Swanage Lodge

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.

The last rating for this key question was good. At this assessment the rating has remained 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 assessed people’s needs and choices so that care could be planned. People were involved in these assessments. They had regular meetings with staff to discuss their needs and plan how they wanted to be cared for. Care plans were regularly reviewed. Information for staff was clear. Staff working at the service knew people well.

People received evidence-based care and support. Staff undertook a range of training relevant to their roles. Staff had undertaken training about various mental health needs, dementia and learning disabilities. They told us training was useful and helped them with their work. Comments from staff included, “We do a lot of training. [Managers] train us and we have online training”, “We have guides about how to do certain things” and “If we don’t complete the training the manager tells us we need to do this.”

Managers had regular meetings with staff, and these were used to provide learning opportunities to discuss a specific topic. For example, recent topics included safeguarding, medicines, cooking and food hygiene, confidentiality and making use of supervision.

People’s nutritional and hydration needs were met. People were able to make choices about meals and were encouraged to eat healthily. People told us their diets reflected their cultural needs. Their comments included, “I choose my food, and staff use the ingredients I want” and “I like everything I get to eat here.”

The provider had systems to enable staff to work together. The provider operated 2 care homes and supported living settings for people who needed less staff support. Staff worked in all of the provider’s services and knew people using the services, other staff and systems. They had regular meetings, handovers of information and systems to share information electronically. Staff told us they felt well informed and could contact managers and other staff whenever they needed.

Staff worked closely with external healthcare professionals, making referrals when people needed extra support and following guidance from others to help meet people’s needs.

Staff supported people to stay healthy. They assessed people’s mental and physical health. People told us they felt well supported. They explained staff understood their conditions. People explained staff provided help for them to access other services and to manage their individual needs. Staff told us they had good relationships with doctors and other professionals involved in people’s care. Staff monitored people’s needs. They supported them to understand and make healthy lifestyle choices.

Staff monitored people’s needs and outcomes to make sure care was appropriate and met these needs. One staff member told us, “We carry out visual checks and we take observations. We record everything and handover the information between us. We raise concerns with the person and their doctors when needed.” Staff used electronic systems to record people’s needs. Managers and other staff were able to see changes and respond to any decline in a person’s condition or health.

The provider made sure they obtained people’s consent. People had been involved in planning and reviewing their care. There were agreements with some people to help with their mental health recovery. They had discussed and consented to these. Staff understood people had the right to withdraw consent. Staff offered people choices and respected their decisions. People told us staff obtained their consent. Staff undertook training to understand about the Mental Capacity Act 2008 and their responsibilities.

When people lacked the mental capacity to make more complex decisions, the provider liaised with their representatives and other professionals to make sure decisions were made in people’s best interests. For example, around some medical treatments.