ARCH Winchester

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 71 (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.

Leaders assessed people’s needs in relation to their physical, mental and emotional needs prior to the commencement of their care, liaising with the person and referring professionals. They drew up the support plan with the person and reviewed and updated it with them and with commissioners after between 6 and 8 weeks.

People told us they felt staff understood their care needs. Their care needs were regularly reviewed, and additional care plans were drawn up as required in response to any short-term needs they had.

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.

Leaders understood the legal context within which they supported people and had a good knowledge of relevant legislation. This included how the Mental Health Act 1983 applied to the people they supported and their legal rights. The provider’s policies reflected legislative requirements.

People's life experiences informed how staff delivered their care and support. Leaders and care staff were person centred and empathetic in their approach to people. Leaders saw people as individuals with strengths, skills and aspirations. Staff worked with people to identify and build on what they could do.

People’s needs in relation to eating and nutrition were detailed within their support plan. People were prompted and supervised by care staff, where required to ensure they did not self-neglect and that they prepared and ate regular meals.

The provider worked 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.

Leaders worked with commissioning authorities whilst assessing people’s care needs and then with local agencies and professionals to support the on-going delivery of people’s care. This enabled people to access the clinical support and management they required from local mental health and substance misuse services.

The provider worked with professionals, to ensure planning took place ready for people’s future housing and support requirements, when people moved on from the service.

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.

Leaders ensured people were all registered with local healthcare services including a GP and a dentist when their support commenced. They worked with people to address any barriers to meeting their healthcare needs, through education, supporting them to attend appointments and putting people in touch with relevant health promotion services, such as smoking cessation. Staff also ensured people living with any chronic health conditions understood the associated risks and accessed relevant information and services to manage their condition.

People's planned outcomes were personalised and depended on what they wished to achieve from their support. People experienced positive outcomes from the support staff provided.

The provider’s aim was to integrate people within the community as they developed greater levels of independence. People's care plans and records demonstrated the improvements they had made with staff’s support.

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

Staff spoke with people about their support to seek their consent both during their care planning and when providing their day-to-day support. We observed staff discuss a proposed change to a person’s support plan with them. They explained what was proposed and why, before seeking their consent for the change.

People understood their rights to consent to their support. People’s support plans documented their involvement in their planning and people confirmed to us they had consented to their support plans. Although there was space on their support plans for them to also sign their consent, these were not signed and staff had not documented that people’s consent had been sought and provided verbally. The provider confirmed people were asked to sign but although they agreed verbally, they had not signed. We brought to the provider’s attention that they should record people had consented and how, if they had not signed, in accordance with their policy. The provider informed us they would ensure this was done.