Ballards Ash

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 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 made sure people’s care and treatment was effective by assessing and reviewing their health, care, wellbeing and communication needs with them.

Prior to people moving into the service, leaders assessed their needs and used this information to produce care plans. Reviews of assessments were ongoing so leaders could ensure care plans were current and contained up to date information. People were involved in their assessments as staff regularly reviewed what people wanted to achieve.

Leaders said they completed multiple assessments of needs for any new person which helped them decide if the service was suitable. Only when leaders were confident people’s needs could be met did any transitioning work into the service begin.

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 legislation and current evidence-based good practice and standards.

The provider had a central quality team who helped leaders and staff identify any changes in legislation, guidance and evidence-based practice. Staff used nationally recognised tools to help assess and identify risks, for example, a tool was used to assess risks of malnutrition.

People’s nutritional needs were recorded and staff supported people where possible to be involved in meal preparation. Relatives said staff provided care and support for people who needed supervision when eating. One relative told us, “Staff make sure food is chopped up and they will stay with [person] whilst [they] eat.”

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.

Leaders and staff worked with various healthcare professionals to make sure people’s needs were met. Care records demonstrated people’s health appointments were planned and staff escorted people on appointments so health information could be shared and recorded. Relatives had also been involved in people’s care and kept updated with information. One relative said, “When [person] was seen by psychologists, I was included in every way. Any problems they [staff] would let me know.”

Staff said there was good teamwork amongst the staff and communication was effective. We observed staff working together to make sure people’s needs were met in a timely way.

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 encouraged to lead as healthy lives as possible and as per their wishes. Healthy diets and adequate fluids were encouraged. Staff also supported people to do exercise if they wished. One relative told us, “[Staff] keep an eye on [person’s] weight, and they go for walks into town or the countryside.”

Staff were supporting people with various health conditions including some delegated healthcare tasks. These are tasks completed with the correct training and support of a registered healthcare professional. Whilst staff had good guidance in care plans for this, it was not recorded who the person with overall responsibility was. The provider took steps to find out who the delegator (registered healthcare professional) was so records could be updated.

The provider routinely 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.

Staff said if people needed care monitoring this was completed. For example, staff said if people were at high risk of malnutrition, then food and fluids might be monitored. Some people with health conditions such as epilepsy had increased monitoring. This helped staff identify early indicators of potential seizures.

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

Staff were provided with training on the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and understood the principles. Staff knew the importance of obtaining consent for any care activity and if people lacked capacity, they worked in people’s best interests.