SENSE - 56 Monks Dyke Road

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’s needs were regularly assessed and their relatives were involved with this process. People were supported under the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

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’s relatives told us they were involved in assessing people’s needs. Their knowledge of their family member was listened to and used to make sure people’s assessments were as up to date and as relevant to their needs as possible. All the relatives told us they attended their family member’s care reviews. Everyone we spoke with told us the staff also spoke with them regularly about their family member’s care needs. They were involved in changes to their care and their opinions and knowledge were valued.

Staff told us they were involved in assessing and reviewing people’s needs. One member of staff said, “The key workers and managers write them but we all talk about them and make sure they do reflect people's needs, they have very good information in them”. The staff member went on to say, “You read parts of them (care plans) all the time depending on what you to want remind yourself of, like taking someone out for an activity”. Staff told us people’s needs were discussed at meetings, in handovers and during supervisions. As a team they felt involved with the assessment processes.

People’s care plans were very detailed and up to date. Where needed people had been referred to specialists for specific assessment, such as the speech and language therapy (SALT) team to support with their nutrition. There was good information on all aspects of people’s care needs and the information was readily accessible for staff.

We did not look at Delivering evidence-based care and treatment during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at How staff, teams and services work together during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at Supporting people to live healthier lives during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at Monitoring and improving outcomes during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

Relatives were very positive about how people were supported to consent to their care. One relative said, “[Name] is extremely limited in what choices they can make as their cognitive skills were affected at birth, but the staff still give them choices. They are able to sign to [Name] about do they need the toilet, what food would they like, do they want a drink etc. [Name] also has some limited verbal skills”. Another relative told us there was routine and structure in place for their family member, which they felt was a good thing but there were no restrictions on their family member’s choices.

Staff we spoke with had a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). They were able to give examples of how they worked to gain people’s consent to care. When discussing if a person refused care, one staff member said, “It is their right, but we would do things like offer a change of face, this sometimes works, we would give them time”. They went on to say if the person continued to refuse they would record it and if there was a persistent issue that put the person at risk of harm this would be escalated and the appropriate people would be involved. The registered manager told us they would use the best interest decision making process to ensure if people needed a decision making for them it was undertaken in their best interests and in the least restrictive way.

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) provides a legal framework for making particular decisions on behalf of people who may lack the mental capacity to do so for themselves. The MCA requires that, as far as possible, people make their own decisions and are helped to do so when needed. When they lack mental capacity to take particular decisions, any made on their behalf must be in their best interests and as least restrictive as possible. People can only be deprived of their liberty to receive care and treatment with appropriate legal authority. In care homes, and some hospitals, this is usually through MCA application procedures called the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguarding (DoLS) The provider was working in line with the Mental Capacity Act. People’s capacity to make their own decisions was assessed and they were supported by relatives, staff and health professionals using best interest meetings to ensure specific decisions were made using the least restrictive option for the person. Where people required a DoLS these were in place.