Lowdell Close

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

Responsive – this means we looked for evidence that the service met people’s needs. This is the first inspection for this newly registered service. This key question has been rated good. This meant people’s needs were met through good organisation and delivery.

People received personalised care which reflected their needs and choices.

People did not access many community-based activities, but were supported to access health, social care and leisure resources within their home and with visiting professionals.

Information about the service was shared with people in different formats to help them understand this.

The staff found ways to understand people who could not use words to communicate. These were personalised and helped people to express themselves. Staff also tried to find ways to communicate with people so that people understood them and could make informed choices.

People’s human rights were upheld. The staff and provider valued diversity and helped people to celebrate their individuality.

The provider helped people to plan for the future. They worked with families to consider how people may want to be cared for at the end of their lives and in death. They also helped people to plan for how they wanted to be cared for in the future if they moved from the service.

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 received person-centred care which met their needs and reflected their preferences. Family members told us they were involved in planning and reviewing people’s care and they were happy with the support they received. Staff had a good awareness of people’s individual needs and how to support them. The staff explained about the different support and care they had provided to help people develop skills. This included supporting people with their dexterity and motor skills. Staff had supported people to plan meaningful goals and outcomes, which they worked towards.

People were supported to be part of a wider community. The registered manager explained they invited friends and families to visit and spend time at the service. They also encouraged people to spend time with children and people of different ages. Staff shared information about their culture and supported people to participate in a range of different experiences.

People were provided with information about the service in a format they understood. This was individual for each person and included verbal information, objects of reference and touch.

People’s relatives explained they had the information they needed about the service. They had regular contact with the registered manager.

The provider listened to and involved people and their relatives in plans for the service. People living there had limited verbal communication or did not use words at all. The staff had developed ways to help understand how people communicated. We observed staff being patient, taking their time to understand people and offering simple choices to help people make decisions. The staff explained how they had sourced flash cards (cards with words and pictures) which they used with one person to help them develop their language skills.

There was a complaints procedure, and relatives knew how to make a complaint. They told us concerns were dealt with promptly and they were listened to when they wanted to share their feedback.

There were some restrictions on people’s ability to access different services. The registered manager explained that because of people’s mobility needs, including needing a hoist to transfer from wheelchairs, some external venues were inaccessible. The registered manager explained they had spent time researching venues they could use in the past and that any access of community leisure facilities needed careful planning. For example, researching bathroom facilities and wheelchair access. Two people found it unsettling to leave the house. The community matron confirmed this, and the registered manager explained this could cause them distress. They explained they had arranged for external activity providers, such as musicians and aromatherapists, to visit regularly. People enjoyed these activities. The registered manager had also arranged for healthcare teams to visit when possible. The service did not have transport at the time of our assessment, although they were trying to source this and could make arrangements to borrow transport from other local care homes when needed.

People experienced equity in outcomes. They were treated as individuals and received equal attention, time and support to meet their needs. People’s human rights were considered and respected. The provider had procedures about equality and diversity and staff had training about this. No one living at the service had expressed a wish to follow a specific religion. The staff supported them to experience a range of different cultural and religious festivals and to celebrate these. For example, they had recently celebrated Black History Month and before this people had enjoyed an Asian day. Staff had supported people to try food from different cultures, listen to music, take part in crafts and wear traditional outfits from these cultures. Photographs of these events showed people had experienced a diverse range of activities through the event and had enjoyed these.

The registered manager had liaised with families and professionals to develop advanced care plans which could be followed if a person became very unwell or at the end of their lives. These included preferences and outcomes which were important for the person and their families. The staff had worked with palliative care teams to support 1 person and plan their care. One professional told us the support the person had received had improved their health and their prognosis.

The provider supported people to plan for the future. The registered manager was liaising with social work teams to help plan for changes people were experiencing and to make sure these were managed in a person-centred way.