Acacia House - Peterborough

On this page

• Overview
• Person-centred Care
• Care provision, Integration and continuity
• Providing Information
• Listening to and involving people
• Equity in access
• Equity in experiences and outcomes
• Planning for the future

Responsive – this means we looked for evidence that the provider met people’s needs.

At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained good. This meant people’s needs were met through good organisation and delivery.

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 received person centred care that was in line with their preferences. The management team and staff team knew the people they supported very well including their individual likes and dislikes. People's care records reflected their physical, mental and emotional needs to guide staff. These records would be updated by staff in response to people’s changing needs and interests. A staff member explained person-centred care, “(It’s) protected characteristics, respect everyone's individual care as they have different circumstances. They have a right to choices. They have the right on how they want to look, dress and eat.”

Our observations showed a staff member engaging with a person who they knew liked music whilst they enjoyed watching a music channel or the television together. On another occasion we saw 2 staff take a person out to eat at a restaurant of their choice in the community. A relative confirmed, “[Staff] keep me informed of most things, and with me going (regularly), there's always a chance to just catch me and talk through anything, if they need a more urgent decision they will give me a call.”

The provider understood the diverse health and care needs of people and their local communities, so care was joined-up, flexible and supported choice and continuity. A consistent staff team worked with people to help ensure continuity of care and support. Staff knew people well and contacted and worked with external health and social care professionals to help promote and maintain people’s well-being. This included Speech and Language Therapist (SALT) referrals being made for people during this assessment.

Staff helped support people to be a part of their community and take part in activities that interested them. Relatives told us how staff were encouraging people to go out and about in the community more often. Records showed evidence of a person who could be prone to social isolation, taking part in more social occasions including trips out and about in the community. A relative confirmed about their family member, “They've been taking [family member] swimming and taking them to the seaside and things like that…They have been going for days out as well; he does actually enjoy that.”

The provider supplied appropriate, accurate and up-to-date information in formats that were tailored to individual needs. Staff understood how to support people with their individualised communication skills such as words used, vocalisations, body language and facial expressions. To help people make decisions and choices visual prompts were used. Staff throughout our site visits gave examples of what people’s certain words meant. For example, a staff member said, “[Named person] I know his normal pattern of behaviour, so I can see if he is not feeling well, personality changes, how they are feeling, their well-being. He will say [word], and this means he is in pain. So, then I can look to give [pain relief] and ask him then to point where the pain is.”

People also had an individualised communications passport in place to help guide staff and external health and social care professionals on how best to communicate with a person. We also saw examples of information being presented in different formats such as large print or easy read pictures in line with the 'Assessable Information Standard.' This also helped aid people with their understanding.

The provider made it easy for people’s relatives and representatives to share feedback and ideas or raise complaints about their care and support. Relatives told us that they had never had to raise a complaint, but they knew who to speak should they wish to and said they felt they would be listened to. Relatives said, “I go in… so if I have any suggestions I would do it when I was talking to them then, but they know what they are doing.” And “If ever there is anything, [staff] always consult me and I always express my wishes back to them, they involve me in all the meetings.”

Advocacy was available to support people when needed. Improvements had been identified and work was to be done by the management team to try to engage people and their relatives, representatives where possible to formally feedback on the service provided.

The complaints log we looked at showed that concerns raised via the CQC had been logged, an investigation carried out and where needed, actions taken to try to resolve concerns. Staff understood the importance of formally responding to people’s suggestions or concerns. A staff member confirmed, “If a concern was raised by a visitor or relative I would signpost the person to go to the manager.”

The provider made sure that people could access the care, support and treatment they needed when they needed it. The management team and staff team understood the needs of people with a learning disability and autistic people and tried to ensure that there were no barriers to people receiving the specialist support required. Staff contacted and involved external health professionals such as GP’s, dentists, SALT, district nurses or the emergency services when needed. They followed professionals’ advice and guidance to try to help make sure that people were being looked after safely. A relative confirmed when asked how staff supported their family member to attend health screenings and stay healthy, “He does have all of that, because he has recently had a [named health check] and then he had to go to the hospital. I think he's still under investigation. But [staff] are keeping me informed with all that.”

Staff and leaders actively listened to information about people who are most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes and tailored their care, support and treatment in response to this. For example, important information to guide professionals was contained within a person's hospital passport to help minimise the inequality in experience or outcomes for people. This document detailed people’s wishes and likes and dislikes. How they like to be addressed and contained information about any medical conditions. This document also guided professionals’ on how information was to be communicated to the person in an individualised and person-centred way. For example, short simple sentences and the person being given time to process the information, the atmosphere is to be calm and without background noise.

People had been supported by the management team and staff to have good experiences at the care service. People were encouraged by a proactive manager and staff team, to take positive risks and achieve positive outcomes in line with equality and human rights. This helped people achieve their goals and improve their quality of life. A relative said, “Now [family member] is going out more, it does not appear he's missing out on anything that should be being met by the service.” And “Yes, I think that the staff treat all of the residents equally and fairly.”

People’s relatives and representatives were supported to plan for important life changes, so they could have enough time to make informed decisions about their family members future, including at the end of their life. People had lived at the care service for many years, and this was their home, and the management team understood that it was important to the person to stay there for as long as practicable.

People’s relatives and representatives were able to make advance decisions regarding what they would like to happen at the end of the person's life, including preferences should emergency care and treatment be required. However, one important document that set out what was to happen for a person should they require emergency treatment had an error in the details. We asked the management team to look at this as a matter of urgency and they agreed to do this.