The Willows

On this page

• Overview
• Person-centred Care
• Care provision, Integration and continuity
• Providing Information
• Listening to and involving people
• Equity in access
• Equity in experiences and outcomes
• Planning for the future

Responsive – this means we looked for evidence that the provider met people’s needs. At our last assessment we rated this key question as good. At this assessment the rating has remained as good. This meant people’s needs were met through good organisation and delivery.

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 were at the centre of their care and treatment choices and they decided, in partnership with people, how to respond to any relevant changes in people’s needs.

We did not look at Care provision, Integration and continuity during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Providing Information during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

The provider made it easy for people to share feedback and ideas, or raise complaints about their care, treatment and support. Staff involved people in decisions about their care and told them what had changed as a result.

We did not look at Equity in access during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

Staff and leaders actively listened to information about people who are most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes and tailored their care, support and treatment in response to this.

People were given exceptional support to plan for important life changes, so they could make informed decisions about their future, including at the end of their life.

To embed this into everyday practices, the service was awarded The Gold Standards Framework (GSF) during our assessment. The GSF provides training and accreditation for care homes to support proactive, person-centred and coordinated end-of-life care. Its care home programme focuses on earlier identification, advance care planning, communication, team working and continuous improvement. Used appropriately, it can give care homes a structured quality-improvement approach that supports consistent practice and helps teams make their end-of-life care processes more visible and reviewable. The implementation of this framework provided staff with a structured, consistent approach to early identification and advance care planning (ACP). By initiating these sensitive conversations early and systematically, staff made certain that people's preferences, anxieties, and choices are captured long before they reach the critical stages of life.

Care plans showed people and those important to them had been given the time, support and information to discuss their end of life wishes and ensure records captured specific requests and wishes. Staff worked with external agencies to ensure people had the care they needed and their wishes were respected. Staff told us, “We have had training to understand what good end of life care looks like. We give people the best quality of care you can at the end. The little things are important, for example good oral care and hygiene, keeping standards maintained and making sure the family are also looked after” and “In the morning we have a handover and debrief and if anything has changed or occurred it will be passed over which supports us to provide consistent care.” A relative told us how they had observed staff being attentive and patient when people were at end of life. They told us, “I have seen staff sitting by a person’s bed providing support and company when they were poorly.”