Highgate Lodge Care Home

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 75 (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 told us the staff were kind and caring and they felt well supported by staff who showed compassion and were respectful. One person told us, “The staff treat me with respect” and “The staff are very caring when they look after me.” Relatives were complimentary about the home and its staff. One relative told us, “They are kind and caring. They do try to make it nice for the people living there. They put decorations up for easter and birthdays. They make a fuss for birthdays and have a party which is nice.” Another relative told us, “Staff are very kind, caring and respectful, they are a lovely team who look after [Person’s name] and the other residents from what I’ve seen extremely well”. We saw that staff interacted with people warmly and engaged in meaningful conversations.

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. People told us the staff knew them well and treated them as individuals. One person told us, “The carers make you feel special they are respectful and caring when they administer personal care to me.” A relative told us that information was presented to their family member to enable them to understand due to their medical condition. Partners told us the registered manager was in the process of writing individualised care plans. We saw where these were in place, they recorded people’s preferences. For example, we saw a care plan that had information about the person’s preferred pronouns, their sexuality, culture and religion.

The provider promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. People were encouraged to remain independent and given choice and control over their care. One person told us, “They support me with my shower, but I do my own personal care, they speak to me.” A relative told us, “[Person’s name] is given choices such as food and drink options so that they can still have the feeling of independence.” The manager had systems in place to ensure care plans supported people to make choices and remain independent. For example, we saw nutritional care plans in place which supported people to make choices in relation to food options. Staff understood these care plans and could describe how they followed these when supporting people to make choices.

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, “If you ask for something, they will get it for you, they don’t forget you.” Relatives told us staff were prompt in addressing people’s needs. The registered manager told us there were call bells in place to support people to seek help from staff when needed. This has been recently implemented by the management team following advice from partners. We observed people’s care and support needs were attended to promptly. For example, we saw staff support a person to transfer from their bed using a hoist. Staff explained what they were going to do and they reassured the person throughout to avoid any distress.

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff, and supported and enabled staff to deliver person-centred care. There were processes in place to support staff wellbeing including supervisions and staff meetings.For example, the registered manager told us they had an employer of the month scheme where each month, a member of staff received a gift to recognise their hard work. A staff member told us, “I can definitely speak to the manager. She will always help you. She is very supportive.”