The Bungalow

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 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.
We observed staff treating people with kindness and dignity throughout our visits. Staff knew people well and knew how to ensure their emotional wellbeing was always considered when providing support. Staff were enthusiastic about sharing the work they were completing with people and their families to create a life story and a written account of their personal history.
 

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 were actively involved in developing their care plans, which were reviewed and updated regularly to reflect changes in their needs or wishes. Staff understood each person’s preferences and recognised people’s strengths; these were valued as part of everyday routines.
 

The provider promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights. However, people did not always have choice and control.
For example, only one member of staff was available each evening to support 3 people in the home, meaning people were not always able to make spontaneous decisions to access the community during the evening and sometimes at weekends. Staff explained to us people enjoyed relaxing at home in the evening, and additional staffing could be arranged for a specific planned activity, however, this limited people’s choice and control over when they could go out. This was an area for further development to better reflect a Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture approach. The registered manager and team leader said they would explore ideas around having more staff available during these times and discuss this with people.

In other areas, staff promoted people’s independence through involvement in household tasks, preparing food and drink and choosing activities they enjoyed. Individual risk assessments enabled one person to wander freely within the outdoor area around the home and other close by properties, they were able to chat to other people living and working there. Through this activity, social relationships were formed and this developed into a regular social activity either in the home or out in the community for a meal. The person told us, they enjoyed inviting friends for coffee or to share a meal, it was clearly very important to them and the provider had managed the risk well.
 

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 understood when people were displaying signs of emotional distress and how to react. Care plans contained specific detail of how staff should use proactive approaches to minimise impact of events on people’s wellbeing. For example, when we were visiting, staff explained we should give people a specific time to conclude the visit, so people knew what to expect and minimise any anxiety.
 

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.
For example, the registered manager told us staff had the opportunity to develop their skills and enhance their career through a personal development plan and by taking on more responsibility. There was an annual staff awards ceremony where staff were given awards under different categories, anyone could be nominated and short listed.