Ardour Healthcare Services 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. This is the first assessment for this service.

This key question has been rated good. This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care.

This service scored 75 (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, compassion and dignity. They felt listened to and told us that staff understood them, including their preferences, wishes, personal histories and backgrounds. People told us staff responded to their needs promptly. People’s comments about staff included, "They are so kind, they are now my family"; "Staff are caring and really good with [relative] they are always smiling and talking about visits fondly.”

Care staff spoke about people with kindness and compassion. Leaders told us they promoted kindness, compassion and dignity by ensuring scrutiny when recruiting staff and ensuring the right staff were employed. Leaders completed spot checks to ensure all staff provided good quality, compassionate care. They told us any practise that was not in line with the values of kindness and compassion was challenged.

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 told us they felt staff knew and understood them. People said staff asked them about their preferences and recorded them in the care plans. Assessments of need included questions about their personal, cultural, social and religious needs.

Leaders told us they treated all people as individuals holistically, and how they tried to ensure that people's choices were accommodated. For example, when it comes to preferences of staff gender or calls times.

Staff knew people well and this included having a good awareness of their personal, cultural, social and religious needs. This helped staff when communicating with people, for example having meaningful things to talk about.

In line with the ‘right support, right care, right culture’ guidance, the service ensured staff were provided with accessible communication training to ensure staff had the skillset to adapt communication styles to the differing needs and communication styles of those using the service.

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

People had choice and control over their own care and staff encouraged them to make their own decisions and promoted independence. For example, engaging people in doing tasks around the house or doing as much as possible for themselves.

Staff told us they encouraged people to remain independent encouraging them to do what they could, when supporting them with personal care, by encouraging people to do as much for themselves as possible. People told us staff knew about their needs and preferences.

Leaders supported people to obtain appropriate equipment to support and maximise people’s independence. For example, one person was supported to access the correct size and quantity of continence pads, whilst others were provided with consistent verbal prompts to use the toilet, as per their needs and care plan.

People's needs were described in their care plans. Where support with access to the community and relatives was part of a person’s care package this was provided. The provider's polices governed people's rights in making choices and decisions. Many people supported by Ardour Healthcare Services Ltd, required support with accessing the community for leisure activity. Preferences for community access was documented in care plans and people were support to activities of their choice, such as bowling, swimming and visiting café’s.

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 felt listened to and understood by staff. They felt staff were good at supporting and comforting them when they did not feel well. Staff could quickly identify changes to people's well-being because they knew people well. When people needed urgent help, staff felt confident to support them. Staff told us about examples of when health had clearly declined due to changes in usual presentation and professional medical support was sought immediately.

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

Staff felt well supported and valued by the management. Staff comments included, "I definitely feel very supported by management.”

Staff gave us examples of how their personal circumstances were taken into account by the management when they needed to take some time off or change their working patterns. Staff stated the registered manager was very supportive and took time to listen to them one to one when they were experiencing any hardships.

There were systems in place such as real time tracking through web-based navigation mapping for travel time, to ensure stress was reduced for staff wherever possible and that they were allocated the correct time to complete their role calmy and effectively.