Gateford Hill Care Home

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.

This is the first full assessment for this service. This key question has been rated Good. This meant people’s needs were met through good organisation and delivery.

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 were at the centre of their care and treatment choices and they decided, in partnership with people, how to respond to any relevant changes in people’s needs. The provider had reviewed social opportunities and people told us these had improved. This provided social stimulation and a sense of community for people living at Gateford Hill. A dedicated activity team were available 7 days a week to ensure staff were able to spend meaningful time with every person. We observed staff spending time with different people including those who chose to spend time in their bedroom, people appeared engaged and happy in staff’s company. Care plans detailed people’s wishes and needs had been fully considered. People and their relatives told us; they were supported to express their views and encouraged to spend time doing things they wished. Resident and relatives meeting took place to ensure all people were provided with the opportunity to share their views to ensure the care was person-centred. We observed staff to use a person-centred approach, for example, some people preferred to eat breakfast before dressing whereas others preferred to eat in the dining room after personal care, we observed staff to support people in line with their choice.

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. Staff discussed partnership working with other healthcare professionals to ensure people had the best possible outcomes. Staff we spoke with said, “We’ve worked really hard with our GP’s practice to streamline our process, they are very happy with what we’ve achieved we are using the system correctly which has improved communication, people’s experience has definitely improved.” Staff told us they ensured a handover took place at the start of each shift to ensure all key information was handed over to oncoming staff team. People were supported to integrate into the local community; the service had commissioned a specialist transport provision to ensure people could travel out and about into the local area. Staff told us, they had seen improvements in people’s well-being as a result.

The provider supplied appropriate, accurate and up-to-date information in formats that were tailored to individual needs. People’s communication needs were documented in care records and interventions implemented as needed. For example, a person who could not verbalise their needs had information for staff in how they communicated their needs through body language and facial expressions. A staff member we spoke with gave us an example where staff learnt key phrases in a person native language to better support them with their communication needs. This was an individualised person-centred approach to care. On the specialist dementia unit, we observed dementia friendly resources to aid people with their communication needs.

The provider made it easy for people to share feedback and ideas, or raise complaints about their care, treatment and support. Staff involved people in decisions about their care and told them what had changed as a result. People and their relatives were able to provide feedback on their care, through care plan reviews, regular telephone calls and satisfaction surveys. People and their relatives were supported to raise concerns, complaints and compliments. Complaints were responded to in line with providers own policy. The provider explained they used complaints as a learning opportunity and demonstrated a committed attitude to resolving people’s concerns to improve their experience. Where people required support to share feedback they were supported to engage advocacy services. Residents’ and relatives’ meetings were held regularly to support people to be actively involved in shaping the service.

The provider made sure that people could access the care, support and treatment they needed when they needed it. Records we reviewed demonstrated timely referrals to health and social care professionals were made when needed. For example, a person who required specialist wound care support had a referral made without delay. People told us staff were responsive when they needed support from an external healthcare professional. A person said, “Oh the staff always sort appointments for me straight away” and a relative we spoke with said, “The staff are very good at contacting the GP for my [relative].”

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. Staff supported people to live their lives in their own way respecting people’s lifestyle choices and religious beliefs. A staff member we spoke with explained, how they supported people with their religious and spiritual needs to ensure they felt fulfilled. The provider ensured social opportunities were provided to all people, social interactions were analysed to determine people’s enjoyment and engagement. This supported the provider to decrease the possibility of loneliness.

People were supported to plan for important life changes, so they could have enough time to make informed decisions about their future, including at the end of their life. Care plans had information relating to people’s end-of-life needs, including any religious wishes. Staff completed training to ensure people received compassionate and dignified care at the end of their life. People were supported to express their goals and wishes. For example, staff gave us an example of a person wanting to increase the time they spent out of their room, they explained they had observed a positive change in the person and they were leaving their room more frequently than previously.