Lyngate Care Home

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 70 (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 spoke positively about their care and support and the staff who provided this. One person stated, “The carers are very kind and caring”. A relative told us, “The carers absolutely love the people here. I come a lot and I’ve seen warts and all, but they just love the people, everyone is so nice. They know everyone so well and the residents know them. They are the salt of the earth.”

During our site visits we found staff members to be helpful, welcoming and friendly and there was a calm atmosphere around the whole home. Care staff displayed a patient and caring approach when supporting people. It was noticeable how busy staff were, which limited the amount of interaction they could engage in with people. However, they did their upmost to ensure needs were met and they maintained people’s dignity and privacy.

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’s care records included a gender, sexuality and cultural identity form, which provided information on people’s, wishes and choices to ensure the home respected people’s gender identity, choice of pronouns, sexual orientation, as well as any other cultural and religious needs they may have. Staff had received equality and diversity training, which had improved cultural awareness and reduced unconscious bias.

The home supported a person who was transgender. Staff ensured this person’s individual needs and preferences were met, to ensure they could live the life they wanted.

People were supported to observe religious holidays, attend places of worship, and access culturally appropriate food and activities.

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

People told us staff supported them to maintain their independence; by ensuring they completed tasks they were able to. One person said, “I can dress and shower myself, if I need anything I just have to ask.” Another person stated, “I do everything for myself.”

One person enjoyed helping out, in order to keep busy. They told us, “The kitchen staff are really lovely, and they gave me a little job stacking the plates etc, which I like to do. I like to help them out.”

There were no restrictions on visiting, with people having ongoing access to family and friends. Some people and relatives we spoke with commented on the lack of private or quieter places to meet. Currently, they could either meet in people’s bedrooms, or the lounge, which was often busy and noisy. The home used to have a quieter lounge; however, this had been converted into an additional bedroom.

Mixed feedback was provided by people and relatives about activity provision. The home did not currently have a dedicated activities coordinator, with staff responsible for completing activities when possible. People told us some activities took place, but they would like more things to do during the week. One person stated, “In the evening, I tend to go to my room and watch my TV but during the day I stay downstairs with the others. They do activities once a week or so, these are done by the carers.” Another person said, “On a Friday morning, we go to the local church where they have a coffee morning, it’s so lovely there and the ladies there are so kind. The staff try to do activities if and when they can”. A relative told us, “I visit regularly and this is the first time I have seen activities being done in the morning. They say relative joins in sometimes but I’m not sure.”

We observed some activities being completed during our site visits. However, we neither saw, nor were provided with an activities schedule, which explained what was planned for each day. We also saw limited records of activity completion had been kept, to evidence what was being done.

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.

Observations of care during the assessment process, showed people’s requests for help, either made verbally or via call bells were responded to as soon as possible. Staff were observed providing reassurance to people as and when required.

To ensure staff were responding timely to requests for help, periodically the registered manager completed spot checks, by pressing a random person’s call bell, and timing how long it took staff to respond.

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

The provider told us they had improved staff retention by offering flexible working patterns, wellbeing support, and recognition of good practice including a recent 'employee of the month' award.

Staff told us their wellbeing was considered, they were supported in their roles, and felt the home was a good place to work, though none were able to confirm if the provider had any specific initiatives in place around wellbeing.