Belong Chester

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. This is the first assessment for this newly registered service. This key question has been rated 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 the warmth and support people had received from staff, particularly those who knew them well. People told us, “Yes, they are all caring.” We observed people were at ease and comfortable within a homely environment. A staff member greeted a person in a kind and individualised way, which they responded to positively. A relative commented, “They treat [relative] as part of their family, with upmost care and respect, they’re so kind and caring.” Staff had received training in relation to awareness around dignity, privacy and confidentiality. Relatives gave positive feedback about special moments being arranged, such as family meals and celebrations.

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 had care plans in place which included information about what mattered most to them and took account of their preferences. The provider focused on people enjoying life and being engaged in activities that meant something to them. They employed an ‘experience team,’ who arranged a programme of events and activities. Staff recorded life stories to help to get to know people and what they enjoyed. We received positive feedback about the activities including a choir made up of people living at the service and the nursery children. We observed an activity where people and the nursery children shared a breakfast, everyone was clearly enjoying the lively event. We saw people were enjoying painting and a karaoke session. There were regular church services to support peoples’ religious needs. People were supported to access the community and in response to some feedback, managers were further focused on weekend activities, enabling outings, and arrangements were being made to access a minibus.

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

People had care plans in place which were person centred and supported their independence, for example, with exercise and rehabilitation plans. The provider followed a model of dementia care with a focus on well-being. Where able, staff supported people to make their own choices. A staff member told us how they provided flexible care in line with people’s choices, for example, the time they liked to get out of bed and how they spent their day. One person told us they liked to get up very early and staff supported this. Another person was supported to be able to go out independently for a daily walk. Where safe to do so and with consent, people were issued with doors fobs, so their movement around the building wasn’t restricted.

Whilst the provider aimed to 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 about staff availability to respond to immediate needs. People told us when staff were available, they acted to provide effective support. However, some feedback suggested staff weren’t always available to respond where required. Comments included, “Different times of day are busier than others, if a member of staff is taken away can be harder” and “In general they are pretty good.” One relative was concerned staff were not always available, especially if supporting people away from the household. We undertook an observation and whilst staff were mainly responsive and understood people’s needs well, we saw one person needed more responsive and personalised support from the staff during breakfast. We shared this with managers who reviewed the person’s needs and shared out feedback with the wider staff team.

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

The provider had a focus on staff wellbeing and following a recent survey, was reminding staff about the support they offered. The provider had re-launched their monthly staff awards, for people to nominate where they felt staff had gone the extra mile. A staff ‘Champions awards’ evening had been recently held, to acknowledge and reward staff. Staff had access to a confidential employee assistance programme, which offered various types of support.