Belsfield House

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 service involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

At our last assessment we rated this key question outstanding. At this assessment the rating has remained outstanding. This meant people were truly respected and valued as individuals; and empowered as partners in their care in an exceptional service.

This service scored 90 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The service was exceptional at treating people with kindness, empathy and compassion and in how they respected people’s privacy and dignity. Staff always treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect. People and their relative’s felt people were treated exceptionally well. One relative said, “I can’t praise them (staff) enough, I don’t think you could get better care anywhere else.” Another relative said, “The kindness and the care are excellent. [[Person] is happy you can tell, even though [person] has dementia. You couldn’t find a better home and the staff are fantastic.”

Staff spoke highly of this service. They said, “I think people are treated well with kindness and compassion. Staff reflect on incidents and take time to observe people to make sure they have everything they need. If my loved one ever needed care, this is the first place I would choose.” The registered manager spoke about the innovative ways they monitored care provision. They said, “We oversee staff interactions through regular spot checks and observations by senior staff, supervisions and reflective practice sessions, real-time feedback mechanisms and compliments and concerns and feedback from residents (people) and relatives.” The registered manager emphasised the importance of relationship-centred care rather than task focused care. People were happy and comfortable in their environment and clearly benefited from this person-centred approach.

Staff were observed to be kind and caring towards people and always treated people with dignity and respect during our site visits. We witnessed staff had patience and spoke to people with compassion and humour. Staff appeared to know people well and people appeared comfortable around the staff team. There was a calm and relaxed feel to the service where everyone appeared to be included. There was an appointed dignity champion in place and posters around the service in relation to promoting dignity which was also discussed during daily handovers.

The service 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 and relatives felt staff knew them well. One relative said, “(Staff) say hello and smile, there are lots of staff. There is a constant presence, and they have CCTV so they can see what is happening and the office runs so efficiently. I wish every place could be like this.” Another relative said, “The first thing they (staff) ask is do we want a drink, they make you feel welcome.” People spoke highly of the staff team. One person said, “They (staff) listen to me and take time to talk to me, I have had serious medical problems, and they were very supportive and sympathetic towards me.”

Staff were knowledgeable of people’s cultural and religious beliefs and relayed people’s life history. Staff clearly knew people well and took pride in the work they did. The registered manager told us they were committed to upholding the rights of people with protected characteristics. Partners felt people were treated well and it was clear from our observations staff knew how to make people feel relaxed as people were at ease around the staff team.

Care plans held a record of people’s life history as well as their likes and dislikes. Every bedroom had a board detailing how to care for a person and their individual preferences including preferred activities. Signs and posters were displayed around the service prompting staff on how to care for people.

The service was exceptional at promoting people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. Relatives told us people’s independence was encouraged. One relative said, “I think they (staff) will encourage her to do anything [person] is able to do; they do encourage them if [person] is in the correct headspace, they are full of praise for them and very loving.” Relatives also praised the activities available at the service. Comments included, “Whatever [person] wants to do they do, they take them out, take them to the local church for social events and they are always having parties” and “They have garden parties for relatives and residents, and an ice cream van comes. If relatives are there, they get an ice cream. They play lots of games and they have parties for birthdays and other events.” Relatives also spoke highly of staff and how they would take people out into the community for activities such as fishing, walks on the promenade and attending church services.

Staff spoke passionately about the activities on offer. They said, “Activities happen every day. There are always 2 activity coordinators on duty. Some people need prompts to join in, but no one is forced. We log how an activity has benefited a person.” We observed activities taking place during both our site visits. We witnessed both group and 1-1 activity including drawing, chair exercises and ball throwing. We observed people to be engaged and smiling throughout. Where people weren’t engaging, they were gently encouraged but not pressured to join in. We observed choices being offered.

Records evidenced detailed accounts of what people could do for themselves and what support they required from staff. Activities were recorded onto the electronic system which showed the outcome and the impact the activity had on that person’s wellbeing and mood. This ensured staff could monitor what activity worked well for people and ensured people were receiving personalised, effective care tailored to their individual needs.

The service was exceptional in how they 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. Relatives told us people’s needs were responded to well. One relative said, “[Person] has a call bell but they don’t use it as they always has someone with them. If someone else’s bell goes off I count the length of time it rings and it is between 10 and 20 seconds before they answer it.” Relatives felt staff responded to concerns quickly and most relatives told us staff were always sat engaging with people when they visited.

Staff told us they knew people well and could identify signs of distress. Staff told us how they would communicate with people who cannot verbally communicate and spoke of different techniques they would use. The registered manager said, “Senior staff complete random checks across all shifts to observe response patterns and ensure care needs are met promptly. Any concerns are addressed through staff debriefs, additional training or adjustments to the deployment team.” Care is tailored to meet people’s needs rather than imposed. Staff adapt their approach dependant on a person’s mood and anticipate risks rather than simply react to them.

We observed a high number of staff present during both days of our site visit. We observed incidents whereby people became distressed which were handled with calm and responsive interactions by staff. It was clear staff knew people well. Records evidenced people had thrived since their admission to Belsfield House and the number of distressed incidents had significantly reduced. This had a positive impact on people’s wellbeing.

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. Staff had nothing but praise for the service and how the management team supported them. Staff comments included, “We (staff) are treated really well by managers. This company helped me fall in love with care, it made me want to learn more about the job” and “I have no concerns, I like all the managers and staff, it is a nice place to work.” The registered manager told us how they ensured staff wellbeing was promoted. They said, “Staff wellbeing is actively supported through open-door management approaches, access to counselling or employee assist programmes, debriefs following difficult shifts or incidents and encouraging career development as part of retaining and motivating staff.”

Posters were displayed around the service including staff only areas to promote staff wellbeing. This included inspirational quotes for staff and words of encouragement. Supervisions evidenced a chance for staff to talk about their feelings and how managers helped to improve staff wellbeing at work. It was clear from reading supervision forms that staff were genuinely cared about and supported in their role.