Aronel Cottage Care Home Limited

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 changed to requires improvement.

This meant people did not always feel well-supported, cared for or treated with dignity and respect.

Staff were kind, polite and friendly with people, however they did not always treat people as individuals. People were not always encouraged to walk and at mealtimes everyone was given a bib style clothing protector to wear. Staff always accompanied people to the toilet, despite staff telling us some people could walk independently. People were content with the care given but did not always know their rights. People told us they felt restricted at the home as they were not supported to leave. While staff were kind, the care they provided lacked dignity for people.

Staff reacted promptly when needed and people told us they did not often need to wait for care.

The service was in breach of legal regulation in relation to dignity and respect.

This service scored 55 (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. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

Staff were kind, polite and friendly with people. We saw staff providing people with drinks and biscuits during the course of the day. When people needed to be moved via a hoist, staff were calm and explained what they were doing to ensure people felt safe.

Staff told us they understood how to support people with dignity, ensuring they were covered during care and had privacy.

People told us staff were caring. A person said, “They’re all nice. It runs smoothly. You get good care.” And a relative told us, “They’re lovely and friendly. One of the men, he’s cheeky to her, he makes us giggle.”

The provider did not treat people as individuals or make sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. The provider did not take account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

We did not see people treated as individuals. At mealtime everyone was given an apron style bib to wear. People were not all happy about this, one person said, “I don’t normally throw it all over the place. What’s going on?”

Staff knew people well and were polite when speaking to people. The electronic care system in use at the home included a section to be completed about each person, including their social history as well as their medical one.

We were told some people at the home could walk, with assistance from staff. A staff member told us, “About of third of the people here can walk.” However, we did not see anyone walking about the home, staff routinely used wheelchairs to move people. We asked staff about this and they told us they would encourage people to walk if they could. This contradicted what we saw.

The provider did not promote people’s independence, so people did not know their rights and have choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

People we spoke to were content at the service, but they told us they were not able to be independent, and independence was not promoted. One person told us, “We can’t go out on our own. I feel hemmed in. I know it’s to keep people safe, but I haven’t been out of this place since I moved in, over a year ago, I think. If I wanted to walk outdoors, on the concrete out there, I would have to have someone with me, and I would have to ask permission. You’re not free to do what you like; that’s just how it is.”

Relatives told us they did not think there were enough staff to support people beyond the necessary care. One relative said, “The staff are not encouraged to 'play' with residents, so it's a joyless existence. Those poor residents are sat bored from the moment they get up till bed.”

Staff told us people could make their own choices, including unwise choices. A staff member said, “If people have capacity, we wouldn’t discourage them from a bad choice (for example, refusing vegetables) we might try to convince them, try other ideas, but they could choose if they really wanted.”

While staff spoke about the need for people to have independence and choice we did not always see this in practice.

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 saw staff responding to people when they needed assistance. We did not hear call bells ringing for long periods of time, and the registered manager showed us how they audited call bell times to ensure people received timely care.

Some people said there were busy times where they might wait a little while, such as at mealtimes. Staff confirmed this but felt this was rare. A staff member said, “Meals are just one hour, it’s not always enough time [to support everyone].” Another staff member told us, “There are always staff available when someone wants to use the toilet. Staff will wait outside if people are independent.”

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

The registered manager told us they supported staff as they knew happy staff provided better care. They told us they did not use agency staff as regular staff were happy to work extra shifts. Staff told us they enjoyed working at the service. Staff told us they were taught about person-centred care. A staff member said, “During our training the trainer talked to us about caring, and about person-centred care.” Staff were happy and people were comfortable around them.