Affinity Trust - South West

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 remains good. This meant people’s outcomes were good.

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

People’s changing needs were not always reflected in their care records. For example, 1 person had a change in their health need, their care plan had not been updated. We discussed this with the registered manager who told us they would amend the care plan. A health professional gave us an example of where a person’s prescribed plan had changed, when they visited the person, their old plan was still present in the person’s file. The health professional told us they removed this.

The service had a process in place to ensure people had their needs assessed before moving into the service. The assessments were completed with people and their relatives and formed the basis of people’s care plans. Areas covered included communication, risks, health needs, goals and recruitment of suitable staff.

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.

Staff spoken with were aware of people’s dietary needs and requirements and explained how they supported people in line with their speech and language therapy eating and drinking plans.

People’s relatives were happy with how staff supported their family members with meal planning and nutrition. Comments from relatives included, “Staff do the evening meal, [Name of person] seems happy with that.” Another relative told us how their family member had lost weight and staff were, “Concerned with sudden weight loss and helped an awful lot” with this.

The provider worked well across teams and services to support people. One professional told us how staff had, “Supported appointments very well.” A relative told us, “[Name of relative] has recently had medical problems that were promptly dealt with, and they [staff] supported them well.”

The management team provided us with examples of how they worked with health and social care professionals to support people’s needs.

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 told us they encouraged people to exercise and eat healthily. Staff had supported 1 person to lead a healthier life resulting in their health improving.

People’s relatives told us they were happy with how staff supported their family members with health appointments.

The provider routinely monitored people’s care and treatment to continuously improve it. They ensured that outcomes were positive and consistent, and that they met both clinical expectations and the expectations of people themselves.

There were systems in place to monitor people’s care and treatment. Staff had supported 1 person to lead a healthier lifestyle, which had a positive outcome for the person. Another person was supported to safely manage their finances with input from relevant agencies.

The provider told people about their rights around consent and respected these when delivering person-centred care and treatment. Care plans included information relating to people’s capacity to consent to their care.

Communication plans provided guidance for staff on how to communicate with people which enabled them to support people to make decisions. People made their own decisions about their day to day lives.