Sylvian Care Southampton

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

People told us staff treated them with kindness and dignity. Records promoted dignity and respect at all times. One person told us, “They are very friendly and approachable. I feel very comfortable with them. I was very nervous about them at first. They have become part of the family.”

The service carried out spot checks on staff in people’s homes to ensure staff were treating people with compassion and dignity. This involved observing how staff treated people during care calls in people’s homes to ensure people were being treated with dignity. A health professional told us, “Staff demonstrate respect, kindness, and compassion towards service users, maintaining dignity in all interactions and responding empathetically to individual needs. My service user said she is 100% satisfied with Sylvian domiciliary care.”

The provider treated most 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.

Care plans reflected people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics. Staff and people could describe how staff considered people’s wishes and preferences when providing care. A person told us, “They are always friendly, because they know all about me, they know what to do and know where everything is”.

We found for one person their care visits were repeatedly not always taking place at their preferred time. However, most calls showed staff had arrived before the requested time by a short time frame. We found no other concerns with people having their requested time of call.

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

Staff recognised the importance of people maintaining daily living skills where possible. People’s care plans reflected their abilities and strengths. People told us they were involved in developing care plans and that they were given choices on how they would like their care to be provided for example, what they would like to wear as well as choices for eating and drinking. One person told us, “They encourage you to do things, like when I have a shower, I dry myself, and they observe, and take over when I get into difficulty.”

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.

People’s care plans detailed where they had specific medical conditions and how these presented in everyday life. Staff had a good knowledge of recognising when people’s needs were changing and the appropriate action in response. The registered manager analysed care call times and care records. This helped them to identify when people’s needs were changing, and their care required adjusting. One person told us, “As a care company, I am very happy. Nothing is too much trouble. They are very caring and very friendly. They pick up little things, report it and it gets sorted out.” Another person said, “I only have to ring, and they’d say, I will sort it out for you.”

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

Leaders had taken steps to recognise and meet the wellbeing needs of staff. Staff felt supported in their role and that they could contact the office, who operated an open-door policy, if they had any concerns. The service operated a ‘Carer of the Month’ where staff were recognised and rewarded for their hard work and presented with a small token of appreciation.

There was a culture of staff safety. The provider followed their policies in relation to lone working and monitoring stress in the workplace. There was a robust on call system to support staff out of office hours.