Almond Tree Care Ltd

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 that whilst people felt well-supported, cared for and treated with dignity and respect, staff did not.

This service scored 60 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The people who used the service, and their relatives, told us the staff that provided their care treated them with kindness, empathy and compassion. However, the approach of some of the management team did not demonstrate kindness and respect towards staff or colleagues from other organisations. Staff and professionals told us this and our experience throughout the inspection demonstrated this. For example, one staff member told us, “Sometimes we aren’t seen as human and that we have a life outside of work.” One professional told us about the poor approach of the registered manager when they tried to raise concerns.

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 who used the service told us the staff who provided their care knew them and their likes, wishes and preferences well. We saw that care plans contained person-centred information to assist staff to get to know people well therefore aiding individualised care.

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

People who used the service confirmed staff encouraged their independence and supported them to be in control of the care they received; they told us staff were respectful of this. When we asked one person they said staff were, “Very, very good and I can’t fault them.”

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 gave us examples of how staff responded to them to ensure their comfort, which demonstrated that the staff delivering care were intuitive to people and their needs. This included in the event of medical emergencies.

The provider did not care about or promote the wellbeing of their staff. Despite the provider having a wellbeing scheme in place for staff, the poor culture within the service meant staff did not feel valued, cared for or appreciated. They told us they felt overworked and tired. A number of staff told us they felt fearful of repercussions. One person who used the service told us they were worried about the wellbeing of staff due to a lack of support from the provider. Some timesheets showed that staff worked long hours without the daily rest break recommended by The Working Time Regulations 1998.