Acorn House - Croydon

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 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 was effective by assessing and reviewing their health, care, wellbeing and communication needs with them.

Staff undertook comprehensive assessments prior to people receiving care to understand their needs and how they wished to be supported. Ongoing assessments were undertaken to ensure care continued to meet people’s needs. Staff told us this information was used to complete care plans which clearly instructed staff about people’s needs and what level of support they required.

The provider planned and delivered people’s care 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.

Staff were aware of and adhered to best practice guidance, including using recognised assessment tools. Staff completed regular training to ensure their knowledge stayed up to date with best practice guidance. Competency checks were undertaken to ensure staff retained what they had learnt in training. The deputy manager also held group supervision sessions where staff were able to reflect on training sessions they had been part of. We saw recently this included a session from the local hospice on supporting end of life care.

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 told us they worked well with their colleagues and there was good communication amongst the team.

Staff also worked well with other health and social care professionals. They liaised with specialist services as and when required to ensure people’s needs were met and took on board advice and guidance given to ensure continuity of care delivery. Staff told us they appreciated the support from specialist healthcare services and the system was working well and they were able to get prompt support when required.

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 need for care and support.

Staff were aware of people’s dietary needs and liaised with speech and language therapists and dieticians if they had any concerns about people’s dietary requirements, this included if they had concerns regarding a person’s risk of choking. Staff followed advice from these professionals to ensure people received a healthy, balanced diet that met their needs, including the use of texture modified meals where appropriate.

Mealtime experiences had improved, and people were offered choice of meals and choice about where they ate their meals. We saw people eating in the dining room, the various lounges and in their room depending on their preference. There were also two choices of lunchtime meals as well as additional meals to suit cultural and religious preferences. One person told us, “The food is excellent. I think it is very good. There is a choice and they do ask me what I want.”

Staff liaised with health professionals as required. There was a weekly visit from the local GP practice to monitor people’s health and staff liaised with specialist healthcare professionals when required. Staff supported people to attend medical appointments. A person said, “We have a doctor who comes round, and I see them more or less every week.”

The provider routinely monitored people’s care 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.

Staff supported people to achieve good outcomes. They supported people to continue to do what they enjoyed and had interests in. This included a range of activities delivered at the service. One person was an artist, and their work was displayed in their room as well as in communal areas celebrating their talent. The activities coordinator had clear plans in place to continue to support people’s wellbeing, including supporting people to get out more and access the local community.

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

Staff acted within the Mental Capacity Act 2005, and we observed staff asking people’s permission before supporting them or moving them in their wheelchair for example. Where people did not have the capacity to consent to care decisions, best interests’ meetings were held with people who had the legal authorisation to make the decisions on the person’s behalf.

People can only be deprived of their liberty to receive care and treatment with appropriate legal authority. In care homes, this can be done through a procedure called the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), which is part of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). We checked whether the service was working within the principles of the MCA and how they managed DoLS within the service. We found staff were appropriately seeking legal authorisation to deprive a person of their liberty where they felt this was required to keep people safe. Improvements had been made to keep track of all DoLS authorisations to ensure they remained appropriate and in date and ensure appropriate notification to CQC as required by their registration.