McRae Lane

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 were involved in assessing their needs and their preferences were obtained and used to plan and deliver their care and support. People’s care and support was planned and delivered in line with current practice, legislation and standards. Staff understood people’s needs and met these in line with people’s preferences. The staff team worked well together and with others to make sure people experienced positive outcomes in relation to their care and support needs. People were supported to stay healthy and well. Staff monitored people’s health and wellbeing and made sure people received timely support if they became unwell or needed extra support from professionals with their healthcare needs. The home manager reviewed the care and support people received to make sure this remained effective and helping people achieve positive outcomes. The service was working within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA).

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 needs were assessed and care and support was planned for people in line with their individual preferences. People, and others involved in their care, were actively involved in these assessments which helped staff deliver effective care to people. A relative told us, “I have been involved in meetings about [family member’s] care needs. And we get asked our views and I do get a say in how I think [family member] might want things to be done.”

Staff understood how people’s needs should be met. A staff member told us, “People’s support plans have so much information about their needs and how we should support them.”

Systems were in place to assess and review people’s needs. The service engaged with people and others involved in their care, to obtain the information they needed to plan and deliver the care and support people required. This included information about people’s medical history, current healthcare conditions, their care needs and the outcomes they wished to achieve from the support provided. People’s care records were individualised and reflected their preferences for how and when care and support should be provided.

People received care and support from staff, which was individualised, specific to their needs and in line with legislation, current practice and standards. A relative told us, “I think the staff know what they are doing and how to look after [family member]. The staff know her very well and they do everything they need to do.” An advocate for people using the service said, “[Staff] have had positive behaviour support training and training in meeting people’s needs in relation to their sensory needs and dementia needs. So staff are more alert to changes in people in terms of changes in their health.”

Staff were supported through training and supervision to deliver care and support to people in line with legislation, current practice and standards. A staff member told us, “We get a lot of training. Sometimes it’s too much but it’s part of the job. We have supervision quite often. I think it’s helpful because you get confident in what you are doing.”

Systems were in place to support staff to deliver care to people in line with legislation, current practice and standards. Assessments, monitoring and reviews of people’s needs helped the home manager make sure care and support was planned and delivered in line with people’s choices and preferences. Staff were provided with regular and relevant training to ensure they were up to date with best practice guidance when delivering care and support to people.

People were supported to transition safely and effectively when they first started using the service. People were supported by a staff team that worked well together and shared information so that all the staff team were able to support people safely and effectively.

Staff worked well together and there was good communication and information sharing between them. A staff member told us, “We talk to each other as a staff team and learn from each other.”

We contacted health and social care professionals that worked with the service for their views about how staff, teams and services work together, but we did not receive any feedback.

Systems were in place to make sure information was shared in a timely way by everyone involved in people’s care. This helped to ensure that care and support was planned for people that met their individual needs and preferences, safely and effectively.

People were supported by staff to stay healthy and well. An advocate for people using the service told us, “The staff team know people so well and can tell if people are unhappy and they will try and work out what is going wrong and seek support from the nurses or GP to support them from a health perspective.”

Staff understood how people should be supported to stay healthy and well, in line with their assessed needs and preferences. They knew when and how to seek support for people if they became unwell. The home manager told us, “Every day we do monitoring for people and that gets sent to the GP. If there is a concern we will send a note to the GP. For example, the blood pressure reading was higher than normal for [person using the service] last week. The GP called back and they discussed us doing 24 hour monitoring which we did. That was a good example of us working together. People are weighed and we observe their food and fluid intake and bowel monitoring as that is a health concern for people here. Staff are empowered to call the GP if I’m not here. They won’t wait for me and will seek support straight away.”

Information about people’s healthcare needs was assessed and reviewed at regular intervals. This ensured staff had access to up to date information about people’s needs which helped them support people to stay healthy and well. Systems were in place to seek support for people when they became unwell. The home manager made sure prompt responses were received from the relevant healthcare professionals to ensure people received timely support.

People experienced positive outcomes from the care and support provided by staff. A relative told us, “I think [family member’s] quality of life has improved since she moved in from her last place.” An advocate for people using the service said, “I have seen the service improve over those years as they have done more work to do things like improve sensory needs of people…it is difficult to know if these improvements have had a positive impact because people can’t tell you, but I do observe people and I can see through body language that people look happy.”

Staff understood how to support people to help them achieve positive outcomes in relation to their care and support needs. A staff member told us, “Well, first of all, you know the activity that you are supporting the person with is benefiting them and helps people stay healthy and active. And you feel good about it as you can see the difference it makes to the person.”

Systems were in place to monitor the care and support provided to people to ensure this remained effective. Staff maintained daily records of the care and support they provided to people and their observations about people’s health and wellbeing. The home manager reviewed these records and used this to inform their ongoing assessment, monitoring and review of people’s care and support needs, and made changes where these were required.

People were supported to understand the care and support staff wished to provide them. This enabled people to consent to this if they wished. People could refuse to receive care and support and staff respected their decisions about this.

Staff understood people’s capacity to make decisions about their care and support using people’s preferred method of communication. Staff used this knowledge to seek consent before they provided any care and support. A staff member told us, “As people are non-verbal you make sure you use their preferred communication to understand people’s responses for when we want to provide care or support as to whether they want this. You have to make sure everything is done in their best interests.” Another staff member said, “We talk to people and tell them what we want to provide. We watch for the signs to tell us they are happy for us to do this.”

The service was working within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA). Systems were in place to ensure mental capacity assessments were completed with people and others involved in their care. Where people could not make decisions and consent to their care, processes were in place to make sure any decisions would be made in their best interests. Appropriate legal authorisations were in place to deprive people of their liberty where this was deemed necessary to ensure their safety.