Oaklands Care Home

On this page

• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

Caring – this means we looked for evidence that the provider involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained good. This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care.

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.

The provider always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

During the inspection, the atmosphere at the service was friendly and welcoming. We saw and heard staff interacting with people in a meaningful way and heard and saw lots of laughter from people, visitors and staff.

People told us staff were “Lovely”, “polite” and “so caring.” People’s relatives commented that staff were “kind” and “friendly.” One person’s relative said, “I could not speak highly enough of the care my loved one receives.” The registered manager told us “There's a nice dynamic here. We often have staff come in on a day off to take a resident out and when we had someone who wanted to go home to die, staff went to see [them] at home.”

We observed staff treating people with kindness and respecting their dignity. For example, we saw one person engaging in doll therapy. Doll therapy involves offering dolls to adults who are living with dementia and other medical conditions with the goal of improving their comfort, engagement, and quality of life. We observed a staff member picking up the doll and cradling it like it was a baby before handing it to one person. When there were activities taking place, the same staff member asked the person, “Would you like me to hold him for you while you join in?” We saw that all staff, not just the care team, knew people well and called them by their names.

The provider treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. They took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

People were supported to access communal areas if they wanted to or could choose to remain in their bedrooms. The large communal lounge had been set up so that people could choose to sit with others or sit alone in the book corner, or TV corner. We saw staff asked and respected people’s wishes. For example, we saw a member of staff ask one person who was reading their book, “I’m guessing you don’t want to join in with the game [name]?” One person’s relative told us, “I would say the atmosphere is congenial. Sometimes [name] doesn’t want the TV on, but they have corners they can tuck themselves in for some peace.”

There was an activities programme in place, supported by internal and external activities. On both days of the inspection, we observed a variety of activities that people were encouraged to take part in. Some activities we saw were spontaneous. For example, at one point music was playing, and a staff member saw people were singing along and so invited them to dance. Several people did this, and we watched them dancing and laughing with the member of staff.

There was a secure garden which people were able to access in the warmer weather. Some people had access to the garden from their bedrooms. People were able to access the community; the registered manager told us they had arranged trips out in a minibus last year and now wanted to purchase a minibus so that this could become a regular thing for people to do.

The provider promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

Care plans we looked at informed staff how to support people to maintain their independence where able. One person’s relative said, “If [name] can do it themself, the staff encourage [name] to do it. They ask [name] to use their walker to go to the toilet and then remind [name] to wash their hands afterwards.”

One staff member said, “[Name] can stand up by themselves, but sometimes sits back on the chair and says, ‘can you help me?’ but this is something [name] can do themselves, so we encourage [name] to do this.” We observed this during the inspection. The staff kindly reassured the person they could do it themselves and told them to take their time. We saw the person did manage to stand by themselves.

The provider listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress.

We observed people being supported to the toilet when they required it, or being given a hot drink when they requested one. When one person began coughing during their meal staff quickly offered support and assurance in a discreet and caring manner. When another person became anxious, staff noticed this immediately and attended to their needs ensuring they did not become upset. One staff member said, “We monitor people’s observations when it’s resident of the day or if they are unwell. We know the residents well so we can see if someone isn’t their normal self.”

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.

Many of the staff had been in post for several years and there was a consistent work force in place. The registered manager gave examples of how they supported staff welfare. For example, supporting people with personal issues in a supportive way. They said, “We have ‘staff appreciation week’ where we give the staff a pamper bag one day, we do a breakfast morning, pizza evening, that kind of thing. Staff seem to appreciate it. We support the staff any way we can. I'm sure the directors would do anything for the people who work here.”

Regular staff meetings took place. Minutes showed staff were able to speak up and ask questions and make suggestions during these. Staff were positive and felt supported to carry out their roles. Staff told us “The management are really supportive; I know I can go to them if I have a problem. [Registered manager] has been very supportive to me” and “They management team are really good. They’re not a strict corporate home; they respect us, and we respect them, it’s like a community here.”