Ivybank House 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 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 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’s care and treatment was effective by assessing and reviewing their health, care, wellbeing and communication needs with them. People’s needs were comprehensively assessed and included consideration of their physical, emotional and communication needs. People and relatives were involved as much as possible in support planning. One relative said, “The family, the manager and social services did the planning together. It works well and we’ve got no problems. [Relative] is very happy, there are no problems at all.”

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.

People’s nutritional and hydration needs were met in line with current best practice guidance. The provider said they contract a specialist meal company to supply nutritionally balanced meals, tailored to meet Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) guidelines where required. Prior to this change, residents, staff, and relatives were invited to sample proposed dishes, which received positive feedback. Leaders told us, “Weekly clinical data is shared with the meal provider, and menu adjustments have been made to address identified weight fluctuations and enhance nutritional value.” They also told us they had seen improvements for residents who were experiencing weight loss. One relative said, “The food’s very good, [person] has put some weight back on.”

The service worked closely with a range of healthcare professionals to ensure people’s health needs were met appropriately. Prior to the inspection, some health partners raised concerns about how the service was responding to some people’s health needs. During the inspection, it was evident that managers had taken meaningful steps to address these concerns and improve practices in this area to ensure people received effective, coordinated care.

One General Practitioner (GP) told us, ‘Care staff are generally prompt in seeking health care advice if they are worried about a resident, however they have found on some occasions requests for health care interventions during out of hours’ times less prompt.’ The GP also told us they visited weekly, and the home have organised a list of people for them to review. They said, ‘Staff are getting better at including clinical observations [on the list] if important.’ and ‘Staff are happy to talk to me and tell me anything they may have noticed about the residents and flag messages from family members.’ The registered manager said improvements had been made regarding staff seeking timely health care advice and was confident staff were now seeking advice appropriately.The registered manager told us about actions they had taken to improve the partnership working, including meeting with health professionals regularly and setting up a dedicated communication book for health professionals’ staff to share their notes about treatment provided. Health care professionals confirmed improvements had been made to improve communication with the service.

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.

The registered manager and staff told us the home offers regular exercise to encourage and maintain people’s mobility. One staff member said, “The home has exercises, every day, every morning at 10am, people enjoy this. It energises. I love morning exercise.” We observed this happening during our inspection. The registered manager also told us how one person goes out daily for a walk and another person helps the gardener planting in the garden. The provider had introduced a new mealtime service which provided nutritionally balanced meals to help people maintain a healthy weight.

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.

Records showed the provider maintained regular oversight of people’s health and observed for trends. For example, 1 weekly audit of infections identified an increase in chest infections. Staff were informed to encourage people to drink plenty.

One relative spoke positively about how their relative’s health had improved. They said, ‘[Relative’s name] is very slight. [Relative’s name] doesn’t eat much, and They have always moaned about food. The had been losing weight for a long time. [Relative’s name] also lived with chronic pain for ages and had pain patches all the time. It was only when they got here that detailed questions were asked and we agreed to cease the pain patches and, almost miraculously, they got their appetite back – enjoys a good breakfast now and their weight has improved plus, the pain is almost gone.”

The provider told people about their rights around consent and respected these when delivering person-centred care and treatment. Care plan records showed how people were involved in decision making. Staff had received Mental Capacity Act training and were able to demonstrate how they used this in their role. One staff we spoke with said, “I always presume capacity first and encourage residents to make their own decisions wherever possible.” Another staff member said, “I always check if the person wants help, check what they would like to wear and give choices.”