Blackwell Care Centre

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 requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to good. This meant people’s outcomes were consistently good, and people’s feedback confirmed this.

This service scored 71 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

People’s care and treatment was robustly assessed and regularly reviewed. A ‘resident of the day’ system was implemented, which ensured all aspects of the person’s individual needs were reviewed each month as a minimum. Staff confirmed they were informed of changes in people’s needs, one said “Even housekeeping are kept informed of changes in case of the need to make adjustments.”

Nationally recognised evidence-based tools to assess health and wellbeing were used to inform people’s care. People’s nutrition and hydration needs were met, and kitchen staff were knowledgeable on best practice guidance for modifying diets to meet people’s needs, such as to increase calorie intake, or reduce the risk of choking. People and relatives fed back positively on the food and drink provided by the service. One told us, “[Relative’s] weight has been restored since she moving to Blackwell, and they now eat better.”

The service worked well across teams and services to support people. Systems were in place to ensure the effective sharing of information. For example, daily handover meetings discussed each individual person and highlighted changes in need, or important information the care team needed to be aware of. Senior staff were skilled in co-ordinating care teams end ensuring staff worked collaboratively to meet people’s needs. Relatives felt staff worked well together. One relative told us, “Teams seem to be better organised and clearer on their roles and we have noticed the improvement in services. As relatives, we feel quite involved with the home because of the registered manager’s approachability.”

The service supported people to live healthier lives. The GP visited regularly, and relatives confirmed referrals to relevant healthcare professionals were made as required. Care plans were updated to reflected guidance and advice from healthcare professionals. Systems were in place and staff were trained to help identify risks to people’s health and wellbeing early, so to prevent deterioration. For example, staff held regular meetings to discuss clinical risk. Staff told us, “We are alert to changes in the residents’ behaviours, presentation.”

We did not look at Monitoring and improving outcomes during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

Staff obtained consent and respected people’s views and wishes when delivering care. One staff told us, “We treat everyone with the same rights, so we always ask for permission.” People’s capacity and ability to consent was assessed in line with the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and relatives confirmed they were involved appropriately with decision making. Staff had received mental capacity training.