- Care home
Branch Court Care Home
Assessment report published 1 May 2025
Contents
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
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 inspection we rated this key question requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to 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.
Assessing needs
The service made sure people’s care and treatment was effective by assessing and reviewing their health, care, wellbeing and communication needs with them.
People and their relatives felt they had been involved in developing their loved one’s care plan. One relative said, “My gran was fully supported by the manager when she came to Branch Court. She had a thorough assessment; we were asked about any personal needs and were involved throughout the process.” Staff told us that the deputy manager created care plans with the input of people and their relatives. Staff knew people well and were able to describe people’s likes and dislikes. One staff member said, "We have people that like dark chocolate, some people like games, some like their privacy." People had pre assessments in place. Care records were person centred. Care plans had a ‘this is me’ section detailing information about people. People’s health conditions were being recorded throughout their care plan but as covered in the safe domain these did not always detail necessary information.Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
The service 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 spoke positively about the food. One person told us, “I enjoy the food here and I can have a drink whenever I want”. One family member said, “She eats well and has a good balanced diet with plenty of choice.” People’s dietary requirements were recorded and followed, the kitchen staff were aware of this information. Staff told us they had enough time to spend with people at mealtimes to ensure their nutritional needs were met. Necessary referrals were made should anyone need clinical support. We saw an example of speech and language therapist involvement where the person needed support with their nutrition, hydration and swallowing.
How staff, teams and services work together
The service 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 felt they got the support they needed. One relative told us, “If mum needs the Dr or anything, they are on the ball and sort it out right away.” Staff spoke about how they were told when people’s needs changed, one staff member said, "Staff or management tell us (when people’s needs change). We have handovers and a handover book." We have been able to gather limited feedback from external professionals despite our requests. However, one professional told us the home-made appropriate referrals.
Care passports were in place, which held relevant information for each person. These are documents that are sent with a person if they need prolonged external support, for example, if a person was taken to hospital. These documents helped to ensure the hospital was aware of (and could meet) people's needs on admission. We saw evidence of handover records. We saw evidence of the registered manager working with other services.
Supporting people to live healthier lives
The service supported people to manage their health and wellbeing to maximise their independence, choice and control. The service supported people to live healthier lives and where possible, reduce their future needs for care and support.
Staff spoke about how they monitor and record people’s health. People were able to access appropriate healthcare when needed and staff supported them to do this by making appropriate referrals.
Monitoring and improving outcomes
The service 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 told us they were happy with their quality of life, one person said, “My daughter keeps an eye on things and my hip is a lot better now, so I don’t need my stick the same.” The registered manager told us how they reviewed and monitored people’s care. People’s care plans were reviewed, though this did not always effectively identify the inconsistencies we found in peoples care plans. People were being monitored for pressure care where needed, and appropriate assessment tools for skin and nutrition were used to monitor people’s health and wellbeing.
Consent to care and treatment
The service told people about their rights around consent and respected these when delivering person-centred care and treatment.
Although we didn’t specifically ask people about consent, we did see examples where care was being provided by staff who were interacting with people offering support and re assurance. Staff spoke about gaining peoples consent before completing tasks and what they would do if someone refused care such as medication. Consent forms were in place for various aspects of people’s daily life.