Priory Lodge

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 requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to 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.

We received positive feedback about staff from people. Comments included, “Staff are very good, they are all kind” and “Staff here treat you very good.”

Overall, we observed staff were attentive to people’s needs and positive interactions between staff and people. However, during our onsite inspection, we did overhear staff talking about people’s needs in the corridor when another person at the service was present who could overhear. We addressed this with the manager who agreed to remind the staff to discuss people’s needs in the office and not the communal areas.

Staff spoke positively and with kindness and understood the importance of treating people with respect. Staff told us, “We provide a welcoming, supportive environment, ensuring people feel valued, safe and well cared for” and “We work hard to create a warm and welcoming environment.”

We received positive feedback from some external health professionals with regards to the staff teams care and support for people at Priory Lodge.

The provider did not always treat people as individuals or make sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. They did not always take account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

We found not all care plans and risk assessments had been updated or contained the relevant information for staff to support people with their individual needs and preferences. For example, we found 1 person’s care plan contained no information with regards to their ethnicity or religious needs.

We observed staff supporting people well and staff spoke positively about treating people as individuals. Staff we spoke with did have a good knowledge of people’s likes and dislikes. People told us they could take part in activities if they wanted to and were encouraged to help with activity planning and menu choices.

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

Staff knew people well and supported them to access the local community. They spoke positively about the impact this had on the people living at the home. One person told us they could come and go as they wanted and we observed people coming and going during our onsite inspection. Another person told us, “There are no restrictions, I can get up when I want to and get a choice of what I would like to eat.”

People were able to maintain relationships with relatives and friends, and visitors were welcomed. Relatives confirmed they could visit at any time and there were no restrictions in place.

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.

We observed that staff knew people and their needs well. People told us staff were available to help, and they felt able to seek help at any time. One person told us, “If I need help going out further afield, staff support me with this.” Staff told us people were able to seek support from staff any time. Comments included, “People can use their call bells when in their rooms and those that are more independent can also come to any member of staff for assistance.”

During our on-site assessment, we observed staff responded to people’s needs in a timely manner and there were staff available to assist when needed.

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

Since our last assessment, supervisions had increased and staff spoke positively about being supported within their roles. One staff member told us, “Management work hard to ensure staff receive regular supervisions and training.” Another staff member told us, “I feel very supported in my role by all levels of leadership, there is an open door approach from management and constant encouragement which makes Priory Lodge have a genuine family feeling.”