Sharon and Glen Arnott - 32 Beamont Way

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 outstanding. At this assessment the rating has remained outstanding. This meant people were truly respected and valued as individuals; and empowered as partners in their care in an exceptional service.

This service scored 90 (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 was exceptional at treating people with kindness, empathy and compassion and in how they respected people’s privacy and dignity. Staff always treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect. We saw staff supporting people with kindness and compassion.

People were consistently involved in making decisions about all aspects of their lives and the service. Staff told us and demonstrated their role was to support people to do what they wanted at all times. We consistently observed staff asking people what they wanted to do and when, care was being delivered in a collaborative way. Staff had detailed information on people’s likes and dislikes and demonstrated an understanding of people’s communication needs.

People were listened to and involved in all decision making. We observed staff checking with people what their wishes were and all interactions were caring.

People told us staff were kind to them. Families were very happy with the way people were supported. One relative said staff were “incredibly sensitive” to people’s needs. Another relative said they are “very, very happy with what they do”. One professional told us they thought the service provided exceptional care to people.

The provider treated people as individuals and was exceptional in how they made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. The provider took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

People’s care plans had detailed information about their likes and dislikes which helped staff provide exceptional care and support. Leaders ensured people were treated as individuals and as a result people were supported to maintain their independence and follow their own interests. People were supported to go on holidays of their choosing and involved in planning what activities they would do whilst there. One person told us they liked to plan their holidays in detail which helped them manage anxieties about what they were doing. It was important for them to know what was happening throughout their holiday time.

People were also supported to maintain their own friendships with others who had similar interests. For example, one person had planned a trip to London to watch musicals with friends who enjoyed the same music. People were supported to spend time doing what they wanted at home. This also included spending time with friends watching favourite television programmes and planning these activities as important social events.

Staff were knowledgeable about people’s individual needs and understood what was important for people. Support provided was tailored to make sure that everyone was able to follow their own interests and live fulfilling lives. Records demonstrated people were active in their local community and had been supported to do what they wanted to do. We found people had been able to do activities tailored to their individual interests. For example, 1 person with an interest in cars had support to visit a car museum, others who liked beauty treatments were supported to visit beauty salons for treatments.

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

Staff consistently engaged with people to review and discuss their care and treatment recognising people were decision makers in their own care. One professional we spoke with said the service was “amazing” and they saw staff as enablers who always ensured people had as much independence as they could.

People’s independence was consistently promoted. Staff made sure people’s experiences were positive in all aspects of their lives. For example, for one person who attended hospital appointments, their positive experiences led to an invitation from professionals to join a focus group. The aim of the group was to work with hospital staff to improve the care and treatment for other people with additional support needs when people were admitted to hospital. Staff supported the person to attend the group regularly with an aim for them to attend independently. The person was involved in completing an access audit for the hospital, with the aim to improve access for people with disabilities. Staff recognised how important this involvement was for the person and their sense of purpose.

Another person was supported to maintain active participation in the upkeep of their home. This was important for the person as they used to be a cleaner in the past and wanted to maintain those skills. Despite some ongoing health issues staff ensured they were able to complete the tasks they liked with support as needed. Records demonstrated this gave them a sense of pride in their home and their personal contribution to it.

People were encouraged to choose activities they enjoyed doing and staff worked with them to see how they could be supported safely. This meant people enjoyed a variety of activities including 2 people travelling to London and Southampton to see theatre shows of their choice. Risk assessments were detailed and personalised to include people’s health needs and personal preferences.

The registered manager stated they had a “can do” attitude and worked hard as a team to ensure people understood they had choices. Whenever possible they ensured they supported the choices people made by recognising everyone was an individual whose choices would vary.

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 knew people well and ensured they were able to respond to each person appropriately. We saw staff asking people about their wishes in relation to day-to-day activities. Some people had ‘as required’ (PRN) medicines to help them if they were in pain. Staff had clear records of when these should be offered to people. The provider had mitigation strategies in relation to some people's behaviours, which included reflection and learning from a previous event. Documents demonstrated staff responded appropriately to one person should they needed urgent support, particularly in relation to their mental wellbeing.

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. Leaders ensured staff had regular supervision and appraisals. Staff felt they were well supported by leaders. The owner, who was the Nominated Individual of the service had recognised several of the team were of an age to be experiencing symptoms of menopause. They had chosen to attend a course on supporting people in the workplace through menopause. This had enabled them to not only support staff but had also helped them to identify menopausal symptoms in people living in the service. This meant there was a greater understanding for people if they experienced symptoms during menopause.