Dignus Support

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 and care needs with them and enabling effective support to be delivered. Relatives were involved in people’s care and support plans. A relative told us, “We all work together. They involve me in everything.” Staff were aware of peoples care plans and assessed needs and told us these guided them on how to provide effective support to people. Leaders told us everyone had an assessment completed and then a care plan was in place to help meet the identified needs. The electronic records system was completed once an initial assessment had been done. Care plans were reviewed regularly and people and where required other professionals were involved in these reviews. We saw staff documented the care people had received in the electronic record.

The provider used evidence-based tools and systems to support people. Staff told us people had hospital passports in place and health action plans which they felt helped people meet their health needs. Leaders told us they used a variety of different evidence-based tools to support assessing people’s needs, risks and developing care plans. We saw people had specific risk assessments in place for things like nutrition and hydration. People had a health action plan in place to support with health needs, including screening and how people needed to be supported to attend appointments or engage with their doctor about their health. We saw the provider used positive behaviour support plans to engage people in activities which minimised the risk of people becoming distressed and gave guidance for staff on how to help people remain calm. The provider followed the guidance for right support, right care, right culture in the support they provided for people using the service.

The provider had systems in place to ensure staff worked together to support people and worked with other agencies to design peoples care and support plans. Leaders told us they used a multi-disciplinary team (MDT) approach to developing peoples care plans. We saw other agencies were involved in people’s care and support plans and health action plans. Staff told us they often worked with peoples doctors to support with health needs and attended MDT meetings with other professionals to support people. Partners told us the provider actively sought involvement with other services, such as commissioners, the intensive support team, social work teams, and health professionals.

The provider supported people to manage their health and wellbeing and people were encouraged and supported to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Relatives told us staff supported people to access health care advice and encouraged people to do what was recommended. Staff told us they encouraged healthy lifestyles and gave examples of how they supported people with exercise and health meal options. Partners told us the provider had a focus on diet and nutrition,and the promotion of healthier lifestyles was discussed with people, in accordance with theirwishes and preferences. Leaders told us they had systems in place to ensure people maintained a healthy lifestyle. They gave examples of people being supported to exercise using a bicycle and a gym, they also described supporting people to choose healthy options for cooking their food with a view to supporting people to maintain a healthy weight. Records showed people’s health needs had been identified in the assessments and care plans were in place to support staff with guidance on how to meet people’s health needs. Where needed other health professionals had also been involved and records showed staff followed the advice they were given.

The provider routinely monitored people’s care and treatment to continuously improve it. People were involved in the reviews. Staff told us people had improved since using the service and gave the example of a person who had been supported to improve how they met their personal care needs, and accepted medicines through working with the intensive support team to develop a routine which worked for the person. Leaders told us they reviewed peoples care on a regular basis. We saw reviews took account of people’s progress and changes were made to care plans. Leaders told us they regularly received feedback from commissioners of peoples care which showed they had supported people to improve outcomes. They gave the example of 1 person who had improvements in how they engaged in activities and went out into the community.

The provider told people about their rights around consent and respected these when delivering person-centred care and treatment. Staff told us they had received training in the mental capacity act and understood how to protect people’s rights. Staff told us people had capacity to make their own decisions, and they understood the process of making decisions in people’s best interest if this was required. Leaders confirmed everyone they supported had capacity to make their own decisions. Staff confirmed this and the records we saw supported this. The provider had systems in place to ensure they could assess people’s capacity to consent and could document any decisions taken in people’s best interests. The registered manager understood their responsibilities and this meant people’s rights were protected.