Washwood Healthcare Service

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 as good. At this assessment the rating has remained unchanged.

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.

We found the care plans we looked at reflected people’s needs. People we spoke with were given opportunities to be involved in planning their care and support. Relatives and advocates were kept informed around any changes to people’s needs and were involved in regular care plan reviews.

We found where people’s needs had changed, adjustments had been made to meet these changes in circumstances. For example, 1 person had been moved to a different ground floor bedroom so they could access the garden to enjoy leisure activities.

There was signage around the home to support people living with dementia to navigate their way around. The use of pictures and easy read documents were also used for communication purposes.

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. Staff had received relevant training that supported them in their role to meet the care needs of the people living at the home. One staff member said, “I think the training I have had definitely gives me the skills I need to care for people.” Specific training included dementia and learning disabilities to enable staff to support people living with these conditions.

There was support from other services such as occupational therapist, GP, community mental health teams, Speech and Language therapist (SALT), advocates and dieticians. The registered manager would make sure care provision continued to support people when transitioning between services. This included reassessments of their needs and remaining in contact with agencies while people were in their services, such as hospital.

The provider supplied appropriate, accurate and up-to-date information in formats that were tailored to individual needs. Care plans had taken into consideration people’s communication needs. Pictures and easy read documents were in place, where needed, to support people to communicate their support needs. This meant people were able to receive information in a way they could understand.

The provider was in the process of transferring to an electronic system and had made sure there were processes in place to protect people’s data in the event of a system malfunction. DSPT (Data Security and Protection Toolkit) file was checked with no concerns identified. We saw there was a Data protection related training needs analysis for staff that had been completed along with Data Protection Impact Assessment.

The provider had a Data Protection Policy in place. Staff had completed training on GDPR. The provider’s processes mitigated the risk of sharing people’s information inappropriately and only being shared with people and agencies that needed to know.

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. The provider had a copy of the complaints policy easily accessible to anyone who needed it. There was also an easy read, picture reference copy available to people with specific communication needs. We found where complaints and/or incidents had been raised, they had been dealt with promptly and resolved to the person’s satisfaction.

Relatives and visitors were given an opportunity to meet with the registered manager on a regular basis, the registered manager told us, “We have a family Friday every month inviting family members and relatives to visit the home and they can review care plans and give us feedback.” The service also had resident of the day which meant every person had their care plan, care and support needs, and accommodation reviewed at least monthly with opportunity to feedback to the provider any concerns they may have. The registered manager said, “I have an open-door policy and people and family can speak me with at any time.” This was supported with conversations with people and staff.

People felt comfortable to raise issues, 1 person said, “I have no complaints about here, the staff are always around to help if I need them, but if I had any (complaints) I’d tell them [staff].” A staff member told us, “If a relative had a complaint, I would try to resolve it for them, if possible, but if not, I would report the concern to a senior or [registered manager name].”

The provider held regular team meetings for staff to raise any issues, share information and discuss any learning from incidents, accidents or safeguarding’s. One staff member told us, “We have team meetings as well as morning meetings when the night shift finish and the day staff start to tell us about anything that may have happened during the night.”

The provider made sure that people could access the care, support and treatment they needed when they needed it. People received support, from the provider, to attend appointments if it was needed. When people had a mental health crisis, staff were quick to comfort the person while requesting the additional support from other agencies to assist.

There were mobility aids to support people to walk around the service mitigating the risk of falls. There were adaptations such as a bath lift, stair lift to aid those with walking difficulties. There was also some signage around the building identifying communal toilets, dining area to support people living with dementia to navigate their way around the home.

People’s care plans, where appropriate contained hospital passports. These documents set out people’s care needs and are shared with, for example a hospital, in the event of the person being admitted. This means, the hospital has an overview of the person’s medical and health conditions and their medication.

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.

Staff had completed training around equality and discrimination.

We saw the service provided care to people from different ethnic minority backgrounds supported by staff also from different ethnicities. Care plans reflected people’s protected characteristics and we saw where it was necessary, reasonable adjustments had been made to improve people’s experiences. For example, people who were at risk of being obese were supported by the provider to lose weight and worked with the person to plan their dietary requirements to eat more healthily. The provider purchased exercise machines to support people on their fitness and weight loss journey.

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.

At the time of this assessment, no body living at the home was receiving end-of-life care. However, we found care plans had considered people’s advanced wishes, where people and their relatives had wanted to discuss these. Some care plans contained records of people’s wishes not to be resuscitated in the event of their heart stopping (DNACPR). We discussed with the registered manager some of the DNACPRs were not recent and if the person’s medical and health condition had improved, they may need to review with the person if this was still their wish.

Staff had completed training around end-of-life.