Marie Curie Hospice and Community Services East of England Region

Marie Curie provides personal and nursing care and support to people who have chosen to receive their end of life care at home in the eastern region of England. At the time of our inspection there were 60 people receiving care.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People were supported by well-trained responsive staff that cared for people with compassion, kindness and professionalism. Staff received training on medicines and people received their prescribed medicines safely.

Staff had been safely recruited and were supported by managers who understood their roles and responsibilities. Staff understood safeguarding procedures and would raise any concerns when required.

People and relatives told us, they felt safe with the staff and that staff turned up on time. People and relatives used words such as kind, caring, discreet and supportive when describing staff.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Care plans and risk assessments contained information regarding people’s choices and preferences. Staff ensured all information was kept up to date and relevant. People were involved in how they wanted their support completed.

Staff worked closely with other healthcare professionals to ensure people received the care they required in a timely manner.

The registered manager met the legal obligations. They worked with people and relatives to facilitate good quality care for people. The service had a positive ethos and an open culture.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 23 May 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

There was a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The registered manager provided clear guidance and leadership to a highly skilled and motivated team.

People who were receiving care and their relatives felt safe. People were supported by staff that knew how to recognise when people were at risk of harm and knew what action they should take to keep people safe.

People’s needs were continually assessed, and their care needs met and were updated as their needs changed.

There were enough staff to provide planned care and also care required at short notice when families were in crisis. People received care from staff that were safely recruited, skilled and experienced in providing end of life care.

People received their medicines safely as all staff had received training and their competencies had been assessed.

People’s needs were met by staff that had the required knowledge and skills to support them appropriately. Staff received on-going training to develop and update their skills and staff were supported to carry out their roles through regular supervision.

Staff gained people’s consent before they entered their homes and provided care. Staff respected people’s choices about how they wanted to live their lives, including people’s preferred names, gender identity and gender of care staff. People were supported to receive their care at home in accordance with their wishes.

People were treated with respect. People received care from compassionate staff that took time to build quality relationships that impacted positively to the way relatives coped with people’s end of life care and subsequent bereavement.

Staff demonstrated their commitment to providing high quality care and the service’s values at staff meetings and training; where staff strived to improve their practice through reflective learning and discussion.

The service worked in successful collaboration with other healthcare professionals to provide an integrated healthcare team where people received a seamless service for their end of life care.

People received information on how to make a complaint and the service used the feedback to improve the service. The registered manager had implemented systems to improve communication. The provider continued to develop the service through quality monitoring.