Alma Lodge 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.

The atmosphere in the home was welcoming, and friendly. People felt they were treated with kindness, compassion and dignity in their day-to-day care and support. People and their relatives told us, “Nice staff, always helpful and kind,” and “Brilliant, can’t fault them.”

Health professionals told us that the staff knew people well and were always polite. One said, “I don’t have any concerns really, I think people need more mental activity, I am not sure that a lot goes on.”

Our observations told us staff were respectful and kind when assisting people with lunch or moving around the home. The mealtimes were enjoyed by people, and people chose what time they had breakfast, and ate their meals where they wanted to. Staff sat beside people when chatting so they had good eye contact and could be heard easily and we saw staff sitting with staff when they became anxious.

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 told us they considered people’s lifestyle choices and respected those choices. One staff member said, “They make choices, not always the best choices, but it is their choice.”

We saw that staff knew people and their life histories very well and understood their likes and dislikes. However as already mentioned in safe and effective, not everybody had a current care plan.

The provider promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.
People were supported to maintain relationships with people who were important to them. Visitors were welcomed and relatives confirmed they were able to visit their loved ones at any time.
Staff told us they offered people choices of drinks and meals, asked where they would like to spend their time, and informed people when activities were taking place. One staff member said, “We promote independence, we involve family members as well.”
People were encouraged and supported to do as much as they could for themselves, to maintain and develop their independent living skills. One person was now cooking with support and supervision from his key worker. He proudly told us, he had cooked a shepherd’s pie for everyone.

The care plans which were in place reflected people's choices and preferences and information of how staff can support people to make informed choices. For example, using written aids or a family member/advocate. These care records reflected people’s communication needs so staff understood how to provide people with information and how people communicated their choices and preferences.

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.
Relatives told us, “They seem to respond quickly when my relatives’ been poorly, and they are good about they keep us informed.”
People all had access to a call bell, but during our visits, these were not used. No concerns were mentioned by people during our visits but following our visit we did receive a concern regarding call bell response at night. This has been referred to the safeguarding team.

Whilst the provider told us they promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care, there were barriers for staff to do this consistently. For example, care staff did the cooking, cleaning, laundry and personal care, which meant there was little time to spend with people, apart from the tasks. Concerns had also been raised about the environment, the lift and cleanliness of the home. Feedback gathered during the assessment, told us that staff did not have the time to support people as they would like to, mornings were especially challenging, and it could be very busy in evening as there was only one staff member on duty from 6pm to 8 pm.