Walsingham House

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 inspection we rated this key question good. At this inspection 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.

The registered manager told us they ensured people’s support needs were assessed before they moved into the service to ensure they could be met. People were offered opportunities to visit the service, before moving in, and once they had moved in, their needs continued to be assessed to ensure the placement suited them.

People had individual plans of care, these detailed people likes and dislikes and care tasks staff needed to complete. Risk management plans gave staff information on how to keep people safe from harm and injury.

Staff were involved in the ongoing assessment of people’s needs and reported any changes to the registered manager. Care plans were updated regularly to ensure they continued to meet people’s needs.

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.

People were encouraged to have enough to eat and drink as staff offered them a range of choices based on their individual preferences. One staff member told us, “We noticed that [name] had lost a little weight recently. We realised this was because they were very tired when it was evening mealtime, so now this person has a rest in the afternoons so then they are more alert in the evening for their meal. This has helped them a lot.” Staff recorded what this person ate and drank so effective monitoring was in place.

We saw 1 person needed a prescribed ‘thickener’ to be put into their drinks to reduce risks of choking. Staff could tell us how many scoops of the powder should be placed into the person’s drink. One staff member told us, “It has recently been changed by a healthcare professional as [name] was reassessed. The SALT team (Speech and Language Therapy) were helpful in responding to our concerns.”

The provider used recognised tools to assess people’s care needs. For example, 1 person was at risk of skin damage and had a pressure relieving mattress in place. Staff assessed this person’s risk using a WATERLOW tool for effective management.

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 responsible for supporting people, told us important updates were shared about people’s needs, so the team were always up to date. One staff member told us about the district nurse support they received in providing good catheter care to people.

Relatives were complimentary about staff involving them in their family member’s care and any healthcare appointments. One relative told us, “Staff always let us know if [name] needs a hospital appointment and ask if we want to come. They will always discuss if there are any issues. For example, she needs a procedure which [name] declined, but staff spoke to me about it, and I was able to encourage [name]."

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.

Staff encouraged people with healthcare appointments. One person told us, “[name of staff member] takes me to the doctor.” Staff gave us examples of how they promoted people’s health through supporting them to dentist appointments, health checks and medicine reviews.

The registered manager understood the importance of working closely with healthcare professionals in order to achieve the best outcomes for people to live healthier lives.

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.

One person required their oxygen saturation levels to be monitored, and staff were able to tell us how they did this and actions they would take if the reading was out of the ‘normal range’ for the person. Staff explained that in doing this, it enabled quicker professional healthcare intervention if needed, with an aim of the person not deteriorating and going into hospital which was a better outcome for them. Some people had catheters in place due to healthcare needs and ‘catheter passports’ were in place to ensure important information was recorded in one place.

Processes were in place to monitor key aspects of people’s individual health, and this included weight monitoring.

Relatives felt they could rely on staff to keep them informed about their loved one’s wellbeing and seek professional help when needed. One relative told us, “They (staff) just try and help them have the best life they can achieve. They are trying to help [name] make improvement, they have had speech therapy involved. They have been pushing to get a new wheelchair sorted. They always push for things for [name]."

Staff understood how advice and guidance could be obtained from the 111 service and gave us examples of when they had used this.

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

During our visit to the home, staff consistently explained to people what was happening, offering choices and gaining consent before, for example, when helping a person move about the home or supporting them with personal care. One staff member explained to [name] they were going to help them move, in their wheelchair, through the house and outside. This enabled the person to know what was happening.

Staff had received training on the Mental Capacity Act (2005) (MCA) and understood people’s varying levels of mental capacity and how this impacted them on a day-to-day basis. The registered manager understood who needed to be involved in any ‘best interests’ decisions and demonstrated this during our visit, as they needed to involve 1 person’s social worker in a decision about their support. The registered manager had appropriately made applications, when needed, to the supervisory body, where a deprivation of liberty safeguard was needed to be authorised.