Avondale Castlemount Lodge

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 Good. At this assessment the rating has remained Good. This meant people’s needs were met through good organisation and delivery.

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 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.

Each person’s care was tailored to their own needs, preferences and wishes for the future and underpinned by detailed and bespoke care plans which were written in people’s own voice. These were regularly reviewed in partnership with them. People were supported to take part in activities that were meaningful to them and supported their growth and personal resilience. A few people had a passion for creative activities, and one person had been involved in designing a noticeboard in the lounge area which was a hub for all the local amenities and service used by people living at Castlemount. This included details of other services who could help people with their mental and physical health.

One person told us, “I find art a really good way of redirecting my emotions and focusing on positives. Staff support me with this”. All people living at the service had goals which were personalised to them and helped them grow in confidence and building relationships with their peers and in wider society. People’s rooms were personalised to their own interests, for instance one person had a pet hamster, whilst another enjoyed watching films and had a large collection on them on a wall in their room. They recorded a video sharing with us how much films were important to them, and they had a goal about building up to watching these in communal areas with their peers.

The provider understood the diverse health and care needs of people and their local communities, so care was joined-up, flexible and supported choice and continuity.

There was a consistent staff team who were knowledge about people’s needs and how to support them safely, which ensured people received continuity of care regardless of which staff member was working with them. The provider had identified some people may have difficulties with attachment to certain members of staff, so had purposely changed their key worker system so that different members of staff worked with people on different goals or focused pieces of work. This helped people understand how to build appropriate and trusting relationships with staff and also allowed all staff and opportunity to get to know people well.

The provider supplied appropriate, accurate and up-to-date information in formats that were tailored to individual needs.

Every person had a clear communication plan in place for how they wished information to be shared with them, and this included how to safely explore their mental health and previous trauma or life experiences. There was also clear guidance about how partner organisations should communicate with people in a personalised and psychologically safe manner. For example, within hospital passports that could be used when people needed to attend appointments or were admitted due to deteriorating physical or mental health.

The service had developed resources to empower people to be involved in their own health and care and have the information they needed to weigh up risks and make decisions. For example, they created easy read guidance to help one person with safely using their mobility scooter to access the community, substance misuse and managing their diabetes. Another person had easy read guidance to help them work towards their goal of cooking meals independently.

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.

There were frequent opportunities for people to be involved in their own care, and to share the ideas about how they would like the service to operate. This includes regular house forums for people who lived at Castlemount Lodge. Recent meetings had discussed ideas for food, activities and the physical environment at the service. Several people were passionate about creating their own artwork and had requested these be displayed through the building which we saw on our visit. Through these forums, people had also worked together collaboratively to arrange a recent trip to London and plan an upcoming visit to Brighton. One person we spoke to told us, “Yes, we have a house forum. We talk about what’s going well in the service, and any changes we want to see or ideas we have”.

People were also actively involved in developing their own care plans, all of which started with an introduction in their own words about their mental health and what it means to them. They had regular focused meetings with key workers to explore goals they wanted to achieve, and to review the progress they were making with these.

People’s relatives also felt included as equal partners in their loved one’s care and were communicated with and involved where appropriate, if their relative consented for them to be so. One relative explained, “Communication with the manager and deputy is really good, very open. Then let me know what is happening and involve me in (relative name’s) care. We all work together”.

The provider made sure that people could access the care, support and treatment they needed when they needed it. There was a strong focus at the service on breaking down barriers faced by people with mental health and/or a learning disability or who were autistic in taking part in society as equals. They had undertaken focused work around giving people the confidence to access the community and build safe and positive social relationships. One person had limited mobility, and staff had advocated for them and supported them through the process of getting an adapted mobility scooter. This had made a significant difference in their wellbeing and being able to easily and safely access their local community. Staff had worked with them using easy read communications to help them maintain and use the scooter safely. They had also created a “green route and red route” system which encouraged this person to follow certain routes, which helped them stay away from particular areas of town which placed them at greater risk due to their personal circumstances and life history.

We saw other similar examples such as focused worked on accessing public transport and being able to attend health appointments, with staff holding reflective debriefs after each time somebody did this to understand what went well and any issues. This allowed staff to put in place additional strategies to help people do so in a way that was safe and personalised to them.

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.

The provider closely monitored people’s outcomes, both in terms of their health and wellbeing and in building life skills, confidence and independence. This was supported by the use of creative resources to help people grow and be able to participate in society on their own terms. Where people had factors which may act as a barrier to them experiencing the outcomes they wanted from their care, staff worked with people to explore how these could be reduced. This included use of communication strategies to help them engage in their own health appointments. For example, staff had worked closely with one person to help enable direct communication with health services when they were struggling with their mental health rather than through staff. This gave them greater independence and empowered them to advocate for themself.

People were supported to plan for important life changes, so they could have enough time to make informed decisions about their future, including at the end of their life.

The service worked with people collaboratively to help them make important life decisions and transitions. This included helping people make the step to living independently, by increasing their confidence in undertaking daily tasks such as cooking, cleaning and accessing the community by themselves. One person was being supported by staff to complete housing agreements, as well as helping develop positive and safe relationships to help them make this step.

Staff had open and honest conversations to help people document any wishes around their end of life, which were sensitive to people’s mental health and any history of people stating they may wish to take their own life. If people did not wish to discuss their end of life wishes, staff respected this and a note was made to revisit the conversation at another time.