Appletrees 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 inspection we rated this key question requires improvement. At this inspection the rating has changed to good. This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care.

This service scored 65 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

We received some mixed feedback about people being treated with kindness, empathy and compassion. People told us, “The staff are lovely. Some of them don’t care though. It’s just a job to them” and “They are kind and talk to me very nicely. There’s not enough of them and there’s definitely room for improvement”. Staff respected people’s privacy and dignity and relatives and people confirmed this. One person told us, “My dignity and privacy are always protected. They cover me up when they are washing me and close the door”. A relative said, “I always see staff engaging with people, they get down to their level and smile”. We observed staff knocking on doors before entering people’s rooms and asking people if they were ready for their care interventions.

The service’s systems and processes did not always support people to be treated as individuals or make sure people’s care, support and treatment met their needs and preferences. They did not always take account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics. For example, 1 person required staff to support them in a particular way when they became anxious. There was no detailed written information for staff as to what signs and symptoms they should observe which could indicate a deterioration in the person’s mental health. The staff completed communication assessments for people which detailed people’s preferences of communication. People had life stories where information had been gathered by family, friends and staff. Staff we spoke with knew people well. The registered manager had good historical and present knowledge of the people. We observed them interacting and supporting people and staff throughout our inspection.

The provider promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. People and most relatives spoke positively about being given choices and we observed staff offering people daily choices. A person told us, “They (staff) encourage me to be independent, they try to encourage me to walk with my frame too”. One relative shared they would like their family member to be encouraged more with walking as they felt this could be promoted more. We reviewed 1 person’s care plan which evidenced where they chose not to follow best guidance with their healthcare, staff respected their choices to control their own healthcare decisions. We observed people walking around the home, some had mobility aids to support their independence. People were encouraged to take part in a movement session, but their choices were respected when they chose not to participate. Care plans demonstrated what support people needed and what people were able to do for themselves. The registered manager had recently made referrals to the relevant agencies to provide support to people and staff to ensure they are following the Right Care, Right Support, Right Culture” guidance in relation to how to support people with a learning disability. Staff had received the relevant training to support people with a learning disability and Autistic people.

We received mixed views from people and relatives regarding staff responding to people’s immediate needs. People told us there were times when their call bells were not answered, or they were asked to turn them off. One person also told us, “There’s not enough staff on an evening. It takes longer to answer the buzzer. They do answer it but sometimes not quickly enough especially if I need some pain relief”. When people’s clinical needs had changed, we saw evidence this had been shared with the relevant external professionals to seek support. We informed the registered manager of our feedback.

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. All staff told us they felt supported by the registered manager. One staff member told us, “I do feel valued I would like to do the training to be senior carer and have spoken with the registered manager who is encouraging me to develop”. The provider had processes in place to support development of staff, these included staff meetings, supervisions and training.