Belvedere House

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 treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity.

People spoke positively about the way staff treated them. One relative told us, “The carers are fantastic. They are very kind and treat mum with respect. They listen to me when I speak to them and make me feel welcome.” Another relative told us, “The staff are very caring, very personable, and treat all residents with respect. There’s a family feel in the home. The staff all get along well together.”

Staff told us they understood how to promote people’s dignity and respect their individual choices. One staff member told us, “I will ask the residents what they would like to wear and give them choice. I will close doors when providing personal care.” Another said, “I just do as its embedded in me. I know you can’t discuss anyone’s problems as a chit chat. I keep confidential information to myself especially if they’ve trusted me. But if I should feel that the person is in danger, then I would escalate this to my line manager.”
 

The provider did not always ensure information about people's preferences and individual circumstances was recorded consistently. This increased the risk that staff may not always have access to accurate information to support people in line with their wishes and preferences.

We asked staff how they got to know people. One staff member told us, "I talk to them. I know it's not written down, but I know [name] went on a boat yesterday. I took my time when I first started to read about people." This demonstrated staff were sometimes reliant on personal knowledge and conversations with people rather than information recorded in care records.

While relatives spoke positively about the support their family members received, the evidence showed some information staff used to understand people was not documented. This increased the risk that important information about people's preferences and experiences may not be consistently available to all staff involved in their care.
 

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

Relatives described a wide range of activities that supported people’s interests and preferences. One relative told us, “Mum enjoys the creative activities; flower arranging, jewellery making, and drawing. Mum loves all of these. She would like to be able to go outside more. She goes out on an outing most weeks. They have a minibus.” Another relative told us, “There are loads of activities every day. They have singers, films on the Saturday, they go in the minibus on outings to visit a garden centre and have tea or coffee, on a Sunday if the weather is nice, they take them round the gardens at the home in their wheelchairs, there’s art, craft, bingo, fitness…”

Staff said there were regular opportunities for people to go outdoors and participate in activities. One staff member told us, “We take residents to outdoor trips and there’s always activities going on. We take residents outside very regularly. Some residents don’t like to go out but whoever wants to we will take them.” This demonstrated that staff recognised people’s right to choose whether to participate in outings and activities.

During the inspection, we observed people moving around on the top floor independently and choosing where they wanted to sit. This demonstrated that people were able to exercise choice and control over aspects of their daily lives without unnecessary intervention from staff.
 

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 said staff responded promptly when support was requested. One person told us, “If I need help, I press my call bell. They come quite quickly when I press my call bell.” A relative told us, “He presses his call bell to ask the staff to plump his pillows for him. He also presses the call bell when he wants a coffee. They come reasonably quickly when he presses his call bell.”

Staff said they understood how to recognise when people needed support, including where people were unable to communicate verbally. One staff member told us, “I see the residents every day and will realise with how they are behaving if they are behaving differently and I can read their face if they are distressed. I understand the residents very well and can tell when they are distressed. Any new staff will have good shadowing to understand residents, and they can read their care plans.”

During lunchtime we found no one was waiting to be assisted. Staff were available to support people as required. One person had not yet come to lunch although lunch had nearly finished but staff were aware that the person would be late and had held a meal back for them, demonstrating individual mealtime needs were considered.
 

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff.

Staff spoke positively about their experience of working at the service. One staff member told us, “Definitely I feel valued. I’ve been here 5 years as I feel valued.” Another staff member said, “They (people) never want me to go and look forward to me coming in. I have adequate breaks and manageable workload. Some days are so busy, but we have volunteers who will help as well.”

The registered manager described a range of measures to support staff wellbeing. Staff had access to an employer’s assistance programme, and the provider offered sick pay where staff were not well enough to attend work. Staff were encouraged to speak with management if they needed support.

The registered manager had taken steps to improve the staff environment. This included refurbishing the staff room (inviting staff to contribute ideas and suggestions about how they wanted the room to look) and a quiet room was available to staff who needed time away from the working environment.

Staff wellbeing was promoted through regular opportunities to socialise and spend time together. The registered manager held monthly wellbeing days, providing food and opportunities for staff to gather and catch up and staff were encouraged to participate in activities alongside people living at the service.

Staff gave positive feedback about the support available to them and did not raise concerns about excessive workload.