Archived: Avenues South East - 2 Emily Jackson

A person who used the service showed us their room. They told us they liked the home and their room and that the temperature was comfortable.

We observed that staff had a good knowledge of people's needs and communications methods, gave people as much time as they needed and asked before supporting people or moving their wheelchair.

We found the service had suitable arrangements in place to obtain, and act in accordance with, the consent of people who use the service, or the consent of another person able lawfully to consent to care and treatment on that person's behalf.

We saw that service provided safe care, through carrying out initial assessments, planning care based on collating the required information, making decisions based on risk assessments and there were contingency procedures in place to plan to continue safe appropriate care all foreseeable emergencies. However, people did not always experience care, treatment and support that met their needs and protected their rights as the service did not involve them in care planning and recording how the person themselves wants care to be provided through an accessible tool like a person centred or 'my plan'.

We found that comments and complaints that people made were responded to appropriately.

Some of the people in the home had complex needs which meant that they were not able to tell us their experiences of using the service; we therefore used our observations to help inform some of our judgements. We saw that people were being supported around the home by staff in a kind and sensitive manner, in a way that promoted individual independence. For example we observed that people who required help to eat their meal were given appropriate assistance by staff. We saw staff offering people a choice of drinks and supporting people to eat their food in a respectful manner that promoted individual independence wherever possible. We saw that staff recognised individual signs of anxiety or discomfort, and were able to respond effectively to this.

We arranged to speak with some relatives over the telephone. They told us that they were happy with the care and support provided by the service. Comments included, 'The service is wonderful, the staff are excellent and I am very happy my relative is here' And 'I am happy with the care my relative receives, it is well organised, the staff are friendly and there is plenty to do.' We found that relatives and people who used the service had been involved in their care. One relative told us 'I am kept involved, I am informed of any changes and I regularly attend my relative's care reviews'. Another relative we spoke with commented, 'We are kept involved; we have been involved with our relative's care plans and their reviews.'