The Kent Autistic Trust - 52a River Drive

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

Effective – this means we looked for evidence that people’s care, treatment and support achieved good outcomes and promoted a good quality of life, based on best available evidence. At our last assessment we rated this key question Good. At this assessment the rating has remained Good. This meant people’s outcomes were consistently good, and people’s feedback confirmed this. People and those involved in their care took part in assessments and reviews. People were able to make their own decisions about their care and their life.

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.

The provider monitored all people’s care and treatment to continuously improve it. They ensured that outcomes were positive and consistent, and that they fully met both clinical expectations and the expectations of people themselves. People who use the service consistently experienced positive outcomes. One person lived with epilepsy which resulted in multiple seizures, which greatly affected their quality of life. Staff at the service proactively sought steps to alternative options, alongside health professionals, to reduce the number of seizures the person experienced. Staff continually pushed for a new medicine over a period of months, and this was finally agreed and a plan put in place. There had been a significant impact on the person and there was a dramatic reduction in the number of seizures they experienced. The person’s quality of life had increased measurably. The person’s relatives told us, ‘It seems to have made a huge difference, [person] was going downhill, we are very impressed with the changes at the moment’ and ‘The staff know person really well, we couldn’t wish for a better place for [person]. We also spoke with a professional involved with this person care who told us, ‘The staff at River Drive are very knowledgeable in all aspects of [persons] health and have a great knowledge of how [person] is cared for.

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.

The provider monitored all people’s care and treatment to continuously improve it. They ensured that outcomes were positive and consistent, and that they fully met both clinical expectations and the expectations of people themselves. People who use the service consistently experienced positive outcomes. One person lived with epilepsy which resulted in multiple seizures, which greatly affected their quality of life. Staff at the service proactively sought steps to alternative options, alongside health professionals, to reduce the number of seizures the person experienced. Staff continually pushed for a new medicine over a period of months, and this was finally agreed and a plan put in place. There had been a significant impact on the person and there was a dramatic reduction in the number of seizures they experienced. The person’s quality of life had increased measurably. The person’s relatives told us, ‘It seems to have made a huge difference, [person] was going downhill, we are very impressed with the changes at the moment’ and ‘The staff know person really well, we couldn’t wish for a better place for [person]. We also spoke with a professional involved with this person care who told us, ‘The staff at River Drive are very knowledgeable in all aspects of [persons] health and have a great knowledge of how [person] is cared for.

People made their own choices and decisions on a day to day basis about what they did, what they ate and how they filled their time. Where people were not able to verbally communicate their choices there were tailored communication plans in place for staff to follow to ensure people were in control of their own lives. Staff we spoke to were able to tell us how they asked people their choices using picture cards but also asking verbally and understanding the body language and hand gestures. Records included information about people’s capacity and how either through verbal or non-verbal means they were able to refuse or give consent for specific decisions. Staff told us, ‘We always make sure we give [person] time to answer as it may take a while for them to respond, [Person] makes a particular noise if it’s a yes or no to a question.’