Voyage (DCA) Swindon

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. We saw evidence of regularly updated and reviewed care planning documents which changed in line with people’s needs.

The registered manager assessed people’s needs before they started using the service to ensure their needs could be met. Staff told us they received good information about people’s needs. Detailed transition plans were in place where the provider sent staff to a hospital to get to know a person before they were discharged to the provider service.

People told us staff provided good support for them to prepare meals and drinks. Staff completed regular training in nutrition, food safety and infection prevention control to ensure their knowledge was up to date.

However, some relatives did tell us they were concerned about choice and informed choice when staff were supporting people with their meal choices ‘Would like more balance between allowing choosing for independence and guidance on making good choices’. This meant some relatives felt not enough healthy options were presented to people. We reviewed the daily food intake of 3 people and all were balanced. We also viewed dietician referrals and found that advice was being built into daily food choices.

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.

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.

We saw evidence of the provider working closely with relatives. Care plans were accessible for staff and the provider used a mobile phone app so that information and updates could be checked at any time.

The service worked with health care professionals and local specialist clubs like Headway, to support people who were recovering from acquired brain injuries. People told us staff worked well with other services, such as community nurses, GPs and speech and language therapists to ensure they received the care they need.

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. Staff escalated any changes to people’s health to the registered manager or with people’s family members.

Action was taken to contact relevant healthcare professionals and make sure people had reviews if needed. Staff engaged with dieticians and speech and language therapists, and we saw healthy options for food being discussed and supported by staff.

We did not look at Monitoring and improving outcomes during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

The provider told people about their rights around consent and respected these when delivering person-centred care and treatment. People told us staff gained their consent before providing any care for them.

Staff demonstrated an understanding of the Mental Capacity Act and consent issues. Staff understood the need to follow the best interest decision making process if people were assessed to lack capacity to consent to a specific decision.

Staff spoke to us about least restrictive measures and gave examples of how they are thoughtful in their support of people and how they look at incidents to learn from them.

The registered manager worked with people about relationships and how to keep safe, promoting dating and relationships. People were supported to be in consensual relationships with others.