Ardour Healthcare Services Ltd

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

Effective – this means we looked for evidence that people’s care, treatment and support achieved good outcomes and promoted a good quality of life, based on best available evidence.

This is the first assessment for this service.

This key question has been rated good. This meant people’s outcomes were consistently good, and people’s feedback confirmed this.

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 made sure people’s care and treatment was effective by assessing and reviewing their health, care, wellbeing and communication needs with them.

People had comprehensive assessments that considered their health, care, wellbeing, and communication needs, to enable them to receive the right care and treatment. They included information about how people liked to communicate, for example a person used picture cards to support them to communicate with others. This was documented in the care plan, which was clear and descriptive in instructing staff how to use them.

People and their relatives felt involved in completing their needs assessments and felt confident their needs had been appropriately documented and understood by staff. People confirmed their needs were regularly reviewed.

The digital record keeping system used by the service prompted service managers to review all support plan information monthly. However, people using the service assured us that if they felt their needs had changed, care staff would report this back to the office, or they would speak to the office directly to have changes made to their support plan as and when required.

The provider planned and delivered people’s care and treatment with them, including what was important and mattered to them. They did this in line with legislation and current evidence-based good practice and standards.

People’s care plans provided staff with information on how to maintain good levels of hydration and nutrition, indicating what to prepare for them in a way that would make them most likely eat and drink. People’s needs and preferences were documented in the care plans in line with best practice guidelines.

People’s communication needs and preferences were clearly documented in their care plans and staff were provided with the correct training and clear guidance on how to adapt communication styles and methods to each person’s individual needs.

The provider worked well across teams and services to support people. They made sure people only needed to tell their story once by sharing their assessment of needs when people moved between different services.

People were happy about the way staff supported them with any referrals required to other agencies, and how information about their care was shared between the agencies.

Staff had access to the information they needed to appropriately assess, plan and deliver people’s care, treatment and support. When people’s needs changed, staff referred them to other agencies and health care professionals.

Leaders told us about examples of how staff worked with external agencies to support people, for example ongoing relationships with the continence team to support a person manage their continence needs.

The provider supported people to manage their health and wellbeing to maximise their independence, choice and control. Staff supported people to live healthier lives and where possible, reduce their future needs for care and support.

The provider had systems in place to ensure that people were supported to prevent health deterioration. This was achieved by regularly monitoring people's health and wellbeing and taking prompt actions when people became unwell. Referral pathways were in place to ensure support for people could be requested when needed, for example from the GP.

The provider routinely monitored people’s care and treatment to continuously improve it. They ensured that outcomes were positive and consistent, and that they met both clinical expectations and the expectations of people themselves.

People were happy with how staff monitored their care and treatment. People told us staff asked them about their skills, strengths and goals and these were recorded in people's care plans. Staff monitored people's care and recorded it in the digital care daily records. Care plans were updated as and when a need had changed.

There were systems and processes in place to ensure that people's care was continuously monitored and reviewed, such as audits to ensure that the people were achieving their desired outcomes.

The provider told people about their rights around consent and respected these when delivering person-centred care and treatment.

People told us staff consistently asked them for consent before doing anything. One person said, "Staff are good with this [asking for consent] and always say hello and who they are, when they enter the house and explain each task they are doing." People felt their views and wishes were always considered by staff. Relatives of people confirmed they were involved in planning, managing and reviewing their care and treatment.

Staff completed training and understood the importance of obtaining consent before they delivered care. There was an advocacy policy in place.

Systems were in place to ensure people understood care and treatment being offered. This allowed people to make informed decisions about their care. Information about care was given to people in the format they could understand. People's consent to specific decision's was clearly documented.

The provider followed the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (2005). People's capacity to make decisions was considered and assessed when needed. When people lacked the capacity to make certain decisions staff acted in their best interest.