Archived: Summerhill Care Home

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 62 (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 did not always make sure people’s care and treatment were effective because they did not always check and discuss people’s health, care, wellbeing and communication needs with them.

Although the provider promoted people’s wellbeing and independence throughout their care plans, improvements were required to care plans and risk assessments to ensure they included all of people’s health needs and risks and guided staff how to recognise concerns and to escalate when required.

The provider did not always follow best practice in their delivery of care and treatment.

Clinical records did not always include all required information. For example, where staff were required to record aspects of 1 person’s complex eating and drinking support, this was not done consistently or in line with specialist recommendations. This meant the provider could not be assured the person’s care and treatment was effective. When we told the registered manager about this, they sent us evidence of the person’s updated care plan and staff correctly recording support around eating and drinking.

During mealtimes, we observed people were supported to eat and drink safely by staff who knew them and hot and cold drinks were available to people throughout the day.

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 registered manager told us, “When we undertake pre-admission assessments for potential service users, we also consider the service users already living here and assess compatibility. When people's needs change, we work well with commissioners to ensure their needs can be met here or support them to find an alternative placement.”

One professional visiting the service told us, “We find the care home’s management team very approachable and willing to work with us. We have recently changed our ways of working and the provider have been very adaptable to this.”

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.

Where one person had been placed at the care home requiring substantial support from nursing staff with their health needs, the provider had worked closely with health agencies and supported them to recover and then to thrive. The care home’s wellbeing team worked with the person to encourage physical activity and community participation and achieved positive outcomes.

One relative told us, “My [person’s] health has definitely improved since moving here, has put on weight and looks so much better.”

The provider did not always monitor people’s care and treatment effectively.

Processes for recording of thickeners were not yet consistently embedded. For example, where staff had added thickener to people’s drinks in line with their care plans, this had not always been recorded in monitoring records. Where staff were required to record people’s oral care, this was not done consistently. When we informed the registered manager about these issues, they addressed them straight away and showed us evidence of how they did this.

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

We observed staff seeking people’s consent before providing support. People told us their consent was always sought, and they were involved in decisions about their care and support.One person told us, “They always ask if I am happy with my care and always ask for agreement when we make decisions.”

The provider assessed people’s mental capacity where required and, where appropriate, those with legal authority were involved in decisions. Although people, where needed, had risk assessments in place for the use of bedrails to keep them safe from falling out of bed, information about how this was decided was not always recorded in their care plans or mental capacity assessments. When we told the registered manager about this, they put a plan in place straight away to ensure care plans and mental capacity assessments were updated to include this information.