Abelands

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 79 (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.
Relatives of people at the service were positive about the way the staff assessed people’s needs. The registered manager told us that people at the home had come from services that had struggled to manage their complex needs, and it had been important to understand what support people needed. A health care professional told us “A notable strength is their commitment to gathering evidence to inform care decisions. There is a conscious effort to identify and differentiate between health and social care needs, and they actively advocate on behalf of the individuals they support to ensure appropriate input from relevant services.”
 

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.
Care was planned and delivered by staff who knew people extremely well and who involved them in daily decisions around their support needs. Staff were trained to support people with complex needs. Support plans included information for staff such as how to make best interest decisions, and people’s nutritional needs. A staff member said, “People’s emotions can be up and down, but we are very good at knowing people's pattern, looking for warning signs, being agitated and vocal. It's actually knowing the clients well.”
 

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.
People at the home had limited ability to explain their own needs, and staff relied on sharing information via support and care plans. Healthcare professionals worked with the staff team to provide continuity of care. A health care professional told us that although care plans were paper based, staff ensured a private space for healthcare professionals to review the documentation.
 

The provider always supported people to manage their health and wellbeing to fully maximise their independence, choice and control. Staff supported people to live healthier lives and where possible, reduce their future needs for care and support.
People at Abelands had complex needs. Staff ensured people could do anything they chose to do by providing the support people needed. Families, staff, and other healthcare professionals as well as the people themselves told us they had lots of choice and were encouraged to be independent. We saw a busy schedule chart for people at the home, showing activities they chose to partake in every day. Activities were available within the home in a games room, and staff were also frequently supported to go out. People were supported to attend sports events, shopping trips, discos, the theatre and have holidays including abroad. This meant people led healthier lives as they were supported to take part in physical activities. Being supported to take part in activities many adults would take for granted had an impact on their mental health and wellbeing. People were able to make decisions about where they ate, for example a person decided to eat out at a local restaurant, staff planned the trip, checked on the day that the person was still keen to attend and then took them.
A staff member said, “The best think about working here is we are given resources. We have two vehicles, we can go out with people. There are so many things that we can do.”
A person said, “I like going on walks, I can walk every day.” A relative said, “He is given every opportunity to do things, beyond what he wishes, staff encourage him to try new things, they have taken him to rugby matches, he may change his mind at the last minute, but that is how he is and staff are very adaptable. He likes his routine and likes his walks, things like that, but they would take the opportunity to encourage him to do something different.” Another relative told us, “He is given the opportunity to do things, and not only sports, other activities, that were not offered to him in previous homes. He goes to a club, I think in Bognor Regis, it's a music club and he loves dancing, he loves music so he really enjoys that. I think he goes to the gym twice a week. They take him on short holidays, to the New Forest, Isle of Wight, one year he actually went to Spain.”
People had been encouraged to change their lifestyles to improve their health including their physical health, oral health and nutrition.
 

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.
People were encouraged to choose healthy options and lifestyles to improve their outcomes. Staff encouraged people in clear simple ways that people understood. Staff liaised with other healthcare professionals when necessary. Staff endeavoured to change care when monitoring showed this was needed. For example, a relative told us, “A few years back [my relative] had a seizure, he has a tendency to epilepsy. It is usually triggered by things like heat waves, it is very rarely an isolated incident, in really hot summers, they have got him into the coolest room in the place. They have one of these almost industrial fan things, air circulators, they are very aware so they manage it, he will stay there at a comfortable level.”
 

The provider told people about their rights around consent and respected these when delivering person-centred care and treatment.
We saw staff consistently seek consent during our visit. Staff spoke politely to people, asked before entering people’s space, and checked people were calm and happy. Staff understood mental capacity and the importance of people being able to make choices, and being supported to make those choices. A staff member told us, “We always obtain consent. It's their home and they have the right to live however they want.”