Strathfield Gardens

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 assessed to determine what support they required and people were involved in the assessment process. People were able to consent to care as much as possible. Where they lacked the capacity to make decisions, decisions were made in their best interests, in line with legislation.

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.

Relatives told us they were involved in assessing people’s needs. A relative said, “They do talk about [person’s] care plan with me, if there is anything I want to add."

All of the staff we spoke to said that they were able to meet the needs of the people living in the home. Staff were able to describe to us where people required support at home to do important things such as support with bathing, getting dressed and meal preparation. Staff described how they assessed the support needs, allowing people to develop important skills whilst balancing this with the need to keep people safe. The staff told us that as part of their team meetings they discussed the people who lived in the home, talking about their needs and discussing any relevant changes to each person. The staff told us that the needs of people were assessed before they moved into the home and that information is gathered from different sources such as the person’s family and other professionals.

During our visit to the service we saw information in each person’s file where a range of needs were continually assessed. Through detailed care planning, health needs, risk assessments, likes and dislikes and positive behaviour support plans formed part of an overall, comprehensive assessment process. People’s communication needs set out in their communication passports detailed attention to memory, understanding and expressions as well as clear descriptions of how to communicate with each person. There were overall assessment with regards to health and we saw monitoring of 2 people who required on going recording due to their weight and food intake.

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.

People told us they were happy with the care they received and that it was in line with what they wanted. For example, a person told us they were supported by staff to get up in the morning at the time they wanted and in the way they wanted. Relatives told us people were able to consent to their care as much as possible. A relative said, “They give [person] freedom, but at the same time they keep them safe.” The same relative added, “They discussed with me whether [person] should have the Covid jab."

Staff were able to describe a number of ways of how they were able to gain consent. For day to day consent they were able to use their knowledge of people which helped gain insight in to how people could consent for everyday tasks such as bathing, getting dressed and choosing the food they wanted to eat. Staff also informed us that for bigger decisions there was contact with families, involving them and seeking their views as well as gaining the opinions of other professionals which was evident in the documents we saw. One staff member told us how the home communicated with people in order to gain their consent, they told us, “The people we support can be helped to use PECS (picture exchange communication system) pictures to show us what they want and need.”

People were supported to make decisions for themselves as much as possible. Where people lacked capacity to make decisions, the provider acted in line with good practice and legislation. Mental capacity assessments were carried out and best interest decision meetings took place, for example, in relation to the administration of the Covid-19 vaccine. These discussions involved relevant health care professionals and family members.