Ami Group - The Knoll Unit and Ami Court Unit

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture. At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained good. This meant the service was consistently managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality, person-centred care.

This service scored 82 (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 had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities. The provider had a clear vision for the service which was recorded in their statement of purpose, ‘Our core aim is to “Bring the best to everyone in our care,” a commitment that underpins every aspect of our service within the nursing home environment. We strive to deliver high-quality, person-centred care that respects the dignity, individuality, and preferences of each resident. By fostering a safe, compassionate, and supportive setting, we ensure that those in our care experience not only excellent clinical support but also a genuine sense of wellbeing, comfort, and belonging. This guiding principle shapes our approach to care delivery, staff development, and continuous improvement, ensuring that excellence is consistently maintained for all residents and their families.’ This vision was shared with staff during their induction, discussed as part of their supervision and embedded in the training staff received.

The provider ensured their values were displayed on their website and in the foyer area of the service.

The provider had inclusive leaders at all levels who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. They did so with integrity, openness and honesty. The provider had continued their education to build their skills to meet the needs of people living at the service. The senior management team had also been supported to develop their skills such as wound management. The provider had employed an education clinical lead who supported nurses to develop through clinical supervision. They also supported nurses with their continuing development and revalidation to make sure their skills were up to date and met people’s needs.

Staff and people told us the provider and management team were visible at the service each day. We were told they were approachable and acted quickly if concerns were raised by staff or people.

The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. Staff told us they were confident to speak up and help to improve the service. The provider was open when things had gone wrong and shared the lessons learnt from complaints or surveys.

Staff told us they felt they were part of a family and were involved in all aspects of the service and it was important to them they provided a good quality of care.

The provider valued diversity in their workforce. They worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them. The provider had welcomed staff from all over the world and supported them to feel part of the team. The provider ensured staff religious needs were supported including having time off to attend church or other religious festivals.

There were social events at the service to support the different cultures within the staff group. People told us they enjoyed finding out about different culture and enjoyed meeting the staff’s children during events.

The provider had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. They used these to manage and deliver good quality, sustainable care, treatment and support. They acted on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, and shared this securely with others when appropriate. The provider had assembled a management team who understood their roles and responsibilities to monitor the quality of the service. Staff described their roles and how they all fitted together.

There were checks and audits completed to check the quality of the service. The systems were effective in identifying any shortfalls and developing action plans to rectify these. There were systems in place to make sure the local authority and CQC were notified of incidents and events as needed.

Staff attended daily ‘flash’ meetings where staff could raise any concerns including maintenance issues and resident updates. Staff attended regular staff meetings where all aspects of the service were discussed including observations about staff practice. Following a meeting an action plan was put in place to make sure concerns were dealt with and the outcome discussed at the next meeting.

The provider clearly understood and carried out their duty to collaborate and worked in partnership, and services worked seamlessly for people. They always shared information and learning with partners and collaborated for improvement. The service had worked hard to develop positive relationships with their community. The local school had been coming into the service to read to people and talk about their favourite books. People had gone to the school on ‘Pancake’ day to help them to make pancakes, including a 100 year old, who the children loved.

The wellbeing co-ordinator organised activities for the ladies including cream teas with ladies from the local church, other groups and relatives. They were organising events for the men as well; they were finding out what the men would like to do.

The provider had sponsored the local children’s football team, which people enjoyed following and going to watch. People had also taken part in helping to raise funds to help the community.

The provider had a strong focus on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They always encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. They actively contributed to safe, effective practice and research. The service had collaborated with an infection research company in partnership with Care England. The aim was to improve early identification, monitoring, and response to infections, thereby supporting more effective in-house management and reducing the need for hospital transfer where appropriate, and produce good patient outcomes. The provider was open about falls and infections, there were charts around the service showing how many there had been in the previous month.

The provider had invested in technology to support people to be as independent as possible, including position changing beds. There was an interactive internet system within the service where people could ask it among other things to play music. A person who could not use the call bell system and did not want to be checked on by staff, asked the system to call the service to alert staff they wanted something.

The quality of the service had improved since the last inspection. The provider told us, they had worked hard to build a staff team who had the same vision for care and put people at the centre. They had tried to use technology in a useful way such as the fire system to keep people safe and improve their experience of care.

The provider had employed an education clinical lead to promote learning and improvement within the nursing staff but also the care staff. Staff had been encouraged to complete training and education to develop their skills and use these in supporting people.