LLOYDS Pharmacy Clinical Homecare has been awarded an overall ‘Good’ rating by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). This is recognition of the huge turnaround the service has made in such a short space of time. The Harlow site was inspected in October 2022. 

Established in 1975, LloydsPharmacy Clinical Homecare is one of the most experienced providers of clinical homecare, and delivers care to more than 100,000 patients in the comfort of their home, at work, or in the community – ranging from straightforward delivery of medication to specialist nursing for complex conditions. The service was rated ‘Good’ in all five domains: safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.

The provider was credited with having ‘significantly improved’ following negative feedback from the regulators last year.

In particular, it was reported that ‘all staff were committed to continually learning and improving services. They had a good understanding of quality improvement methods and the skills to use them, and leaders encouraged innovation and participation in research’. 

The CQC acknowledged that:

• Staff were experienced, qualified and had the right skills and knowledge to meet the needs of patients
• LloydsPharmacy Clinical Homecare had enough nursing and support staff with the right qualifications, skills, training and experience to keep patients safe from avoidable harm and to provide the right care and treatment. Managers regularly reviewed and adjusted staffing levels and skill mix
• Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. The service promoted equality and diversity in daily work and provided opportunities for career development. The service had an open culture where patients, their families and staff could raise concerns without fear
• The provider had a robust governance process and monitored its performance and risks regularly. The corporate and clinical risk registers included relevant risks and were monitored and managed effectively
• Patient notes were comprehensive, and all staff could access them easily. Care records were reviewed on the patient information system, and there were notes on patients, and their management plans

Inspectors highlighted LloydsPharmacy Clinical Homecare’s Remote Nurse Training service, which is for patients with long-term conditions. ‘The service has enabled patients, through telephone training, to self-inject their ongoing treatments. It has facilitated greater independence for patients and has reduced the risk of transmission of the COVID-19 virus to a patient group that were considered vulnerable.’

With a success rate of 99%, the training programme was rolled out nationally across 13 different biological therapies. The service was a finalist in the Nursing Times Awards 2020 in the category of Managing Long-term Conditions.

Nick Davis, CEO of LloydsPharmacy Clinical Homecare, said:

“The CQC’s report reflects how far we have come in the last year. Every single person who is part of the LloydsPharmacy Clinical Homecare team – from our front-line nurses and healthcare assistants to our senior management team, has worked extremely hard to bring the service back to a standard that we can be proud of, however, we will not rest on our laurels as we strive to do even better each day.

“We are all dedicated to our programme of continuous improvement, and the regulator’s feedback is extremely important to us. The inspectors have also provided valuable guidance on where we can make even more progress, and it will help us reach our goal of being rated outstanding in the near future.”

For more information and to view the full CQC report, please click here: https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-131640953