White Oak Care Limited

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.

A pre-assessment form was in place to determine if the service could support people’s needs safely and effectively through capturing key information on support needs and risks such as health conditions, support required, preferences and level of independence. People’s routine had been captured to ensure staff supported people with their daily routines.

People had choices and their preferences were included as part of assessments. A relative told us, “They [staff] understand [person] needs. They anticipate [person] needs.” A staff member told us, “They do have choice, we can also give suggestions. Once [person] chooses activities and food, [person] would tell.”

The registered manager and staff told us that people’s needs were assessed regularly to ensure they always received personalised care. Records showed the service assessed people’s needs regularly to ensure the care they received, reflected their needs and were personalised.

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 good practice and standards.

People received evidence-based care and treatment. The management team told us people's care was based around what was important to them and according to their preferences to ensure evidence-based care and treatment could be delivered. People had allocated key workers, and regular meetings were held to assess people’s needs and identify people’s goals and preferences to care.

Care plans included the support people required with care and treatment. Feedback was sought from people, relatives and staff through meetings and reviews to ensure evidence-based care and treatment was delivered. The registered manager gave an example where they supported a person to use alternative method of transport as they only used their relative transport before. This ensured the person was able to go out more frequently to places of interest.

The provider worked well across teams and services to support people.

The service worked in partnership with other agencies such as health and social professionals if people were not well, to ensure people were in the best of health.

Daily notes were completed after care was delivered to people, which included tasks completed and wellbeing of people to ensure continuity of care. Staff handover forms were completed with information on shift summary, appointments and finance management recorded to ensure continuity of care. A staff member told us, “We work as a team. We support each other. The manager is also good, listens to me. When I request supervision, or need leave, or not well, they always support me.”

Staff told us they worked well with each other and external services and were supported by management. A staff member told us, “I write everything up, what I did during my shift and hand it over it to other staff.”

Staff monitored people's health and welfare and reported any concerns to the management team who made referrals to health care professionals where required. A hospital passport was in place that included people’s background, care needs, health condition and communication ability to ensure people received continuity of care.

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.

People were supported to live healthier lives. The service carried out assessments on people’s care and health to ensure they could be supported to live healthier lives.

The management team and staff told us that people were always supported to live healthier lives. This included supporting people to go out in the community, encouraging people to eat well and promoting independence. We observed people were able to go outside to access the community when they wanted to.

Health action plans were in place that evidenced people were able to access health services such as dental, GP’s and hospital appointments to ensure they were in the best of health. People were also supported to have annual health checks.

The provider routinely monitored people’s care and treatment to continuously improve it. They ensured that outcomes were positive and consistent.

People's care and treatment was being monitored to improve outcomes. Reviews were carried out regularly to ensure people’s support and outcomes were monitored. Audits were being carried out, and action plans were in place to ensure people received personalised care according to their needs to ensure there was a cycle of improvement and improving outcomes for people.

Staff monitored people's health and welfare and reported any concerns to the management team. Where needed, referrals to health care professionals were completed and this was recorded on people’s health action plan.

The registered manager and staff told us people’s outcomes were always monitored through reviews and feedback. During reviews, care needs were discussed to improve outcomes. A relative told us, “[Person] used to jump a lot, but now [person] doesn’t. That was an old habit, and it changed because of the care [person] gets.”

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

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) provides a legal framework for making particular decisions on behalf of people who may lack the mental capacity to do so for themselves. The Act requires that, as far as possible, people make their own decisions and are helped to do so when needed. When they lack mental capacity to take particular decisions, any made on their behalf must be in their best interests and as least restrictive as possible. We checked whether the service was working within the principles of the MCA.

Systems were in place to obtain consent from people to provide care and support. An MCA policy was in place and staff had been trained on the MCA. MCA assessments had been completed to check if people had capacity to make certain decisions. Where people did not have capacity to make decisions, best interest decisions were made with family members involved.

Management and staff were aware of the principles of the MCAand the need to ask for consent. Staff told us that they would always request people’s consent where possible before doing any tasks. A staff member told us, “We ask them if they are ready for personal care. If they don’t want, we don’t force. They have right to refuse.”