Pathfinders Specialist and Complex Care

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 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. People and relatives consistently told us staff were kind and treated them with dignity and compassion. People described how staff protected their privacy during support with personal care and how staff had adapted people’s rooms to make them feel more comfortable within them when they received this type of care. One person said, “They’ll always close my door and curtains when I’m having something done.” A relative said, “I bought a screen online, and they’ve decorated it with [name’s) pictures. Now they can have care without being seen from their patio.”

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 did not always record peoples’ life and social histories, however staff knew people well and understood how to support them. Staff described how they used specific technology to aid with language barriers as well using this equipment to support people with access to resources to support their culture and religion.

People told us they were treated as individuals, 1 person said, “Weekends could be better, but during the week you don’t get bored, there is something for everyone.” A relative said, “[Name] been taken out to the races. They bring in animals for therapy. They asked for a bird of prey experience and [management] used the funds raised to put it on for everyone.”

The provider promoted people’s independence, and people told us they had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. People and relatives spoke highly of staff and the support they received daily. One person said, “It’s up to me when I’m ready to turn my lights and tv off. In the morning, I wake up [at a time] to suit me and switch my tv on. The staff come in once they can hear me awake.” Another person said, “I can have a shower whenever I want, sometimes I don’t want one in a morning, but staff will always help me later in the day.”

Staff told us they had built trusting relationships with people and understood what was important to people. One staff member said, “I know people well and I can see if they are having an off day, knowing this helps me adjust how I support them. Sometimes I offer care later, or I try and engage people in conversation or activities they enjoy before we do care, so people feel more motivated.”

The provider did not always listen to and understand people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff did not always respond to people’s needs in the moment or act to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. We received mixed feedback from people, relatives and staff in how responsive staff were to their immediate needs. Some people and relatives raised concerns about extended wait times for care, especially during the evening and weekends. A person living at the home said, “I sometime have to wait for up to an hour for support, usually in the evening.” A relative said, “I do quite often, have to hunt for a carer, if I need someone to assist [name]. It’s even more of a challenge at the weekend. That does concern me.”

Some staff we spoke with supported this feedback from people and relatives. Whilst staff stated staffing levels were not unsafe, there could be sometimes be a delay in supporting people appropriately. One staff member said, “Staffing can be an issue, sometimes [call bells] go unanswered for 30 minutes and this does impact the care people receive at times.”

We fed this back to the management team who agreed to review this area as a priority.

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. The provider offered an extensive induction and shadowing programme for staff which was supported with a comprehensive ongoing training and development plan. Staff we spoke with praised the training they received, 1 staff member said, “I can’t fault anything, the training is extensive. I can’t think of anything they don’t cover but if I did, I know they would support me to do any training I felt I needed for my role.”

Other staff we spoke with described how they had been supported with flexible working both on an ongoing basis to meet personal needs but also in unplanned and emergency situations. All staff said they received regular supervisions and competency checks and felt able to approach their manager outside of these times for help and support.