Ontra Healthcare

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• 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.

This is the first assessment for this service. This key question has been rated 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 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.

Staff gave examples of how they demonstrated a caring approach and ensured people’s dignity was upheld. One staff member told us, “When you are assisting someone with personal care, it’s very important you close doors for privacy. If I’m supporting someone to wash their lower half, I would cover their top half for privacy. I greet people and ask what they would like me to do. I ask if it’s ok for me to do something before I do it. I don’t just come in and impose things on them; I need to make sure they are comfortable with what I’m doing.”

One person told us, “Staff listen and are kind and respectful.”

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.

Care plans contained details on people’s background, interests, culture, abilities and preferences which staff clearly understood. One person’s care plan contained clear guidance for staff on how they wished to be supported to maintain a relationship that was important to them. This included details about when and where they met, as well as the support required to facilitate these interactions. This ensured staff understood what was important to the person and how to support this safely. As a result, the person was able to maintain a meaningful and valued relationship.

Staff knew people well and were able to give examples of how they knew and respected people’s preferences. One staff member told us, “1 person I support loves eating out.We plan our outings to places they feel comfortable in.”

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

Senior leaders and staff spoke passionately about the importance of promoting and encouraging people’s independence. Staff told us, “We involve people in tasks and we do things together, as it’s important people don’t lose their independence,” and “If a person is able to hoover their own house, we support them to do this rather than do it for them. We are there to support but not do things for people when they are able to do it. We allow people to do what they can for themselves.”

One staff member told us when they started employment with the provider, the registered manager explained the importance of promoting people’s independence and helped them understand that doing everything for a person is not always helping them. This meant staff had a good understanding of why it was important to promote independence.

People were encouraged to make choices about their day to day lives. For example, one staff member told us, “If someone wants to go shopping, we ask them which shop they want to go to, not just take them to the closest one. The person makes a choice of which shop, and they write their own shopping list, if they can’t write, we support them to do this. They choose where they want to go out, we listen to them, it’s not about the distance of where we go, it’s about where they want to go.”

People were supported to access the community and care plans contained guidance for staff on the support that was required. For example, 2 people regularly attended a day centre. Their care plans contained guidance for staff on the support they required in the morning to ensure they were ready on time, the support required to use public transport and any items they needed to take with them. This meant people were supported to maintain their social networks.

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.

Staff received training and support on how to help people during times of distress, for example, staff completed non-abusive psychological and physical intervention (NAPPI) training and positive behaviour support training.

People’s care plans contained clear guidance for staff on how to support people in times of distress. For example, guidance was available on potential triggers for behaviours of distress, what helps to support that person to have a good day, and what method of communication theyprefer staff to use. This meant staff were able to act appropriately to provide reassurance and comfort.

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

Staff told us they felt supported by the registered manager and other senior leaders. One staff member we spoke with told us, “I feel supported. If I have a concern about a person, the manager or the team leader will come and provide additional support. If I’m not well, they arrange cover quickly, I don’t feel stressed when I’m at work. I know if I have any issues I can bring them up.”

Another staff member told us, “Management regularly checks on my wellbeing and asks if I am comfortable carrying out certain tasks. For example, after an incident, management checked on me to see if I was okay and whether I needed any counselling or time off.” This meant staff felt supported in their roles and felt valued as part of the team.

The provider completed staff surveys, which gave staff an opportunity to provide feedback and suggest ways to improve the service. However, the registered manager told us there had been a low uptake in responses and they were committed to increasing response rates.