Alison 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 80 (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 young people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity.
Staff had training in relation to dignity in care and respected people’s privacy, dignity and supported their independence. One staff member said, “[Young people] are treated with a lot of respect, which I like. I didn't want to go into a clinical environment. I am happy that this place is smaller and [young] people get the freedom to be private, which is great.”
Young people provided positive feedback to the provider about their experience of the staff, and described them as kind and caring. One young person said, “[Staff] have always been there to listen and support me through hard times and good times. The staff are so understanding and do not judge me…” A healthcare professional said, “I feel this service is very caring and support their young persons as best they can and are always striving to find new ways to support.” Another healthcare professional said, “It has been noticeable from the staff I have been in contact with of the service culture of compassion and care.”

The provider treated young people as individuals and was exceptional in how they made sure young people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. The provider took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.
Staff knew young people well and understood their likes and dislikes. People’s care plans were up to date, highly personalised and contained detailed information about their strengths, challenges likes and dislikes, and how they preferred staff to meet their care needs and wishes. These were updated regularly and when young people’s needs changed. The deputy manager told us, “Through my own interactions and staff interactions we make sure that young people feel valued. Quite often the young people will read or write their own diary entries. This will express their personality and viewpoint. There is a lot of active listening here.”
One young person said, “I have achieved so many things at Alison House…If you’d have told me [before] that I would [have achieved this] I would have laughed…This would never have happened if I didn’t have the Alison House team.”
Young people were supported to live a life of their choosing and staff helped them to achieve their aspirations. One young person had been supported to care for a pet which had a positive impact on their life.

The provider promoted young people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.
Young people were supported to be as independent as they were able to be and engaged in a range of social activities. Care plans stated what young people could do for themselves and demonstrated that young people had choice and control over their care. A healthcare professional said, “The service offers a structured environment and works to promote independence, emotional regulation, and positive routines.”

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.
Staff responded to young people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern, or distress. Physical restraint was used as the least restrictive option and positive behaviour care plans provided a person centred framework for supporting young people with behaviours of distress. Staff completed training with a certified training provider to respond positively to behaviours of concern. One healthcare professional said, “[Staff] provide calm, low-arousal responses to distress, and seeks to understand the underlying need rather than focusing solely on behaviour.”
The registered manager understood their responsibilities in ensuring people’s immediate needs were responded to. They had systems and processes in place to support this and had oversight of young people’s needs.

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.
Staff received regular supervision where they could raise any issues or concerns, they had. The registered manager said, “It's the retention and making sure it's a good place to work. We have just brought in [a new incentive scheme] and we have started to do quarterly [social] meet ups…We want staff to know that they are appreciated, and we are really proud of them.” The provider told us, “We continue to…think about things we can do to better support our staff. We had a board meeting last week where we spoke about how to get the best from the workforce. We continue to look at initiatives and…also look at what other industries are doing for their staff.”