Hyllden Heights 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.

This is the first assessment for this newly registered service. This key question has been rated 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 did not always make sure people’s care and treatment was effective by assessing and reviewing their health, care, well-being and communication needs with them.

People and their relatives confirmed they were involved in the assessment of their needs. A relative told us, “We [family] had a meeting with one of the managers to discuss [loved one’s] needs. They went through everything with us.” However, we found that needs assessments were not consistently reviewed to ensure they accurately reflected individuals' current requirements. For instance, we observed one person being served food that their care records indicated they should avoid. Although the individual did not experience any adverse reaction, we were concerned about the potential risk of harm. We brought this to the attention of the registered manager, who investigated and discovered that the care records had not been updated to reflect the person's current dietary needs.

People’s needs were assessed looking at their physical and mental health conditions, personal care needs, social needs, religious, communication, nutritional needs, mobility, and skin integrity. The provider used various nationally recognised assessment tools such as the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) to assess people’s nutritional needs and Waterlow to assess people’s skin integrity and risk of developing a pressure ulcer.

The provider planned and delivered people’s care and treatment with them, including what was important and mattered to them.

Feedback about the food provided in the service was varied. Comments included: “The meals are quite enjoyable, with plenty of vegetables, though there's not much fresh fruit.”; “The food is fairly good, but they tend to avoid seasoning and serve items like fish fingers and sandwiches for tea.” and “Everything here is nice—except the food.”

While observing mealtime, we found the environment to be peaceful and welcoming for individuals. The meals were attractively plated and served hot, contributing to a pleasant dining experience. Staff supported people to eat and drink where required. For example, staff assisted people to cut up their food into bite sizes. People were offered extra portions of food if they wanted and people were offered something outside the menu if they preferred something other than what was on the menu.

People were provided with meals to meet their nutritional needs and where people required special diet such as, soft, fortified food and low sugar diet it was provided. People were offered snacks, drinks and fruits throughout the day.

Staff worked with professionals including dietitians, to assist people at risk of malnutrition and those experiencing weight loss. They routinely tracked people’s weight and documented their dietary and fluid consumption.

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.

A healthcare professional told us, “Hyllden Heights works very closely with our service. They follow our recommendations regarding patients’ care when appropriate and keep in regular contact with us. This collaboration ensures residents’ needs are met effectively.” Staff informed us that they provided handovers and appropriately shared relevant information such as their medical history, care needs and communication needs about people with other services and care teams to ensure that people's needs were effectively met.

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. A person told us, “I see the chiropodist here.” A relative mentioned, “My loved one was sick recently and staff called the doctor to see them, and they gave them some medication.”

People had access to healthcare services they needed to maintain good health and staff supported them to arrange visits and check-ups as appropriate. Staff followed the recommendations made by professionals to manage people’s health conditions and well-being. A professional commented, “All the care staff are extremely responsive to any advice or recommendations I give as a physiotherapist. The staff assist me by working collaboratively in sessions and assist residents in completing exercise programmes to ensure they maintain or improve their mobility and maintain their quality of life.”

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.

Care plans outlined the outcomes people expected from their care and treatment. We saw examples of how people’s outcomes and care were monitored, when concerns arose regarding a person's weight, staff conducted regular weight checks and kept detailed fluid and food charts to monitor their nutritional intake. Staff showed they knew people well and when to escalate concerns appropriately to relevant services.

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

People told us staff obtained consent before delivering care to them. A person said, “Staff always ask me what I want, yes, they respect my decisions.” A relative told us, “They [Staff] always gain consent about everything. They got consent from us before giving them jabs. They are very much on the ball with that.”

People and their relatives, where necessary, gave their consent to the care and treatment they received, and people’s liberty was promoted in line with legal guidance. People’s capacity to make specific decisions was assessed and noted in their care plans. Where people had been assessed as lacking capacity to make a decision, relatives and relevant health or social care professionals were involved to make best interests’ decisions.

Staff had completed training in the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards and understood their responsibilities to obtain consent from people in line with the MCA. We observed staff involving and asking for people’s consent before supporting them. Staff explained options available to people and gave them time to respond.