Gowlands

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 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 was effective by assessing and reviewing their health, care, wellbeing and communication needs with them. People’s relatives told us they had been asked for their views prior to people using the service. Comments included, “There were detailed forms for me to fill out” and “They requested my comments for the care plan.” The provider’s assessments of people’s needs considered their individual preferences for support, and this information was used to develop their care plans.

The provider planned and delivered people’s care and support with them. They did this in line with legislation and current evidence-based good practice and standards.

Staff had access to a range of policies and support to promote good working practices, and the management team signposted them to relevant policy and training updates and opportunities. One health professional who had delivered training sessions in the service told us, “The staff were very focused on ensuring evidenced based material delivered in the sessions was put into practice”.

People were supported to make choices about what they would like to eat and drink, and we observed staff supporting people appropriately with their eating and drinking needs. Where people required specialised nutritional support, step by step guidelines were in place for staff to follow.

The provider worked in partnership with other healthcare professionals to provide consistency when supporting people to move between their respite service and home, and when supporting people to access health and community services. One health professional told us, “Their clear and consistent communication throughout the process ensures transparency and collaboration, leading to a positive outcome for all involved.”

The provider supported people to manage their health and wellbeing to maximise their independence, choice and control. Staff worked collaboratively with other professionals to ensure people’s health and care needs were met. People’s care plans contained relevant information about the health professionals involved in their care and how to contact them when required.

The provider routinely monitored the support people received to identify any changes in people’s needs since their last stay at the service and to ensure the service could still safely meet their needs. Staff told us they discussed people’s care needs regularly as a team and were continuously looking at how to provide a wider range of activities and meaningful experiences to promote good outcomes for people.

People’s capacity to make specific decisions about their care had been assessed by the provider. However, the mental capacity assessments were not always detailed, and this meant it was not always clear how the person had been supported during the process or how the decision had been agreed.

Despite these concerns, we observed staff offering people choices about their care and we found people’s care plans provided staff with information about how to provide options and promote choice in their day-to-day care.