Advantage Healthcare - North West & Yorkshire was rated Good across all five key questions at its August 2023 inspection, with inspectors finding person-centred, safe care delivered by a consistent and well-supported staff team. No breaches of regulation were identified and the service demonstrated effective governance, strong leadership, and a culture of continuous improvement.
Strengths
· People received care from a consistent, dedicated staff team matched to individual needs, with relatives confirming regularity of carers.
· Care plans were detailed, person-centred, and regularly reviewed with involvement from people, relatives, and multi-disciplinary professionals.
· Medicines were managed safely with staff completing training and competency checks before administering medicines; monthly MAR audits in place.
· The 'Take 5' programme enabled learning from incidents to be shared with staff and embedded into practice.
· Strong governance with fortnightly quality reviews, regular audits of care plans, medicine records and daily records, and an effective on-call system.
Quality-Statement breakdown (21)
safe: Systems and processes to safeguard people from the risk of abuseGood
safe: Assessing risk, safety monitoring and management; Learning lessons when things go wrongGood
safe: Staffing and recruitmentGood
safe: Using medicines safelyGood
safe: Preventing and controlling infectionGood
effective: Assessing people's needs and choices; delivering care in line with standards, guidance and the lawGood
effective: Staff support: induction, training, skills and experienceGood
effective: Staff working with other agencies to provide consistent, effective, timely careGood
effective: Ensuring consent to care and treatment in line with law and guidanceGood
caring: Ensuring people are well treated and supported; respecting equality and diversityGood
caring: Supporting people to express their views and be involved in making decisions about their careGood
caring: Respecting and promoting people's privacy, dignity and independenceGood
responsive: Planning personalised care to ensure people have choice and control and to meet their needs and preferencesGood
responsive: Meeting people's communication needsGood
responsive: Supporting people to develop and maintain relationships to avoid social isolationGood
responsive: Improving care quality in response to complaints or concernsGood
responsive: End of life care and supportGood
well-led: Promoting a positive culture that is person-centred, open, inclusive and empoweringGood
well-led: How the provider understands and acts on the duty of candour; Working in partnership with othersGood
well-led: Engaging and involving people using the service, the public and staffGood
well-led: Managers and staff being clear about their roles, and understanding quality performance, risks and regulatory requirementsGood