Wansbeck Supported Living 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

Care planning put people at the centre of how care was planned and delivered. Activities and goals were well planned and achieved through a collaborative approach. Staff understood the health and care needs of people and responded well to involve external professionals when needed. People were supported to access care in ways that meet their personal circumstances, removing barriers and increasing their access. External professionals had confidence in them and their ability to spot subtle changes. One said, “I have found staff to know the needs of the clients well and have supported fully in my assessment visit.”

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.

People and their families felt they were communicated with effectively and regularly. They felt supported by staff who explored options and involved them before making changes.

Care plans set out people’s physical, emotional, mental and social needs. They were supported by ‘storyboards’ which gave a more succinct overview of how staff could support people towards particular goals. Staff demonstrated strong awareness of people’s needs. External health and social care professionals felt the service worked very well with people and relatives to tailor care. One external professional said, “It’s small enough to be assured that staff know everyone well. That really comes across every time we visit.”

The staff team interacted well with each other. They were calm and flexible in their approach and keen to ensure their core purpose, of helping people achieve their goals and independence, was realised.

People experienced some good examples of joined up care, because staff at the service advocated strongly for them and ensured external healthcare services were well informed of their needs.

The registered manager and staff had a range of positive relationships with local partners and worked well with them. The service therefore avoided becoming a closed culture and was open to advice from those local partners and changes to good practice. Turnover of staff was relatively low but there had been some changes of staff recently. This had led to a healthy blend of newer staff and more experienced staff.

External health and social care professionals felt the service worked flexibly and responsively to ensure people’s changing needs were met by joined up working. They recognised the range of adjustments staff put in place to ensure people accessed care freely and without complication. One said, “If person is admitted to hospital a staff member accompanies them and remains with them for 1-1 support. During previous hospital admissions this has worked well, enabling them to cope with the transition.”

Records were sufficiently detailed and reviewed regularly by the registered manager and others. Visiting professionals had no concerns about the standards of record keeping.

People felt they had the information they needed from the service. We observed staff picking up on a range of non-verbal cues of communication and were evidently well skilled in this area. People who were able to speak with us told us staff were always patient and always listened. One person chose their own word cards to hold up to staff, alongside a range of hand-signs they had developed. Staff understood these well. One person was involved in wider work with the NHS to produce improved easy read documentation for other services. Staff were extremely supportive of this.

Staff demonstrated a comprehensive ongoing knowledge of how people preferred to be communicated with. They communicated well with external professionals to ensure all those involved with people’s care had an accurate, up to date picture.

Information was available in alternative formats when people needed them. The service produced a range of easy read guidance for people to access.

People we spoke with knew how to make a complaint. They were confident and comfortable in their surroundings; they were empowered to provide feedback and concerns if they needed to. One relative said, “The communication is very good. They send me copies of meetings. I know who the manager is.”

There had been no specific recent complaints. The registered manager was reviewing their complaints policy to see if it could capture broader/lower level concerns and involve people more in that process. External partners were consistent in how well they felt the service listened to people when their needs changed. They agreed the service acted promptly and responsively. One said, “In my experience most of the staff are very aware of people’s needs.”

There were processes in place to ensure people, and those who knew them best, were listened to and involved. These included meetings, surveys and reviews.

People told us they had accessed dentists, GPs and other health services and had no concerns in this regard. Relatives had observed the supportive approach of the service. One said, “[Person] are always taken to the GP and hospital in a timely fashion. They don’t like going and when they are angry and scared - they lash out. But because of the result of carers input they are feeling slightly better about having treatment.” People’s continued accessing of healthcare and other services meant they experienced improvements in their quality of life, their independence and their wellbeing.

The registered manager and staff were passionate about making sure people experienced a calm and supportive route through the health and social care systems. They excelled in this area and were always ready to try different approaches to help people get the health interventions they needed. For instance: attending hospital with one person on a 24hr basis as a staff team to ensure they got the hospital treatment they needed; agreeing a separate space in the GP waiting area for people to wait if they needed; getting flu jabs at the same time as people to put their minds at ease, and lying down on a stretcher to show people what was needed. Partners felt the registered manager proactively advocated for people and anticipated the challenges they may face when accessing other services. They consistently put a range of measures in place to reduce the impact on people and to ensure they were able to access services equitably.

There were out of hours processes in place and recent increases in management cover at the service. Policies had regard to equalities legislation and staff received training to ensure they were aware of people’s protected characteristics and equity of access to care issues.

People felt able to speak up if they perceived poor care or poor outcomes. Where health appointments had not gone as well as they hoped, people worked with staff to feed this back and to improve experiences next time. People felt included in the care planning and review process.

The registered manager and other staff understood the health and social care landscape well. Staff were responsive and creative in looking for ways to reduce the potential inequalities people faced.

Policies, procedures and changes to personnel had regard to the need to help reduced inequalities in care.

People told us they were involved in conversations about their future care planning as much as they wanted. Relatives agreed.

The majority of end-of-life care planning documentation was to a good standard. Where updates were needed the registered manager acted quickly. The registered manager found sensitive and relevant ways to broach this topic, and to help people and relatives engage in this conversation. They were supportive of people experiencing their own grief and found ways to compassionately let people explore their own thoughts on how they would want to approach the end of their lives. Staff used story boards on a more day-to-day basis to help reflect on what is needed and plan for the future.

Systems, policies and processes supported staff to have meaningful conversations with people about planning their future care. Care planning had been reviewed. The registered manager was responsive to feedback regarding the need to make people’s goals a more prominent part of new care planning documentation when it was rolled out.