Worplesdon View

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 79 (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.

Staff ensured people’s care plans were detailed and comprehensive which helped staff fully understand what care each person required. Staff clearly knew people well as they were able to describe to us people’s individual needs, their backgrounds and preferences. They told us how people liked to spend their days and how they supported them in a person-centred way. People’s care plans were reviewed regularly to help ensure they remained current and accurate and both people and their family were invited to participate in these reviews, which helped support people to be involved in their own care.

In additional to people’s care needs life histories were recorded for people. These were written in a respectful way and reflected people’s lives well. This information assisted staff with getting to know people as served as a topic of conversation.

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.

With thorough pre-assessments and pre-admission information staff had a good understanding of people from the moment they moved into the service. This helped to ensure a positive start for people and supported staff to get to know people quickly. The registered manager told us, “We know our residents. We have core teams on each floor who work well together. Staff do one-to-ones with people and we have resident of the day.” This demonstrated people were cared for by a consistent staff team who knew them, their health and care needs and brought in external input when needed. One person said, “I get on well with most of the carers, there is some turnover but it is always nice to see a familiar face.”

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

Information was available to people in different formats if needed and we were told that cue cards and conversation prompts were used with people living with dementia to aid their understanding. We saw 1 person who was unable to communicate verbally but used thumbs up/thumbs down pictures had these placed prominently on their table and staff referred to their use.

Other information displayed around the service gave people details of activities, the menu and events taking place and staff had organised a falls prevention day talk and practical session which gave useful and practical information to people and their family members in how to reduce falls.

The provider was exceptional at enabling people to share feedback and ideas, or raise complaints about their care, treatment and support. Staff always involved people in decisions about their care and told them what had changed as a result.

People were empowered to shape life in the home, with staff actively listening to their ideas, interests and aspirations and supporting them to turn these into meaningful opportunities. This helped people feel valued and listened to. For example, when people identified that there were no playing cards and suggested a card club, staff responded positively and worked with them to establish a weekly club, which had become well attended. This turned their idea into a social activity giving people something enjoyable to look forward to each week and support them to build relationships with each other.

When another person shared their enjoyment of knitting, staff ensured they had the resources they needed to continue pursuing this hobby. This meant staff recognised and supported the person’s individual interests, enabling them to continue doing something they enjoyed and found meaningful.

People were also encouraged to contribute to the life of the home in ways that reflected their individual skills and previous experiences. One person took the initiative to host themed talks on subjects including colours and seasons, working alongside the activities team to select music and pictures to accompany each session. Another person, who had previously been a movement and wellbeing instructor, continued to share this expertise despite living with dementia. They recalled the classes they had previously led well and, with encouragement from staff, regularly led movement sessions for other people in the home. This had boosted people’s self-esteem as they were using their skills and helping others and this meant a lot to them.

The provider made sure that people could access the care, support and treatment they needed when they needed it.

Staff supported people well with obtaining external health care professional input when needed as well as working as a team internally in relation to a person’s care needs.

One person moved into the service suffering from extreme anxiety. Staff recognised this and involved a counsellor and through a staff-wide discussion developed a step-by-step approach to aiding the person’s recovery.

Another person had complex needs. Staff worked closed with the GP, the palliative care team and a physiotherapist to ensure there was a coordinated approach and timely clinical interventions. Through regular multidisciplinary communication they ensured effective symptom

management, continuity of care, and a consistent approach to meeting the person’s needs. As a result this person improved, became more settled and was now an active member of the home.

The registered manager told us, “We work closely with hospital transfer service and we have the use of our own mini-bus or use wheelchair taxis. We had a situation where 1 person had an appointment which was out of hours. We did not want them to miss it, so we spoke with staff and between them they were able to escort the person to their appointment.” This meant the person was not prevented from attending an important appointment simply because it was outside normal hours.

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 service had adopted a ‘whole home’ approach during certain element of the day to help ensure people were treated equality and without discrimination. This included the development of a weekly rota for 2 staff to support people living in the dementia community with their meals. This included staff from all disciplines across the service and it supported those people who may require additional support or extra time to finish their meal.

The registered manager also monitored the service to help ensure that wherever people lived within the home, they received the same level of care and attention from staff. They told us, “There was a disparity between (dementia care) and the rest of the service, so I asked for the whole floor to be refurbished which has happened to the providers specification. I now have the dementia champion working on getting photographs for people’s rooms and replacing items to make it more suitable for people living with dementia.” A dementia champion is a member of staff with a specialist interest in the area of care who supports good practice.

Activities were arranged with everyone in mind. These included group, one-to-one and individualised activities. A staff member told us, “Activities fit me very well. It’s fun for me and for them. We bring our youth into everything. I love this job. I know pretty much what the residents enjoy. I know people’s needs. Residents are very particular and are very attached to specific things so I try to make everything as interactive as possible. People say these things [activities] are what keep them going.” They added, “We spend time at least an hour and a half to see people who are bed bound. We do a lot of sensory sessions such as hand massages and aromatherapy. For others they like doing light exercises, sometimes uplifting poetry reading. Because I know them so well, I can change things up for the individual person.”

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.

People had end of life care plans in place which detailed their individual wishes and recorded who else may be involved in the person’s care at this stage of their life. This included where people had external hospital or hospice support.

People had also made advanced decisions such as the wish of not being resuscitated or receiving hospital treatment. This ensured people had the opportunity to express their views at this stage in case they were no longer able to communicate if their health deteriorated.

The registered manager told us, “When a resident is approaching the end of life, we work closely with the GP and the specialist palliative care team to ensure that symptoms are effectively managed and that the resident remains as comfortable as possible. Regular clinical assessments, timely medication reviews, and ongoing evaluation of the resident's condition enables us to respond promptly to changing needs and provide the highest standard of comfort and symptom control.”

The service made available a hamper of useful items for the person and their family as well as providing facilities for family member’s to stay. As a gesture of sympathy and remembrance, the service sent flowers and a personalised condolence card to the person’s family. In turn, some families had donated a memorial tree, or bench in memory of their loved one.