ensure that our clients are happy with the care they are receiving, and that it helps them meet their hoped-for outcomes.
Like all care providers, we want the people we support to experience good outcomes. We want them to live full and happy lives, and we know that our carers play a vital role in that.
At Tiggo Care, providing a good care service isn’t just about meeting people’s basic physical needs. We have a responsibility to ensure that our clients are living fulfilling lives. We want to improve their situation, where possible, to make sure that they can continue to live comfortably and independently for as long as possible.
How to evidence monitoring and improving outcomes?
Our clients’ detailed profiles, including their needs assessments and care plan, provide the baseline of our evidence. We can use these to show the support that we provide, and, at each review, look at whether outcomes have been achieved and if our client is happy with the situation.
We also monitor the care we give through regular audits, including looking at medication, communication and equipment.
To ensure that our staff team are well-trained and following best practice, we regularly hold HR audits. Our business continuity plan and action plans throughout the organisation focus on continuous improvement.
As with every aspect of their care, our service users and their families are encouraged to give feedback through quality assurance surveys, reviews, and our compliments, suggestions, concerns and complaints log. The staff team are also encouraged to give feedback.
Consent to care and treatment
We provide effective care to the people we support by ensuring they are aware of their rights around consent. We ask for consent and respect our clients’ answers when delivering care.
We want all of our clients to be happy with the support they receive. They have the right to understand what is happening and why, and we will take their wishes into account when planning or providing care.
As a care provider, we know that some of the people we support aren’t always able to give consent. In this situation, we know that it’s still sometimes vital to provide the care that they need, so we will work with relatives or others with the appropriate legal responsibility to ensure that we can support them to the best of our ability.
How to evidence consent?
At Tiggo Care, we use a consent policy provided by QCS. Evidencing consent is extra important if the people we support struggle with understanding. If the person we support does not, or does not always, have capacity to understand and agree to treatment, we have records of this in a capacity assessment. This is kept with their needs assessment, as part of their care plan.
In Access Care Planning, we store any information about clients’ powers of attorney (PoA), including evidence of searching for registered PoAs. We also keep information about any DNACPR documents.
We have digital and paper copies of consent forms available for our clients and their PoAs.
If at any point our clients or their families have a concern about consent, we welcome their feedback. Their comments, and any actions we have taken in response, can be captured in our quality assurance surveys, reviews, and our compliments, suggestions, concerns and complaints log.
Effective quality statements
At Tiggo Care, we believe strongly in providing an effective care service. It benefits the people we support, our staff team, and the wider community.
As a care provider, we ensure that we evidence everything we do to provide this effective care service. Having this evidence available keeps us accountable, and helps grow a culture of continuous improvement.
