Redcote House Residential Care Home

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. At our last assessment we rated this key question Requires Improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to Good. This meant people’s outcomes were consistently good, and people’s feedback confirmed this.

This service scored 63 (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 mostly made sure people’s care and treatment was effective by assessing and reviewing their health, care, wellbeing and communication needs with them. However, further improvements were required to ensure this was consistent.

A range of assessment were used to assess and understand people’s needs. However, assessments of people's hydration needs were not thorough and did not provide sufficient information to fully understand people's needs. For example, records indicated that some people relied on support from staff with all drinks and to ensure they drank enough to remain suitably hydrated. However, assessments did not fully explore what good hydration looked like for these people and did not provide staff with appropriate guidance or fluid targets to ensure good hydration. Whilst records indicated a potential risk of dehydration, we found no evidence of people developing related medical complications such as urine tract infections (UTI). We raised this with the provider, and they took immediate action to improve assessments and record keeping.

Despite these findings, people and their relatives told us people were able to get access to drinks easily. One person told us, "You can get a drink in your room whenever you like. Sometimes when I cannot sleep, I press my call bell at like 2am and ask for a hot drink, I always get one." One relative told us, “They [staff] are always coming around wanting to know if [relative] and others are wanting a drink.”

People and their relatives told us they were included in understanding their needs and were updated when things changed. One relative told us, “I have a very good relationship with staff. They [staff] always have time for me. They [staff] also call me on any changes too.”

The provider mostly 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. However, further developments were required to ensure consistency.

Where people received care and support in relation to Parkinson's disease, detailed care plans were in place to ensure staff could fully understand the presentation of people's Parkinson's and how best to support them on a daily basis.

People described how they were able seek the attention of staff when needed it. One person told us, “I use my buzzer [call bell] when I want to get into my chair. I use it and they [staff] come and help me into my chair.”

People received the support they required with meals. However, there was limited engagement from staff during mealtimes, and the environment did not promote a pleasant or enriched mealtime experience. For example, people were sometimes sat side by side facing a blank white wall. There were no table decorations where people were dining, tables were not dressed and napkins were not available. Despite our findings, people were happy with the food provided. One person said, “Meals are good, my favourite is toad in the hole, the vegetables are always fresh." Another person said, “I like the choices at breakfast and its very tasty."

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.

Staff worked together well in an organised manner. Set roles and responsibilities were in place to ensure safe shifts operated seamlessly.

Staff engage positively with visiting healthcare professionals demonstrating joined up working to ensure people’s needs were met effectively.

The provider mostly supported people to manage their health and wellbeing to maximise their independence, choice and control. Staff supported people to live healthier and enriched lives.

Where people showed signs of declining health or abilities these were mostly escalated to the appropriate health and social care professionals in a timely manner. However, a person's mobility was changing due to declining health and there was a delay in the service submitting a referral to an occupational therapist for an appropriate mobility review. We raised this with the provider and they took prompt action to ensure the appropriate health care professionals were involved.

People were supported to engage in daily activities that promoted wellbeing. One person told us, “We have singers come into the home." Another person said, “At Christmas and Birthdays we have present.”

The provider 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.

Effective systems were in place for monitoring people's care and support requirements. For example, repositioning charts were in place and completed for people who needed repositioning in bed. Staff regularly recorded people’s care and daily activity in their care records.

The care and support people received promoted positive outcomes and met clinical expectations. For example, where people required support with pressure related injuries, staff liaised with healthcare professionals and ensured appropriate wound care management was in place. Staff understood people’s needs well and described how they delivered effective care and treatment.

The provider told people about their rights around consent and mostly respected these when delivering person-centred care and treatment. However, further development was required to ensure consistency.

We observed staff seeking people’s consent while delivering daily care and support. The rapport between people and staff was friendly and positive. Capacity assessments were used where people were unable to provide consent, however there was 1 example where this had not been completed. We raised this with the provider, and they took prompt action to ensure the capacity assessment was completed. Care plans contained detail around people’s communication abilities, but there was sometimes a lack of information regarding people’s capacity to make decisions and provide consent. Further development in this area was required to ensure consistency.