Archived: Thornbury Villa

Thornbury Villa is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care for up to 14 older people. The service is based in an period property that has been adapted to meet the needs of the people living there. At the time of the inspection there were 14 people living in the service.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People told us they were very happy living at Thornbury Villa and without exception, everyone told us staff were exceptionally respectful, kind, caring and went out of their way to provide person-centred care. Our observations confirmed this and we saw the atmosphere of the home was one of warmth, happiness and positivity. Staff consistently showed respect, patience and understanding when supporting people.

The providers, management team and staff were passionate about providing a service which was caring, compassionate and reflected the values of the organisation. These were based on an ethos of “Somewhere special enough to call home” which was displayed in the home and was embedded into staffs’ practice. The culture within the home supported a warm and friendly atmosphere.

People, visitors, staff and professionals were overwhelmingly positive about the leadership of the home. They felt the reason for the consistent high quality of service came from the proactive and positive leadership which filtered down to all of the staff. People told us the providers and managers cared about the people living there. A health professional told us, “The staff there are universally caring, compassionate and respectful to the residents. We have patients in many care homes, so it is with a breadth of perspective that I regard the consistent, effective and timely care at Thornbury Villa to be of exceptional standard.”

We received consistent highly positive feedback and praise from health and social care professionals with recent involvement with the service. They told us staff were pro-active in managing people's health and social care needs in a person-centred way.

People received personalised care and support specific to their needs and preferences. There was an excellent understanding of seeing each person as an individual, with their own social and cultural diversity, values and beliefs. Staff received training in equality and diversity to ensure the key values of kindness, respect, compassion, dignity in care and empowerment were present in people's day to day care.

Thornbury Villa worked in a person-centred way to find innovative and individual approaches to meet people's communication needs and people were enabled to communicate in ways which were meaningful for them. Staff used their knowledge of people to engage with them effectively and were working all the time to remove barriers to communication.

People were supported to continually grow and achieve their goals and aspirations. Staff encouraged a 'nothing is impossible' attitude to people's goals and aspirations and creatively supported people to develop in a way that really enriched their lives.

There was a strong emphasis at the home on the importance of supporting people to maintain a healthy and balanced diet. Staff were extremely proactive in ensuring people's nutrition and hydration needs were met. They worked creatively to help improve care in this area and provide positive health outcomes for people.

The provider and managers were very proactive in taking every opportunity to facilitate staffs learning and development to benefit the people living in the home. For example, they held workshops and training sessions with staff to improve nutrition, hydration and oral care. Staff were empowered to make improvements at the home that had a positive impact on the people living there.

People benefitted from a full programme of activities taking place in the home, such as, visits from entertainers. Group activities were offered to those who wanted to participate, such as quizzes, film afternoons and baking. People told us they thoroughly enjoyed their social life and the activities at Thornbury Villa.

People receiving end of life care were treated with care and compassion and staff were highly motivated to provide high standards of end of life care. The management team and staff were very passionate about ensuring people and their loved ones, experienced positive end of life care that was delivered with sensitivity. Health professionals commended the end of life care that people had received at Thornbury Villa. One healthcare professional told us, “I recently had an end of life patient and the care staff gave to the resident and her family was superb, they were responsive to her needs and caring and supportive to family members.”

People felt safe living at the home. Staff understood the need to protect people from harm and knew what action they should take if they had any concerns. Staffing levels ensured that people received the support they required to keep them safe. Recruitment procedures protected people from receiving unsafe care from care staff unsuited to the job.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good. (published 18 May 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

At the last inspection, the service was rated Good overall.

At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

Why the service is rated good:

People remained safe at the service. People received their medicines as prescribed. People and staff told us there were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs. Risk assessments were completed to enable people to retain their independence and receive care with minimum risk to themselves or others. One person said; “I do indeed feel safe and well looked after here.”

People continued to receive care from staff who had the skills and knowledge required to effectively support them. Staff were well trained and competent. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People's healthcare needs were monitored by the staff and people had access to healthcare professionals according to their individual needs.

People all agreed and said the staff were very caring. We observed staff being patient and kind. There was a calm and cheerful atmosphere in the service. People's privacy was respected. People where possible, or their representatives, were involved in decisions about the care and support people received.

The service remained responsive to people's individual needs. Care and support was personalised for individuals which ensured they were able to make choices about their day to day lives. Complaints were fully investigated and responded to.

People were assisted to take part in a wide range of activities according to their individual interests. Trips out were also planned for people.

The service continued to be well led. Staff told us the registered manager, who was also the registered provider, was very approachable. The registered manager was supported by a manager who oversaw the care of the service. The registered manager sought people's views to make sure people were at the heart of any changes within the home. The registered manager had monitoring systems which enabled them to identify good practices and areas of improvement.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

We saw people's privacy and dignity being respected at all times. We saw and heard staff speak to people in a way that demonstrated a good understanding by staff of people's choices and preferences. One person said, 'I can stay in my room or go into the lounge, it's my choice'. The visiting professional said, 'They (the staff) have been great with one person who has been very unwell recently'.

Staff we spoke with were clear about the actions they would take should they have any concerns about people's welfare.

We looked at care records for three people. We spoke to staff about the care given, looked at records relating to them, met with them and their relatives and observed staff working with them.

We saw that people's care records described their needs and how those needs were met. We saw that people's mental capacity had been taken into consideration when needed to determine whether they were able to make particular decisions about their lives.

The staff working in the home confirmed they were fully supported with regular training and supervisions. One staff member said, 'The owners are always available to discuss things'.

We found all records kept securely and were regularly updated and audited.

We saw people living in the home being involved in many decisions about how the home was run, including being involved in interviewing new staff and being asked about staff's performance for the completion of their appraisals.

We saw people's privacy and dignity were respected and staff were helpful. Comments from people who lived in the care home included "Top Marks'. One survey returned by a professional said 'Very caring (home), staff always happy to help and keep me informed'.

We saw and heard staff speak to people in a way that demonstrated a good understanding of people's choices and preferences. We looked in detail at the care three people received. We spoke to staff about the care given, looked at records related to them, met with them, and observed staff working with them. We saw that the staff had a good understanding of people's individual needs and that they were kind and respectful. We observed that staff took time to work at people's own pace.

We observed that people were supported to make decisions about their lives and be as independent as possible. We saw that people's care records described their needs and how those needs were met.