The examples below provide insight into how other Good or Outstanding rated services are succeeding in this area of inspection.
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Campaigns to support health and wellbeing
There was a focused learning topic which changed each month, recent ones included oral health care and diabetes. A falls prevention poster was on display to act as a reminder to staff of the elements that may increase risks of falls, including for example, environment, equipment, footwear, hydration and medicines. The number of falls had halved over a three month period.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: Eglantine Villa
Date published: February 2023
Actively involving people in health groups
People were actively involved in improving their quality of life. The service had recently implemented health groups to assist people to understand their health needs and improve their mental well-being. These included mental health, parkinson's disease and dementia groups. This gave people insight into their conditions, allowing staff and people to have more knowledge and empathy.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: Hepworth House
Date published: November 2022
Supporting memory loss
Since our last inspection one area of the service had been developed into what the provider described as the 'Maple Memory Centre'.
Care delivery was based on a nationally recognised best practice model for delivering care to people with memory loss, including those living with dementia. The aim is to provide a non-clinical and homely feel.
Staff designated to this unit received specialist training and are known as 'Homemakers', supporting people to maximise their independence and find real purpose and contentment in everyday living.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: Brandon Park Residential
Date published: November 2022
Dignity and health awareness day
The service empowered people to make choices about their health and how it should be monitored and managed. For example, the service held a 'dignity and health awareness day’. The day was organised for people by staff and a health facilitator nurse. The health message focussed on how and when to check yourself for lumps and what to look for. There were interactive displays and models for people to use and a quiz was held at the end of the session.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: Creative Support - Doncaster Personalised Services
Date published: February 2020
Managing anxiety and distress to ensure people receive the healthcare needed
Changes to how people's blood was taken meant for one person that they’d have to attend a GP surgery. Staff knew this would cause great anxiety for the person but also knew how vital regular blood tests were to manage their health condition.
A staff member who had a very good and trusted relationship with the person, developed a strategy with the person to support them with their anxiety and manage their distress. They patiently supported the person and liaised with district nurses. The person now attends the surgery regularly and has also been enabled to attend hospital appointments, which previously they were unable to do so.
Read more about the service here.
Care provider: Consensus Community Support Limited
Date published: December 2019
Working tirelessly on improving someone's health and wellbeing
People's health and wellbeing was paramount. Staff liaised with health and social care professionals to ensure excellent outcomes for people.
For example, one person had become trapped in their home through fear of using the stairs. The person lived in a room on the first floor and hadn’t left it for eight years. Staff worked tirelessly to find a way to support the person to move to a flat on a ground floor.
After several months preparing and liaising with health professionals, the person was supported to move. The person's life experience improved, and they gained the confidence to go out into the local community and visit family and friends. Their health and wellbeing greatly improved.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: Consensus Community Support Limited
Date published: December 2019
Helping someone to achieve their personal weight goals
Staff used good initiatives in meeting people's care needs. For example, a person was having problems maintaining their weight. Staff looked at ways of increasing a person's calorific intake and provided them with a personalised snack box. This contained the person's favourite chocolate bars and other kinds of high calorie snacks. The snack box was kept in the person's own room. The directives on the box label invited visitors to share the treats with the person, by way of encouraging them to eat.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: The Byars Nursing Home
Date published: August 2019
How champions and research help the service to address nutritional needs
Staff were extremely knowledgeable of people's food and nutritional needs. When a person developed a health condition and was losing weight, staff researched different foods the person could have and worked with dieticians to develop a high calorie diet, compatible with their health condition, to boost the person's weight.
The food and nutrition champion developed innovative methods to educate people, staff and relatives on how to support people to maintain a healthy diet. Staff produced easy-read guides to their specific diets for relatives to refer to when the person visited them at their home.
Research and training took place to support people to reach their goals or when there were changes to people's dietary requirements. Staff found there was a difference in how people and staff perceived portion sizes. As a result, the food and nutrition champion worked with people's keyworkers and staff to educate all those involved on what portion sizes looked like, so people had consistent meal sizes as recommended by the dieticians.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: SENSE - 89 Hastings Avenue
Date published: April 2019
Multiple ways of keeping people healthy
People's care plans held clear information on health and the staff actions required to support specific conditions. This partnership approach had a positive impact on individuals.
For example, the service worked with one person's GP and provided longer hours to support them at home, preventing a hospital stay. Another person was identified as needing a lifesaving operation, but their weight prevented surgery.
The service supported the person to obtain specialist support and they lost a significant amount of weight. The person won a lifetime achievement award and their consultant used the story in a national magazine to help inspire other people.
A further person was supported with their diet and weight. They now no longer require medicine for a specific health condition.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: Community Support Service (D.D.H. Services Ltd)
Date published: March 2019
Outstanding approaches to nutrition and hydration
People's individual nutritional and hydration needs were met very well. Fluid charts were used to monitor people at particular risk of dehydration. These were up-to-date and showed what fluid people should be having and were analysed each day. At handover, a member of staff was nominated to be hydration lead for that shift.
People could choose what they’d like to eat and drink by physically looking at meals plated and drinks. People also had their specific dietary needs catered for. Care records were used to provide guidance and information to staff about how to meet individual dietary needs. For example, people who required a diabetic diet received the appropriate diet, and the cook and staff were fully aware why this was needed. Records identified what people disliked or enjoyed.
A nutritional screening tool was used when needed to identify if a person was at risk of malnutrition. People identified as at risk of malnutrition had their weight monitored and food and fluid charts were completed when needed.
People had access to drinks and snacks 24 hours a day. The service provided a ‘snack bar’ where people could go and help themselves at any time. Some people and staff take a bowl and offer the snacks to others. People and relatives could also make requests about what was on offer.
Wisteria House Dementia Care Limited had started the weekly taste testing challenge, which included two-three different items of food such as sausages, cheese and crisps- all varying from the most expensive to the cheapest. Staff put items in separate bowls and people marked which one was the favourite. This was then ordered for the next week's menu.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: Wisteria House Dementia Care Ltd
Date published: January 2019
Ensuring a healthy service for all people and staff
There’s no doubt that making sure we have safe workplaces is vital, but recently we’ve seen a shift in thinking, so we also focus on the individual’s all-round health, including their mental and physical wellbeing. For employers, this means that as well as minimising risks, there’s also a greater focus on health and wellbeing interventions. That might include looking at the environment and culture of your service, and how to better manage ill health in the workplace.
As well as supporting the health and wellbeing of the people who use your service, in my experience I’ve found that the healthiest and happiest people are supported by equally healthy and happy staff. Evidence that shows that investing in the health and wellbeing of your staff has positive benefits on business measures, including a decrease in sickness absence, staff turnover and claims, and an increase in productivity and retention.
Leaders and managers need to keep an eye on their own health and wellbeing – supporting other people brings its own stresses and strains, and if people see you looking after yourself they’re more likely to be open about their own health and wellbeing needs.
Care provider: Anonymous
Date published: July 2018
Making health links to support health and wellbeing
The service’s connection with the local hospital helped them to support people’s health and wellbeing. For example, the hospital’s epilepsy nurse provided personalised advice on how to support people who experienced seizures, while occupational therapists have helped to develop individualised life skills and a local GP visited the home to take blood samples for people who were very anxious about injections.
Care provider: Anonymous
Date published: April 2018
Enlisting specialist support to ensure people receive healthy diets
The service worked closely with a nutritional lead who provided specialist support and worked closely with staff to ensure people who used the service maintained a healthy diet. For example, one person was supplementing their food with additional specifically-blended food recipes into nutritional smoothies using a Nutribullet blender. This had boosted their nutritional intake and reduced the risk of malnutrition. We saw this person at lunchtime and they told us they enjoyed this food.
Care provider: Anonymous
Date published: April 2018
Dedicating a role to resident wellbeing
The addition of the homemaker role to the care home team is vital in being able to provide quality time to our residents. The role itself focuses on making time for the residents and listening to them, addressing their wellbeing as a priority. They’re available to our residents 10 hours a day, seven days a week. By ensuring the care isn’t rushed and that there are enough staff on duty, we’re able to focus on individuals and their needs.
Care provider: Brunelcare’s Deerhurst Care Home (with Nursing)
Date published: April 2018
Gardening activities support wellbeing in social care
In our service we have enclosed gardens where we grow vegetables, have sensory flower beds and provide peaceful seating areas. Our garden plays a key part of our activity programme and it's centred around what the people we support want to do and enjoy doing.
We’re lucky to have the gardens as part of our service as they’re a place of peace and relaxation for everybody to appreciate, for both people who are accessing care and support and our staff. The sense of wellbeing and contentment that the sights, sounds and smells from the garden offer is clear to see from the actions and attitudes of the people who use them.
The gardening project is often an extension of an individual’s home life. Very often people have tended their own gardens and taken pride and pleasure in doing so, and we provide the support they now need to do this.
Care provider: Anonymous
Date published: April 2018
Administering supplements as part of a balanced diet
Where one person had been prescribed nutritional supplements (something that was clearly documented in their care plan and medication administration record), the care workers offered a meal first and spent time with the person encouraging and assisting them to eat.
The supplement was offered after the meal, which ensured the supplement wasn’t treated as a substitute for food. Records showed the person was weighed every week, as per the dietician’s advice.
Care provider: Anonymous
Date published: April 2018
Promoting fitness collectively and inclusively
The Kings Fund promotes equal access to physical and mental health care. We embraced this by initiating the ‘Fit-for-Feb’ home-wide initiative, encouraging a collective approach to engaging people and staff in virtual walking.
When planning this, we acknowledged the motivation, engagement and ability which varied across the people we supported. Knowing some people preferred to work alone, some outdoors, and some would never engage in formal activities, we decided to provide people with pedometers to ensure their daily steps were counted to our total. This gave all involved, regardless of the manner, inclusion and a feeling of achievement in attaining our goal.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: Thistle Hill Hall (Debdale Specialist Care Ltd)
Date published: April 2018
Fitting processes to people
Two years ago we comprehensively reviewed the documentation we used to record the health and wellbeing of people who needed care and support. We stripped previous processes back. This resulted in the production of an entirely new suite of person-centred documents which ensure all aspects of our responsibilities are met.
At the centre of it all are those we support and care for. We looked at what people want and need to achieve. This led to us questioning what support is required to ensure these outcomes are met, and how this would look for the individual.
Our quality audit process is driven by this renewed focus on people-centred achievements, and encompasses all recorded information.
Care provider: Welmede Housing Association
Date published: December 2017
We overhauled our documents and how we record to align with people’s health and care
Two years ago, we comprehensively reviewed our documentation used to record the health and wellbeing of people who need care and support. We stripped previous processes back. This resulted in the production of an entirely new suite of person-centred documents which ensure all aspects of our responsibilities are met.
At the centre of it all are the people we support and care for. We looked at what people and need to achieve. This led to us questioning what support is required to ensure these outcomes are met, and how this would look for the individual.
Our quality audit process is driven by this renewed focus on people’s achievements, and encompasses all recorded information.
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Learn more about this service here.
Care provider: Welmede Housing Association
Date published: December 2017