Wansbeck Supported Living Service

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

People experienced a range of good health and wellbeing outcomes because their needs were assessed from the outset, and responded to proactively by staff who knew them well. Staff at all levels had regard to people’s protected equality characteristics and the things that made them individual. Consent was factored in to care planning and people’s right to choose and live their own lives underpinned how the service worked to support them. Feedback from people, relatives and external partners, was consistently positive.

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.

People spoke positively about how staff helped them on a day-to-day basis and also to help give them the autonomy to plan in longer term health appointments.

The registered manager worked well with staff, relatives and external partners to ensure people’s needs were understood and met. Staff proactively advocated for people to ensure they got the healthcare they needed, when they needed it.

External partners gave consistently positive feedback about how well staff assessed people’s needs, and the fact this had a positive impact on people’s heath and wellbeing. One said, “Staff have built up relationships with clients and learned their style of communicating. Training is undertaken where needed. Speech and Language referrals are made when needed and communication plans are put in place.”

Care needs were regularly reviewed, through staff reviewing care records and through multi-disciplinary meetings with external clinicians. The provider was in the process of moving from an older care planning approach to a revised/streamlined approach. The latter was more user friendly and accessible. The registered manager was responsive to our feedback about other areas for potential ongoing care planning improvement.

People were comfortable with their staff teams and confirmed there were good levels of continuity and knowledge. Relatives described a recent turnover of staff that had since settled and again expressed confidence in the staff teams.

Staff received the training and support they needed to help people live full lives. The registered manager understood specific behavioural training well and had moved the service from one provider to another, so that staff were aligned to the least restrictive approaches. There was an effective split of knowledge and experiences across the leadership team, with the service enlisting the help of a registered nurse to help run the service. Staff were positive about this move, along with recent rota changes.

The provider was in the process of reviewing care records. There were comprehensive levels of information about people’s needs, but only some care files had been reviewed to ensure these were as up to date and accessible as they should be. The registered manager was aware of this and had plans in place to improve consistency in this area.

People had no concerns about how staff supported them. Relatives and others gave positive examples of where staff had demonstrated the patience and interest required to ensure people got the right support. One relative said, “They always make sure they get to appointments and they always keep us updated.”

Staff had the confidence to work with external professionals when needed and were given the responsibility to do so by the registered manager. Staff had access to contact numbers for relevant healthcare professionals if they were needed. Those professionals confirm advice was always sought appropriately and acted on.

External partners gave positive feedback about how staff worked with them, and how they worked as a cohesive team to flexibly meet people’s needs. One external professional told us, “Yes the staff team have links with the local GP services, they are in contact with the Learning Disability nurse team and raise and communicate concerns appropriately. The team are able to discuss reasonable adjustments to ensure the needs of the clients are met where possible.” Another said, “the staff are very aware of people’s needs etc, where there is not a shared understanding of this ,the leadership team have worked hard to support staff’s learning through positive mentoring, challenge and involvement of external health support.” We also spoke with staff from another care service, who worked alongside this service. They described a shared understanding of responsibilities and worked well with staff at Wansbeck Supported Living.

There were well established relationships with a range of relevant healthcare professionals and mutual understanding of how the service could best work with them. The registered manager worked collaboratively with these partners.

People gave examples of how staff had helped them live fuller lives and to either try new things or get back to doing the things they wanted. They were healthier and happier as a result. One relative said, “Their quality of life is brilliant – they are always at the bingo winning. They go shopping and on holiday at the caravan and they’ ll say ‘Don’t’ call me when I’m away’. They are as independent as they can be. They love using their own back garden whenever they want to.” People were proud of their relative levels of independence and freedom. Others enjoyed gardening, day trips, discos and other activities, all to the inprovement of their wellbeing and quality of life.

Staff understood the importance of people’s individualities and supporting people’s choices in life. They encouraged healthier options where people were planning their own meals and trying to reduce weight, whilst always recognising people’s right ot make unwise decisions.

Partners were consistent in their descriptions of people experiencing improved health and wellbeing outcomes as a result of the way the service supported people as individuals. One said, "Staff are aware and sensitively meet the needs of people in their care – for example there is always a member of staff present to support a service user to attend our service user panel."

Care plans and records did contain a comprehensive level of information. The older style of care planning made it difficult at times to locate specific information. The registered manager was reviewing these documents to ensure they were a blend of detailed content and easier to access shorter formats.

People confirmed that staff helped them in a range of ways to access health care and other services. For instance, through helping them understand letters relating to their health, spending time explaining the need for vaccinations, and giving relatable examples to help improve their preparation for any visits to health settings.

Staff were able to access and update care records. The provider was planning a move to electronic care records and staff were positive about this. Office staff understood it’s functionality well, and were able to access the information they needed. Partners confirmed they could always access the information they needed when visiting, and people’s care records were up to date. One external professional told us, “Staff have regular meetings where they go through any changes to clients needs and any appropriate training is offered. Detailed care plans are kept up to date for each client.”

The provider’s electronic records system allowed for real time access to people’s records and for the simplification of some tasks for care staff.

People’s right to choose was fully supported by staff and was a theme consistently running through how the service was run, and how people lived their lives. One relative told us, “They are really content. They can verbalise what they want to do and staff help them to do it.”

The registered manager and staff demonstrated a good understanding of the principles of the Mental Capacity Act. They assumed capacity and supported support people to make their own decisions. Where records did not accurately reflect a best interest decision meeting that had taken place, the registered manager updated this immediately. Where Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) authorisations had expired, they were able to demonstrated the repeated follow ups they had made with the local authority.

The MCA policy was up to date and informed by current good practice. Mandatory training included training around consent and capacity.