Minster Homecare

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 70 (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 and staff treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Feedback from people included, “Staff are friendly, supportive and always helpful”, “They are absolutely caring. They always work as a team professionally and [person] is comfortable with them”, and “Staff treat [person] like their own family member.”

Staff spoke about people and their role in a kind and empathetic manner, with comments including “I always feel that people using the service are treated with respect and supported in a caring way."

The provider did treat people as individuals and took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

The provider had recently implemented a ‘New Service User Checklist’, which ensured that all key information was recorded, including personal preferences, and equality considerations. Support plans included people’s likes and dislikes and provided staff with information about people’s life histories and backgrounds. Staff spoke about the importance of treating people as individuals and comments included, “I know and understand people’s needsby connecting with them on a personal level to understand their unique needs.”

The provider promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. Daily notes recorded staff giving people choices and always seeking consent, giving people control over their support. Staff supported people with physiotherapy exercises to improve their mobility and independence in the long term.

Staff spoke positively about promoting people’s independence with feedback including, “There is a strong focus on promoting independence and helping people to achieve their personal goals”, and “I support independence by actively listening, avoiding assumptions and respecting people’s choices.”

The provider did not always listen to and understand people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff did not always respond to people’s needs in the moment or act to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. Where people suffered from anxiety, more detail was needed to guide staff around distraction techniques and actions to take.

People generally told us they were content with the day-to-day care provided, although some people spoke about there being a language barrier which could sometimes impact on this. One person told us, “Staff do listen, and they do ask, but language sometimes can be a barrier.” Another person told us, “I am not so happy at the moment because I get different staff, and I can’t understand them, and they don’t understand me.” The provider told us they were supporting people with this and requesting English proficiency certificates as part of the new recruitment process.

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff. The provider had implemented numerous initiatives such as operating an open-door policy by encouraging staff to go into the office at any time. The provider completed regular welfare and wellbeing checks on staff and offered a counselling hotline free of charge. The provider recognised staff achievements by contacting them directly to provide praise for good work and having a recognition voucher scheme in place. Staff told us they felt supported with comments including, “Minster Homecare is a positive place to work, with a supportive environment and a good team spirit”, and “The team is very supportive, approachable, and professional, which has helped me settle in quickly."