Marlborough Court 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.

People using the service were receiving effective care and treatment.

This service scored 62 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

People’s needs, risks and choices were assessed and planned for. A relative told us, “Marlborough Court came and assessed my loved one whilst they were still at the other home. They told me they were very happy to move them to Marlborough Court. Since being at Marlborough Court, my loved one has made such an improvement.”

Assessments were used to create care plans which outlined people’s care and support needs, and tasks staff were required to complete. Care plans were regularly reviewed to reflect any changes in individuals needs and wishes. However, some care plans lacked detailed information on living with dementia, behaviours or their mental health care needs. We drew these to the registered managers attention. On the second day of our assessment, we saw the registered manager had taken action to address these areas.

People's nutrition, hydration, preferences, and cultural needs were met. A person using the service told us they were vegetarian, and they were always offered a vegetarian option, the chef visited them in their room to discuss different meal choices. A relative told us, “My loved one must be helped to eat now. The carers are very patient, my loved one had lost some weight, but they are reminded and encouraged to eat and drink. There is plenty of squash or water for them to have throughout the day.”

The chef was knowledgeable about people’s dietary and cultural needs and daily menus offered choice. Alternative meal choices could be offered to people if required, these included for example, sandwiches of their choice, a jacket potato with assorted fillings, a variety of omelette’s, soup or egg and chips. The chef told us a there were people who required a Halal diet, they also catered for people who are diabetic, vegetarian, those requiring textured foods and people who required a fortified diet due to a risk of weight loss. When it was a person’s birthday, birthday cakes were baked and a buffet provided to celebrate with the person. A relative told us, “My loved one had a birthday last week and they made a cake and decorated the lounge with balloons, we had a little celebration.”

We observed how people were supported at lunch time within communal dining areas and when eating in their rooms. The atmosphere in dining areas was relaxed and staff were largely attentive to people’s needs. However, some interactions from staff observed during lunch in one dining room was not always positive and enabling. We drew this to the registered managers attention who addressed the concern immediately and took appropriate actions including supervision with staff and seeking further training for individuals.

People had access to hot and cold drinks throughout the day and were offered ice lollies as the weather was very hot.

Staff worked effectively with health and social care professionals to ensure people received appropriate support when meeting their physical and mental health needs. These included GP’s, and community multidisciplinary and mental health teams amongst others.

A healthcare professional told us staff were responsive to people’s needs and followed any guidelines they had set. They said communication with the senior management team was very positive. The manager was always available, and their door was always open. Another healthcare professional told us the senior management team, and staff were responsive to any advice and suggestions they made. They said staff employed at the service had a good understanding of dementia and the needs of the people they supported.

People told us they had access to health and social care professionals when required. A person using the service told us, “A GP visits the home, if I need to see them, the staff get them to come in.”

People’s health needs were assessed and care plans documented how best people should be supported. Staff monitored people’s conditions and acted if people became unwell. We saw staff made timely referrals when people required medical healthcare and treatment and when staff needed advice and information for changes in people’s conditions.

Staff monitored people’s health and wellbeing. Monitoring tools and records were kept for the monitoring of food and fluid intake, medical conditions, weight and skin conditions where required. However, we noted there were gaps in some people’s turning and nutritional intake charts. We drew this to the registered managers attention. They took immediate action to make sure these were completed consistently by staff. The registered manager told us they would continue to discuss this issue during the daily meetings held with staff and implemented a system to ensure these were completed consistently by staff.

The service had effective systems for reporting and learning from incidents. Staff understood their responsibilities regarding safeguarding and knew how to report concerns. Staff told us the management team maintained an open culture where they felt confident reporting concerns, contributing to the overall safety of the service. When incidents occurred, investigations were conducted, and appropriate actions were taken to prevent recurrence.