Burnham Lodge

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 Outstanding.

This meant people were truly respected and valued as individuals; and empowered as partners in their care in an exceptional service.

This service scored 100 (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.

We observed staff to be exceptionally kind and caring, and extended this respectful and compassionate approach to people’s visitors, colleagues and professionals from other organisations, contributing to a positive and collaborative environment. All visitors to the service were offered meals and encouraged to eat with people living at the home.

We observed staff to always respect people’s privacy and their dignity, for example, closing bedroom doors when carrying out personal care, and discreetly asking for consent to support people if they needed help.

Staff were exceptionally compassionate and responded to people’s distress immediately with care and empathy. Staff and management provided gentle, reassuring embraces with people’s permission when they required comfort. Management knew people well, and we observed people to regularly visit them in office spaces. This meant people were able to always access kind and caring support.

People told us, “It’s 5 star, they’re all heroes in my eyes”, “[Staff] are very generous in heart and spirit, they’ll do anything for you”, and “I can ask them to help me with anything, they are lovely.”

Relatives gave consistently positive feedback. Comments included, “[Person] needs a lot of prompting and they’re very kind and patient with [them]. They’re always respectful of [person] and encourage [them]”, “The staff are kind and have a high level of compassion; they are very good at listening and they’re very patient”, and “They’re always respectful when they give [them] bed baths and other personal care.” An external professional also echoed people’s positive feedback, and told us, “I always found staff helpful and friendly.”

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.

Staff demonstrated a good knowledge of the human rights act and their duty to consider people’s characteristics. Staff respected people’s relationships, including their sexuality. People were supported to personalise their rooms accordingly, grounded in an understanding of each person’s identity, history and preferences. Staff knew people well, drawing on detailed knowledge of life stories, routines, likes and dislikes to deliver care that felt familiar, respectful and tailored. People’s bedroom doors all had pictures that related to their likes to assist staff.

The home had dedicated activity coordinators who arranged external opportunities for people who had important life interests, for example, a person was supported to attend a tour of their previous place of work, and another person was supported to attend a sporting activity that they had once played in themselves. Records evidenced that people were supported with their religious beliefs, including a regular church service, and celebrating religious events such as Diwali.

The service celebrated people’s birthdays, including staff birthdays. Activity coordinators were genuinely engaged in people’s day-to-day enjoyment of living at the service and made sure that individuals felt heard and supported in doing what mattered to them. People and their relatives told us, “They always ask me would I like to go in and see them sing and other things but I’m happy to be in here”, and “They are going to give [person] a raised bed so that [they] can do some gardening.”

This meant people’s strengths were respected, and their care and activities were tailored to them as individuals.

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

We observed people expressing their preferences and staff responding to both verbal and non-verbal cues supporting peoples’ control over their day-to-day choices. We saw people had a choice of different communal areas, offering people a choice of environment and activities. People had the choice to go out into the gardens, as well as their own rooms. Staff told us, “I support independence by encouraging [people] to do as much as they can for themselves, offering assistance only where needed, and using appropriate aids or adaptations to help them remain as independent as possible.”

People consistently felt heard and valued when expressing their preferences, whether related to food, routines or daily activities. This had a meaningful impact on their day‑to‑day wellbeing, as staff actively responded to people’s choices and built support around what mattered most to them.

A relative shared their experience of their loved one encouraged to have choice and be in control when they attended a funeral. They told us, “[Staff] were especially helpful with [person] getting to my [relative’s] funeral. [Staff] ensured [person] was washed and dressed, had [their] medications and an early lunch so that [they] were on time. The day before, two carers had spent quite a lot of time hoisting [them] in and out of bed so [they] could try on different clothes.”

We observed staff supporting a person to order their favourite takeaway meal delivered to the home. The person told us this was a regular occurrence, and staff knew the person’s order from memory. We observed the person eating with the staff team at their request.

The service had assistive equipment available to support independence, including a Virtual Reality (VR) headset that could be used by everyone including people with sensory impairments. This has been used to assist people to achieve “their dream list” even if they are unable to access the community. For example, one person has been able to use the VR to play football with their favourite team. Other people have been able to play games, sit around campfires, and interact with people living in other services owned by the provider.This meant people were empowered to maintain autonomy and enjoyment in their lives.

The provider was exceptional in how they 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.

Care records guided staff to use personalised techniques to provide people comfort and de-escalate distress. Staff told us of examples where they had responded to people’s distress, providing distraction, ensuring that behavioural tools were used to support referrals to professionals for additional help. Staff were able to demonstrate a knowledge of people’s triggers and how to mitigate them, for example, ensuring people were able to sit in their favourite seats in communal areas.

We observed a person to be upset and confused on the day of our inspection. Staff offered gentle support, guiding them to a quiet space and speaking with them calmly. With the person’s permission, staff used their mobile phone to contact a family member for reassurance. The individual felt comfortable enough to accept support back to their room.

We saw staff comforting another person when they were distressed, as they felt they could not mobilise safely, and did not want their belongings to be out of their sight. Staff carefully kept the person’s belongings within view while assisting them to transfer using their equipment and provided reassurance that they would not go missing.

A relative commented that they valued how staff treated people with kindness and acceptance. We observed staff supporting a person to gently place their doll within their sight to provide them reassurance during mealtimes. Relatives told us when staff responded to people’s needs, “They’re very patient and very good at listening.”

This meant that people lived in a calm, caring environment with immediate and discreet support when they needed it.

The provider always cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and was exceptional at supporting and enabling staff to always deliver person-centred care.

Staff were encouraged to take breaks and look after their health. All staff told us they felt well supported and listened to by the management team. Staff stated that their workload was manageable, and they did not feel understaffed.

The provider had a range of supportive mechanisms including an employee assistance programme, planned time off, regular supervision with management. The provider offered staff the opportunity for extended leave to ensure that staff who had close family abroad could maintain their relationships. The provider regularly asked staff for their feedback in staff surveys.

The provider utilised multiple methods of recognition for staff, including recorded manager feedback and staff awards. During the inspection period, the service informed us that staff had been nominated for various aspects of care that they had delivered, and that the service’s head chef had won “Chef of the Year.”

Staff told us, “If you had phoned me a year ago, I was on the verge of leaving. However, the new registered manager started, and I could see the home had so much potential, so I stayed”, and “Burnham Lodge is a good place to work, I think we work together very well from kitchen, to domestic, management, and maintenance, alongside nursing staff.”

Staff also told us, “It is a great place to work”, and “There is a strong sense of teamwork, and everyone communicates effectively to ensure [people] receive the best care.”