Hillsborough House

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

People’s views were now sought, listened to and acted upon. Their rights and individuality were supported. People could access care in ways that met their personal circumstances and protected equality characteristics. People could access care, treatment and support when they needed to and in a way that worked for them.

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 said they were happy living in the service and were able to do things they liked to do, for example go to a club or go to church. Relatives felt involved in their relation’s care and had been invited to care review meetings and have contributed their knowledge about their relative to support decision-making and care planning.

The manager told us: “We have annual meetings where we meet with families and social workers. Everyone who lives here has a nominated keyworker. Outcomes are identified and we monitor the actions.” Staff said they helped people to make their own choices, for example about what they were going to wear and what they would like to eat. Staff could explain how people communicate in different ways using their preferred method of communication, for example, using pictures to choose where to go or which breakfast cereal to have.

We observed people were supported in a person-centred way, for example, people were offered choices and were included in conversations about what was happening in the Service. We saw people’s rooms had been decorated to suit their individual tastes.

Relatives felt involved with the care of their loved one. Relatives said they were invited to care planning meetings and heard about changes in their relative’s medication.

Leaders said they worked in partnership with health service providers and people to make sure people get continuity in care. For example, working with the dentists to ensure people get appropriate oral care.

Partners said the service was proactive in making appropriate referrals so that people get the care they needed in a timely way. However, one partner said the service did not always update their hospital plans in relation to eating and drinking in a timely manner when needs had changed.

Processes were now in place to ensure continuity of care in health care services, for example, hospital and dental passports. However, these were not always effective, because information was not always up to date; for example, a person’s hospital passport had not been updated to include new information about their eating and drinking requirements.

People did not comment around providing information. We have used our professional judgement to score this based on feedback from staff and leaders, our observations and processes.

Staff said how they made sure people received information about their medicines in a way that they could understand that was individual to that person. For example, in one person’s case using a soft toy to aid communication. Leaders told us, ‘We don't just use accessible documents, we use YouTube, flashcards and staff will spend a lot of time explaining things with a person.’

Processes were in place to help people understand information in line with accessible information standards. Staff received Makaton training to support communication. Information was available in the home in multiple accessible formats. For example, house meetings and house rules agreed by the people living in the home included pictures to help people understand.

People said they were happy living in the home. One person said they would speak with the manager if they were not happy. One relative said, “I am in regular contact with the manager, and they resolve any concerns immediately.”

One staff member said, “I facilitate house meetings. People have their say. We have an agenda, but the questions can be changed if needed. People we support open the meeting and there is a big input from people in the home.” The manager said they audited people’s feedback for themes and put an action plan in place where themes had been identified. For example, people had been involved in agreeing the ‘house rules’ following their feedback.

We saw processes were in place to capture people’s voice, for example house meetings, care reviews and feedback forms were in place where people had the opportunity to raise any concerns. For example, the provider had purchased adapted utensils to help people join in with meal preparation following a review of people’s feedback.

People told us they were helped to do things they wanted to do, for example, going to the pub or to church, and told us staff helped them with GP appointments. One relative said. “I attended a recent care review, key workers and the care manager attended. The meeting was very positive, 1:1 funding was agreed so my loved one can access the community more.”

Staff and leaders told us about reasonable adjustments which were made for people to help them access health appointments. One staff member said, “Every person has their own reasonable adjustment, one person we use easy words, another person we write the information down to help the person understand about their appointment.” The manager said how they have worked with the dentist and hairdresser to achieve reasonable adjustments to help people feel more confident in using their services.

Partners said the service worked in partnership with health professionals to ensure people received accessible care, treatment, and support in a timely way. One partner said. “The home has received communication training (basic Makaton etc.) and appear to be working on improving this. It would be good to have an identified ‘communication champion’ who can ensure hospital passports are up to date; people may benefit from communication passports and a general total communication approach as the home has a range of communication styles.” The manager said the service had already identified a person they support as a communication champion. They confirmed this person identifies a sign for the week for staff to practice. They said they would share the suggestion about implementing a staff communication champion with the staff team.

Processes were in place to support people with accessing appointments and other places important to the person. For example, care planning documents identified where people needed 1:1 support around health appointments. People had communication passports to help staff understand and support their communication needs and staff had received additional training in alternative communication methods.

People said they liked living in the service and told us staff helped them to go out and do the things they liked doing. Relatives said there had been an improvement in activities for people in the service. One relative said, “My loved one has started going out, they enjoy bowling best.”

Staff and leaders understood their responsibilities around equality and diversity. Staff told us about the person-centred care people received to help them lead full lives, for example, helping a person with their personal goals like joining a cookery class or going to the pub.

Staff and leaders have received equality and diversity training. Equality and diversity policies were current and in place to protect the people living in the service and staff.

Relatives said they were involved and invited to care plan reviews and decision making for their relatives.

The RM said they were working with people and seeking advice from health professionals around people’s ReSPECT forms and DNAR forms to make sure people’s decisions were understood in the event of a medical emergency. The manager said they had talked with all people and families about end-of-life arrangements and to help get funeral plans in place. The manager confirmed there was a plan in place for this with a completion date.

Processes were in place around making important decisions for the future, for example, end of life decisions, funeral plans and best interest decisions around purchasing a funeral plan. Accessible information was used to help people understand their options.