Withins (Breightmet) 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.

At this assessment we reviewed 2 quality statements from this key question. At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained. This meant people’s outcomes were consistently good, and people’s feedback confirmed this.

This service scored 71 (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.

The provider used the local authority support plan, shared when placements are commissioned by the local authority, along with their own pre-admission assessment, to assess people’s suitability for admission to the home to ensure it could meet people’s needs and help create initial care plans and risk assessments.

The provider also used an admission checklist to capture people’s key needs and

abilities on one easy read sheet. For example, their key likes and dislikes, food preferences, bathing needs and other hygiene needs.

Although documentation did not clearly indicate which people and/or relatives had been involved in the assessment process, the presence of personalised information about people, their lives and needs indicated conversations had initially taken place, and people had shared their wishes.

People and relatives told us they were involved in decisions about their care. A relative said, “Yes, we are always involved about any changes to [their] medication. If the doctor visits I always get a call” whilst a resident said “Yes, they do discuss my care with me and my [relative] …If there is anything I need and then they get it.”

People’s communication needs were assessed and met to maximise the effectiveness of their care and treatment.

We did not look at Delivering evidence-based care and treatment during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at How staff, teams and services work together during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at Supporting people to live healthier lives during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at Monitoring and improving outcomes during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

The provider did not always tell people about their rights around consent and did not always respect their rights when delivering care and treatment.

There were no consent forms in people’s care files. As a result, it was not clear people had consented to their care and treatment, nor access to their records by professionals.

Care records did contain a document which related to the reading and agreeing of the care plan. However, these had not been signed by any of the people whose records we looked at. The document for one person stated they had no next of kin to sign the document, so it had been left blank, despite the person having capacity and being able to do so themselves.

Where people lack capacity to consent, unless they have previously appointed a lasting power of attorney (LPA) to make health and welfare decisions on their behalf, any decisions need to be made by following the best interest process. This involves a group of people, often the provider, family members and relevant professionals, meeting to discuss decisions which need to be made, and agreeing what is in the persons best interest. We found no evidence within care files these meetings had taken place.

Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) are a legal framework designed to protect people who lack capacity to consent to their care arrangements, and ensure any deprivation of their liberty is necessary, proportionate, and in their best interests. Providers are required to submit DoLS applications to the local authority where people lack capacity and are being deprived of their liberty in some way, for example, not being able to leave the care home without support. The provider had applied for DoLS as and where necessary.