Cary Brook

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

Staff always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

People and relatives were very complimentary about care staff. They told us staff were kind, caring, friendly and patient and promoted their dignity and privacy when providing care. A relative said, “All the staff are wonderful, really kind and caring.” Another relative told us, “The staff are always welcoming and helpful, and the general atmosphere is happy, caring and busy.”

Relationships between staff, people and relatives were trusting and strong. Staff knew people well. A staff member said, “I really like the residents here. We do a good job supporting them.” We saw very kind, considerate interactions between people and staff. Staff and people spoke with each other with kindness and respect.

Staff 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’s care plans included details about what was important to each person. This ranged from preferred gender of care staff, how they wished to be addressed to their faith or spiritual beliefs and their culture. These were all known to staff. We particularly noted many people in the home preferred to use names which were not their given names at birth. All staff knew and respected this.

Staff told us about the importance of treating people as individuals. Staff focused on person-centred care, respect for each individual and the importance of providing emotional support. Staff spoken with knew people well and were able to give examples of how each person liked to be assisted. One staff member said, “Some people are female only support. I work on both floors so know people well."

Staff promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care and wellbeing. Likes and dislikes were recorded in people's care plans. There were a range of trips, activities and events provided for people and their family members.

People were supported to celebrate special events such as birthdays, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. A relative told us, “We had a birthday recently and they supported the family to celebrate by decorating a small area for us to meet in as a family and, while we provided some special eats, they also did a birthday cake for dad too.” The home had a diverse care team and had held a ‘Multicultural Day’ to celebrate different staff cultures, including food, dress, music, and dancing.

There were 3 activity co-ordinators who worked in the home to organise and run the activity programme. This was wide ranging, including people going out on trips and outside entertainers coming into the home. People could choose to join in or not; there was no pressure to do so. A relative said, “Staff and resident interaction is very good and plenty of activities are provided.”

There had been trips out of the home so people could go into the town, out to the coast, to garden centres and other local places of interest. People were involved in craft sessions, baking, flower arranging, and celebrating annual events such as saint’s days, Easter, Halloween, and Christmas. One person at the home had won the provider’s Christmas card competition as their design has been chosen for this year. One member of staff said, “Activities are good. We did things like making cupcakes. Trips out. Watching movies. We do a lot of things.”

In addition to group activities, activity staff spent time 1 to 1 with people in their own rooms. They ensured activities were adapted for people who could not leave their rooms, including the use of portable technology.

Cary Brook was a well-established home in the town. Staff ensured people were able to take part in community events, such as the scarecrow making event for ‘Cary in Bloom’ and held events open to local people such as the home’s open day and ‘Christmas Fayre’ which was being held in late November.

Staff 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 were knowledgeable about each person.

Staff knew who to contact when people needed urgent help or support or to report a concern. During our visits we saw staff responded to people promptly when they required care, support, or reassurance. This led to a calm, relaxed and homely atmosphere.

Relatives told us staff ensured people received the care they needed and they were kept informed. One relative said, “The staff have contacted the family whenever there have been incidents, including to inform us they had rung 111 when they had a medical concern."

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

The registered manager, deputy manager and senior team cared about the wellbeing of staff and supported them in caring ways. Staff told us they felt respected and valued at work by managers and colleagues. Staff received both formal and informal support and said they were able to raise anything at any time with managers or senior staff. We had many positive comments from staff which included, “I would recommend this as a place to work. People are kind to one another” and “I like the staff here; they are supportive and caring. People will support me if I need it.” Every staff member we spoke with recommended Cary Brook as a good place to work.

The provider held their own internal annual staff awards ceremony. The deputy manager had won the ‘Leadership of The Year Award.’ This is for a leader who ‘inspires, motivates, and supports colleagues.'