‘Following concerns expressed by visiting professionals as to the quality of assessment of people’s needs (for example not consistently identifying risk to people), prior to our inspection, the provider purchased a bespoke electronic system for the management of assessments and care planning. The format of these assessments reflected the requirements of the law and the equalities act, for example assessments and reviews explored the impact of people’s health and background and how this impacted on their care requirements. Management were open that the updating of assessments from the old to new formats was on going, although we saw most assessments and care plans were now electronic.’
‘We saw the new assessments were more comprehensive than previous ones, and these captured people’s individual needs in detail. We saw staff had mobile phones when arriving on duty, and they showed us how this allowed them access information about people’s needs, or record care interventions with people. This meant if they were unsure of a person’s needs they could access information quickly. Staff told us they found this system useful, and had received training in its use. We saw the electronic system alerted the staff when assessments or care plans needed review, as we noted some care plans had been automatically identified as needing review on the day of inspection.’
