Care Outlook (East Sussex)

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture.

At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained good.

This is the first assessment for this service following a change in provider. This key question has been rated good.

This meant the service was consistently managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality, person-centred care.

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.

The provider had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities. The registered manger and wider management team were focussed on continual improvement and developing the best possible service to people. They were aware of the challenges of growing the service and recruiting the right staff into post. There were plans to over recruit to make sure that the best service was sustainable but also providing the staff with security in their roles. There was an emphasis on further developing the relationship between people and the staff that supported them by asking people to nominate their best carers. Care awards were given out monthly to the staff member with the most consistently positive feedback. Business and contingency plans were in place to protect the service moving forward and providing logistical safeguards in the event of an emergency.

The provider had inclusive leaders at all levels who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. They did so with integrity, openness and honesty. The registered manager and wider management team were open, honest and approachable with people and staff alike. Everyone was treated fairly and kept informed of changes or developments wit the service. The registered manager provided opportunities for people and staff to speak up and feedback and listened to what was being said. Staff spoke highly of the registered manager and their team, comments included, “Managers are approachable, can share anything. They are understanding,” and “There is a manager on call for advice all the time.” The registered manager told us getting things right first time led to fewer issues later down the line and this was achieved by involving everyone when decisions about care were made.

The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. Staff had various ways in which to make their voice heard. This could be done through formal processes for example, one to one supervision, appraisal or team meetings or they could raise issues anonymously if they preferred. Staff told us that they were confident to speak up and that the registered manager and wider supervisory team would listen , take appropriate action and feedback. Staff were also able to tell us about the whistleblowing process where any concerns could be raised to outside agencies within the knowledge that their anonymity would be legally protected.

The provider valued diversity in their workforce. They worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them. All managers and staff told us that diversity in the workforce was acknowledged and celebrated with everyone being made to feel part of a multi-cultural team. The registered manager said, “At the last team meeting we had four different nationalities. We are planning on have a lunch to celebrate different cultural feast days.” The registered manager added, “Everyone is treated the same but according to their cultures. We support staff needing days off for important religious or cultural days in their calendars.” Staff confirmed this happened one telling us, “We work with all staff. Some have different diets because of their culture, they are looked after.”

The provider had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. They used these to manage and deliver good quality, sustainable care, treatment and support. They acted on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, and shared this securely with others when appropriate. The registered manager had oversight of the service, the people, the systems and processes. Some of this responsibility, for example the on-call facility to support staff, was shared with the deputy manager. Likewise some of the auditing processes were done by the deputy but with oversight from the registered manager. The data entered by staff on their mobile phones was immediately accessible to managers in the office and so a daily monitoring of staff actions and any concerns or incidents could be quickly seen and addressed. Monthly auditing took place and included analysis of MAR records, staff training and care plans and risk assessments. Information form the audits was shared with staff if there were trends that needed addressing or any learning to be passed on. Accidents and incidents were also monitored and the registered manager told us they would sometimes discuss concerns directly with the safeguarding team at the local authority to get advice if needed. There were plans to recruit a quality monitoring officer to support staff with tasks in the field and to support with pre-assessments.

The provider understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services worked seamlessly for people. They shared information and learning with partners and collaborated for improvement. Information sharing agreements were in place between the service and statutory partners to ensure that all those involved in people’s care had the information they needed to provide the best support. The registered manager told us that they had reached out into the local community for recruitment of new staff. They had attended recruitment fairs at local colleges and had arranged for some new staff to attend relevant courses in preparation for starting work with the service. The service was well established locally. To support people they researched local facilities for people. A person was recently introduced to a local dementia café where they now regularly attended for support and companionship in their local area.

The provider focused on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. They actively contributed to safe, effective practice and research. The registered manager told us that every incident was followed up with a meeting with the staff concerned. Both good and poor practice were discussed and actions taken to make sure the whole staff team learned from the incident. In some cases additional training was provided to staff and in others, where things had gone well, staff files were updated appropriately with compliments. The service was part of a larger network of services under the same provider. This meant that lessons learned across all provider services could be shared, if appropriate, to the benefit of staff in other areas.