Alison House

On this page

• Overview
• Person-centred Care
• Care provision, Integration and continuity
• Providing Information
• Listening to and involving people
• Equity in access
• Equity in experiences and outcomes
• Planning for the future

Responsive – this means we looked for evidence that the provider met people’s needs.
At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained good. This meant people’s needs were met through good organisation and delivery.

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 young people were at the centre of their care and treatment choices and they decided, in partnership with young people, how to respond to any relevant changes in young people’s needs.
Young people’s individual care plans utilised information obtained through initial and on-going assessments. Information included people's backgrounds, spiritual needs, hobbies and interests and helped staff know what was important to people to engage with them in a personalised way. A healthcare professional said, “I have worked with [the management team and staff team] for some time, and they consistently go above and beyond to ensure the home remains safe, nurturing, and focused on providing the [young people] with meaningful opportunities to thrive.”

The provider understood the diverse health and care needs of young people and their local communities, so care was joined-up, flexible and supported choice and continuity.
Young people received good continuity of care because staff worked well with health and social care partners. Records in young people's care plans showed ongoing contact from health professionals such as specialty doctors, therapists and highly specialist clinicians.
Partners were positive about the way the service worked with them and about the support they provided to young people.

The provider supplied appropriate, accurate and up-to-date information in formats that were tailored to individual needs.
Care plans were written in plain language and reviewed with the young person. Updates were documented clearly and showed information was shared in a way that young people could understand.

The provider made it easy for young people to share feedback and ideas, or raise complaints about their care, treatment and support. Staff involved people in decisions about their care and told them what had changed as a result.
The home had an open-door policy and it was evident that the management team were hands on and approachable.
Staff and young people’s feedback was sought regularly via staff and young people’s surveys. Surveys were analysed for any trends.
Policies and procedures were in place to manage and respond to complaints effectively. A log of complaints was maintained, which contained information about the nature of the complaint and how this had been responded to.

The provider made sure that people could access the care, support and treatment they needed when they needed it.
When needed the staff contacted relevant health professionals, to help them access the appropriate care. A healthcare professional said, “Alison House care has made a remarkable impact on [the outcomes of the young person I am working with], and the staff have been very supportive of [the young person]. They have always engaged with appointments and supported [the young person] very well.”

Staff and leaders actively listened to information about people who are most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes and tailored their care, support and treatment in response to this.
All staff had been trained in equality and diversity and understood potential inequalities and worked to ensure these were not present at the home.
People's protected characteristics under the Equalities Act 2010 were identified as part of their assessment of needs and helped the staff to find out about people’s past experiences and any inequality. This information was detailed in care records to ensure people would be treated as valued individuals regardless of their backgrounds, beliefs or differences.

Young people were supported to plan for important life changes, so they could have enough time to make informed decisions about their future.
Young people were supported to transition to the next chapter of their lives in line with their needs and preferences. One young person was currently being supported to explore supported living accommodation to further promote the independent living skills they had developed during their time at Alison House. The young person told us how proud they were with the progress they had made. They said, “…The staff have made me feel safe and made me feel good enough.” We discussed this young person and the progress they had made with the deputy manager who said, “When [the young person] first came to us, [they] didn't think that we would ever get [them] to the stage where [they would achieve what they wanted]…We haven't given up [on them], got [them] through the bad times…[and supported them to] believe in [themselves].”
The service did not support people with end of life care.