St Georges Court 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 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 85 (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 previously in breach of regulation 10 (Dignity and respect) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. At this inspection, we found improvements had been made to the in relation to the provider's oversight and systems to protect people from undignified and respectful care and support. The provider was no longer in breach of this regulation.

The provider always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion. People were respected and their privacy and dignity upheld. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

People and relatives spoke highly about how they were treated. We were told, “I never had a problem before and I never have problems now with this place - carers are such a nice bunch they are lovely to work with, kind and helpful-what more to want?” Another person told us, “I can’t say anything negative. Staff are wonderfully kind and helpful and they do the job professionally with a caring heart. I simply cannot fault anything here.” Another person also said, “I do feel well in this place mainly because of good staff and their care.” A relative said, “I simply love this place, I come most days, and I am in awe of how people are well looked after, my relative including.”

We observed genuine care from all staff, they spoke kindly and respectfully to people. This behaviour was displayed by all staff, including domestic and maintenance staff. Care plans reflected how people’s privacy and dignity should be promoted.

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

Staff knew people well and had a good understanding of people’s individual needs. People we spoke with confirmed this, we were told, “I feel well respected, and that staff understand my needs well”.

People and relatives told us that people’s individual culture or religious needs were taken into account, a relative told us, “Our relative has halal food and we are so grateful for it. We never asked for it, it was offered, and we loved it.” People were supported to maintain links with their community and to their culture, for example the provider told us about a person who was supported regularly to a restaurant to enjoy their cultural cuisine. People had named staff as ‘keyworkers’ and where possible people were matched with staff who had similar interests or cultural backgrounds. The registered manager told us how a person living at the service could only communicate in their native language, however a member of staff could converse fluently in the same language so became that persons keyworker. This ensured the person was well understood and could converse their needs and preferences, however, also gave them the opportunity to have everyday day conversations.

Care planning documentation captured detailed information about people's life stories, interests, and preferences, supporting staff to deliver personalised care. Documents within a person’s care plan was completed with the person, their relatives and members of the staff team. These documents, entitled ‘My day’ gave staff the opportunity to understand what was important to a person both now and in their past. This had enabled positive outcomes such as the development of new activities such as gardening and wildlife projects and the use of music and instruments. Staff told us that music was used as a means to help one person feel safe and comfortable during their support and interactions. It had also led to them being able to attend a virtual choir. Staff also worked with the family of another person to provide an instrument which had been integral in their life as a teacher. Staff we spoke with were able to tell us this information unaided from their knowledge of the people they work with.

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 happy with how they were supported by staff and the care they received. Care records included how people should be encouraged to remain as independent as possible, and people were free to spend time how they wanted to and walk around the home as much as they liked. People confirmed this as a true reflection, one person told us, “It’s good that I have choice and they respect what I say... I feel very much in control of my free time.”

People were supported to remain as independent as possible, we were told, “I am fairly independent: I don’t need much help, but I am sure that might change…It is very important that staff are patient, and I feel well respected in that sense.” People also told us that staff always ask for their consent before giving support, one person told us, “They also ask my permission when working with me or entering my room. I feel very relaxed with carers - I think it’s the most difficult job working in care and staff here are truly marvellous.”

People were involved in making decisions within the service, including changes to the menu, activities offered and the environment.

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.

People were supported by staff who were familiar to them, which enabled staff to anticipate and meet people’s needs quickly and in ways that was the most effective for the individual. Members of staff demonstrated empathy and care for people.

The provider ensured that staff were responsive to people’s needs and delivered good care through direct observational supervision. Each observational supervision was recorded, and staff were judged against a performance scale, which indicated if their performance was very good, met the expected standard or needed improvement.

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

Members of staff were well supported by the management team and had access to supervision meetings and support. Staff told us they felt supported and that management and the provider supported them to have a positive work life balance. We saw that the provider had introduced staffing incentives to the workplace to ensure that staff felt valued and to maintain staff morale and motivation. These incentives included care champions, employee of the month and annual award ceremonies which acknowledged staff contribution. The provider told us that these initiatives, alongside other incentives such as service recognition rewards and birthday gifts had attributed towards their staff retention. We saw that the service had been able to achieve a sustained period without the use of temporary staff. A stable staff team improves continuity of care for people.

Staff at the service also had opportunities to access further support from the providers Exelcare Foundation. This initiative offered staff both financial and / or practical support to address challenges they may be facing outside of work.