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, “The manager is really good, not just the staff, [they] foster a calm and caring place for people to call home. They are all very happy” and “Staff are so gentle with [family member] and do things just right.” We observed lots of warm interactions between people and staff which showed people were at ease with and had a good rapport with staff. Staff told us how they upheld people’s dignity when supporting people with personal care. One member of staff said, “We make sure people are well groomed and supported to look good. It is important for people’s dignity.”

The service treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met their needs and preferences. They took account of people’s strengths, abilities and aspirations. Staff knew people’s life histories, backgrounds and their likes, dislikes and personal preferences. This understanding helped staff plan activities that appealed to people’s personal taste and preferences. One relative told us, “[Family member] goes to lots of clubs and classes, chooses what they want to do, staff work within her capacity. [Family member] has a key worker who doesn’t change very often, and they do lots of planning of what things they will be doing together.” During the inspection we saw that staff knew people well and treated them as individuals. Most bedrooms and communal spaces reflected people’s personality and personal interests.

The service promoted people’s independence, so people could learn or retain daily living skills. People’s relatives told us staff enabled them to make their own decisions and encouraged their independence. Comments included, “The staff let [family member] do as much as [they] can, they don’t stop [them] doing anything just not on [their] own” and “[family member] has gained so many skills. They’ve left no stone unturned in terms of life opportunities.” We saw staff supported people to take an active role in their day-to-day lives. One member of staff told us, “People enjoy being independent around the house, we support people to take part in the grocery shopping and preparing meals.” People were supported to engage in paid and voluntary work if they wanted to.

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 signs of distress and took action to mitigate this as much as possible. Comments included, “[Family member] can become distressed but staff manage this well” and “Staff have strategies for responding when [family member] is distressed or unable to control their emotions. Staff are good at anticipating and will ask if [family member] wants to have some quiet time.” We saw staff responding to people in a calm and supportive way. One member of staff told us, “We try as much as possible to avoid anything that triggers. It’s about getting to know people and working in a consistent way.”

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled them to always deliver person-centred care. People were cared for by a staff team who felt appreciated and valued. This had a positive impact on how they supported people. Staff were positive about how the provider was supporting their wellbeing. Comments included, “Managers are very supportive and always available if you need them” and “They really do look after us.” The nominated individual and registered manager told us they were proud that many staff had been working 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.”