Access for Living

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 service involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect. At our last inspection 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 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 service treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. People, their relatives and external professionals were positive about the kind and caring approach taken by managers and staff. Comments from people included, “I believe the staff are kind and caring. When I see [family member] and the staff together there is always a nice atmosphere and a good rapport” and “The staff are kind and caring. They really are fantastic.” Staff were passionate about delivering kind and compassionate care. One member of staff told us, “I really enjoy my job. It gives me great satisfaction to give people the care they deserve.”

The service treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care and support met their needs and preferences. They took account of people’s strengths, abilities and aspirations. Staff knew people’s life histories, backgrounds, likes, dislikes and personal preferences. This understanding helped staff plan activities that appealed to people’s personal taste and preferences. For example, one person was supported to have an annual holiday with staff support. Their relative told us, “Being able to go on holiday is so important for [family member] as they see their friends and visit familiar places and relive happy memories from their past.” Staff were confident about treating people as individuals and supporting people to access the local community. Comments included, “As a caregiver I focus on the individual” and “I support people to access all sorts of local resources such as adult education, social clubs, library, cinema, sport or music venues and restaurants.”

The service promoted people’s independence, so people could learn or retain daily living skills and remain independent as long as possible. People’s relatives told us staff encouraged their independence. Comments included, “I am amazed at how long [family member] has been able to retain their independence. A lot of that is down to the good support they get.” There was detailed guidance in place to ensure staff knew what people could do for themselves. Staff spoke positively about supporting people to stay independent. One member of staff told us, “We try to support people to be as independent as possible. One person is losing their mobility so we try to encourage them to do the exercises set by the physiotherapist to help them stay as mobile as they can. They are not always keen to do it but we gently encourage.”

Staff responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. The provider worked with psychologists to develop positive behavioral support plans if people needed these. Relatives of people told us staff were good at recognising potential distress. One family member told us “Staff really know [family member’s] communication well. If you don’t know the signs you might miss something.” Staff recorded in people’s daily notes when people were distressed or emotional and recorded the actions they took to alleviate this.

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled them to always deliver person-centred care. People were supported by a staff team who felt appreciated and valued, which had a positive impact on how they supported people. There were systems and processes in place to ensure lone working staff could access support and guidance whenever they needed. Staff were positive about how the provider was supporting their wellbeing. Comments included, “I do think Access for Living ensure staff wellbeing is considered” and “Access for living provide a high level of care in a very professional way and the senior managers are always here for the service users and the staff.” The nominated individual and registered manager were proud that many people had been working for the provider for many years. They told us, “Our longest serving worker has been with us for over 30 years, and we have several workers who have been here over 20 years each. We feel this speaks volumes about how our staff feel about working for us.”