Brandon Trust - 261 Passage Road Care Home

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.

Staff completed a comprehensive assessment before people moved to the service involving other health and social care providers and those important to the person. The pre-assessment contained details of the person, their likes and dislikes, health conditions and what was important to them.

People using the service, their relatives, and relevant health and social care professionals were involved in these discussions to ensure individual needs and preferences were fully considered. People and those important to them were encouraged to visit the home, to enable them to decide on whether to move to the service and enable them to get to know the people living at 261 Passage Road and the staff team. This helped to ensure people were compatible and wanted to live together. Staff developed care plans from the initial assessments, and these were regularly reviewed and updated as people’s needs changed.

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 delivered care and support in line with the principles of Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, ensuring people received person-centred support, and promoted independence, choice and control. Staff had completed training in supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people.

The management team and the staff fully understood ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance and supported people in line with this. For example, people were actively involved in the planning of their care. They were supported to follow their hobbies and interests. One person told us they liked to go horse riding and go to the local zoo. They also told us they liked music and attended a day centre, and a group called the ‘golden oldies’. This was reflected both in their care plan and in the daily records of support.

People’s nutritional and hydration needs were met in line with current standards and evidence-based guidance. Professional advice had been sought where concerns had been raised with swallowing and choking risks. Staff were aware of the guidelines in place for each person.

People had enough to eat and drink to prevent malnutrition or dehydration and were supported to manage their dietary needs and associated risks. People confirmed they were involved in the planning of the menus on a weekly basis. People’s care plans included what they liked and disliked and the support they needed with eating and drinking. This included any known allergies.

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.

The staff team worked in partnership with external professionals to ensure specialist support was available for people when required. This included the community learning disability team, dentists, opticians, diabetic services and neurology. Records demonstrated timely referrals were made for people.

A relative confirmed they were kept informed of any medical appointments or concerns and could attend health care appointments alongside the person. A relative told us, “I’m informed of any health appointments and the outcomes”.

Staff described strong teamwork and mutual support and respect. One staff member told us, “We work well as a team, we are continually learning and evolving and moving to ensure we are meeting people’s needs”. Daily handovers and staff meetings were a forum to share ideas, plan care delivery and keep up to date with any changes to people’s care and support needs.

The provider always 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 attend annual health reviews with their GP, and they had access to screening as an early detection of preventable diseases. Routine appointments were arranged for people to attend a dentist, podiatrist and optician appointments. People had oral care plans which detailed what support people needed to maintain good oral health alongside attending appointments with the dentist.

Care plans included information about people’s specific health care needs, for example, epilepsy and diabetes and how staff should care and respond to them. One person since moving to service had their diabetes medication discontinued by health professionals. This was due to positive lifestyle changes such as managed weight loss, eating healthier and participating in gentle exercise, which meant they no longer were being treated for diabetes. Staff confirmed this was kept under review with regular check-ups to monitor any relapses.

People were encouraged to be active both in the home and the local community. Staff understood the importance of keeping active and supporting people to do the things they enjoyed. People had been supported to go on holiday. For 1 person this had not been entirely successful but was noted they enjoyed the music and the lights. Staff had proactively organised for the person to have some sensory equipment in their bedroom. The person enjoyed spending time in their room listening to music and watching the sensory lights. Staff told us, this had helped the person remain calm and relaxed in the evening.

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.

People’s care plans were regularly reviewed and monitored. Relatives told us they were involved in their relative’s care reviews on an annual basis. A relative told us, “The staff are wonderful and caring, tailoring their approach to each person’s individual’s needs, likes and interests, in a person-centred way”. Another relative told us, “We are consulted about things she may need.” A member of staff told us we are constantly reviewing and evolving to ensure we meet everyone’s individual needs and finding new activities for the ladies based on their interests”.

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

People's care was provided in line with the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). Staff took people’s views and wishes into account when their care was planned. People’s care plans clearly detailed their wishes, choices and preferences.

Staff had received training in the MCA and were able to describe to us how they ensured people were involved and provided with choices, and they respected people's decisions within their day-to-day life. It was evident that people were encouraged to make day to day decisions such as when to get up and go to bed, what clothes they wanted to wear, make their own food choices and decide how they wanted to spend their time.

Staff completed comprehensive mental capacity assessments to ensure people were supported to consent to their care appropriately. One person was supported by an independent advocate. Advocacy services ensure vulnerable individuals are heard, their rights are protected, and they can access services. It was evident relatives were involved and their opinions were sought in respect of the care and support people received ensuring decisions that were made on behalf of a person was in their best interest.