The White House

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 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 assessed and they had individual care plans in place detailing how their needs would be met. Needs assessments covered a range of areas including people’s health, communication and personal care. People and their relatives participated in assessments and to ensure they reflected people’s preferences.

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 received their care and support in line with good practice. Where required, healthcare professionals undertook specialist assessments for people and staff received training and implemented their recommendations. The provider had policies and procedures in place which reflected best practice and legislation.

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.

The staff team communicated effectively through handovers, staff meetings, daily records and regular contact with external health services. The service operated a keyworking system. Keyworkers are members of staff with specific responsibilities for people such as arranging appointments, organising activities, purchasing toiletries and liaising with relatives. Keyworkers at the service met with people and submitted a monthly report to the registered manager. These reports included plans and goals agreed with people.

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.

People were supported to have their health needs assessed and to access healthcare services whenever they needed to. Staff gave people the support they required to attend appointments with healthcare professionals and detailed the outcome of appointments in people’s care records.

People had Health Action Plans (HAPs) in place. HAPs are care records containing important information about people’s health and well-being including details about health conditions, allergies, medicines and screening. Records of healthcare appointments were maintained in people’s HAPs and were reviewed by the registered manager.

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.

The service had systems in place to monitor outcomes and review people’s progress. People, relatives and where required healthcare professionals, attended people’s review meetings when outcomes, people’s changing needs and future plans were discussed.

The provider told people about their rights around consent and respected these when delivering person-centred care and treatment.

People can only be deprived of their liberty to receive care and treatment with appropriate legal authority. In care homes, this can be done through a procedure called the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), which is part of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). We checked whether the service was working within the principles of the MCA and how they managed DoLS within the service. We found that the provider followed the procedures laid out in policy and legislation by referring for mental capacity assessments and DoLS authorisations. The outcomes from these assessments and authorisations were documented in people’s records.