Bells Piece - Care Home Learning Disabilities

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 65 (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.

People and their relatives told us staff were kind and respectful in their approach. One person told us, “I like all the staff, we’re all friends.” One relative told us, “The staff are very lovely and respectful. I cannot say anything negative about them. They treat people with kindness and make the place feel like a home.”

We observed there was a warm and friendly atmosphere throughout the service. People appeared at ease in the company of staff and chatted easily about their day and what they had been doing. People and staff clearly knew each other well, shared jokes and told us about the things they did together.

The provider treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met their needs and preferences. They took into account people’s strengths, abilities, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

Relatives told us they felt staff understood their family members’ needs. One relative told us, “They are kind and caring. I’ve never seen or heard anything else. [Family member] is being treated as an individual.”

Staff were aware of people’s preferences, family backgrounds, life histories and experiences. This had helped people and staff build trusting relationships with people where they felt comfortable in expressing themselves. Whilst the manager acknowledged additional work was needed in reviewing people’s goals and aspirations, they told us they were proud of the way staff knew people and the relationships they had built. They told us, “For me that’s the main starting point, to have a caring and motivated staff team who know the residents for who they are.”

The provider did not always promote people’s independence, so people did not always know their rights and have choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

We received mixed responses from relatives regarding the support their family members received to promote their independence and be supported to pursue their interests. One relative told us, “There’s swimming and a social club, going out on outings and walks. There are some fabulous staff there.” However, other relatives told us that whilst people were supported to go out and take part in groups and crafts, there was a lack of structure around this, with some families planning things for their relatives to do with staff.

During our visit, we observed people were generally busy and had a range of things they were going out to do. However, it was not clear how these things were planned, and people did not have activity plans in place to show their preferences and how they wanted to spend their time. Whilst staff knew people well, this lack of structure made it difficult to track people’s options and ensure they were being offered the opportunities they wanted.

People were supported to be independent around their home in areas such as personal care, cleaning their rooms and doing laundry. In addition, some people had been supported to go to the local village independently. However, in other areas, people’s independence with tasks such as cleaning, personal menu planning and shopping was not always fully considered. We observed in the evening that people were encouraged to clear away and wash up after their meal, but were not involved in cooking or helping with meal preparation.

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.

One person told us they had recently fallen and sustained an injury. We observed staff had responded appropriately and ensured the person received health support, and the guidance provided was being followed. They had ensured the environment was adapted for the person and were making a decision together regarding how they could continue to do some of the things they enjoyed during their recovery.

Staff responded positively when people said or indicated they needed support. They recognised where people required reassurance regarding what they were doing and offered people options to minimise their anxiety. Staff worked well together to ensure there was always someone accessible should people need support.

The provider did not always care about and promote the wellbeing of their staff. They did not always support or enable staff to deliver person-centred care.

Staff told us they did not always feel the provider cared about their well-being. One staff member told us, I don’t feel the company sees everything we do. They don’t appreciate us and how much we do to care for the residents.” A second staff member told us, “The senior managers have views about how they want things to be done but they don’t always work for the people here. We try not to let it affect them [people], but it’s stressful for staff.”

The manager told us they were aware that staff had been through a difficult period due to the number of managers and the uncertainty around this. They told us they were trying to encourage a more trusting relationship with staff by holding regular staff meetings and providing more consistency within the management structure.

As an organisation, the provider ensured staff had access to information on employee well-being from the Colleague Support Network. This listed a n of resources and ways to access support. In addition, staff had access to an employee support line which offered confidential counselling and support to staff.