Archived: Oak Tree Mews

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 care home under its newly registered provider. 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 treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. People describe the staff who workat the care homeas kind, considerate and empathic.

Most interactionsobservedbetween staff and people were kind and caring. Staff and leaders spoke about people living at thecare homewith kindness,compassionand respect.

A family member told us, “They[the staff]just pay everyonea lot ofattention –conversation, jokes,andtheymake her[our family member]feel at home. We were worried, but they made it easy. She loves all the staff”.Manypeople living at the care home referred to Oak Tree Mews as their “home”.

A healthcare professional who worked with the care home told us, “Interactions between staff and residents are warm, patient, and reassuring, and it is evident that residents feel comfortable and valued within the home”.Another said, “This is one of the stand-out attributes of OakTreeMews. The staff genuinely care about the residents, and itdoesn’tmatter how busy they are, peopleare treatedwith kindness and compassion.Importantly, staff also treat each other with kindness,compassionand respect and this makes the whole atmosphere welcoming,it’sa nice placeto spend time”.

The provider treated people as individuals andmostlymade sure people’s careandsupportmet theirneeds and preferences.

A healthcare professional told us, “In my experience, the staff know the residentsreally well. I havebeen informedof a resident’s likes and dislikes, favourite chair, who they like to sit next to, which side is their hearing worse, whether they like to eat alone or with others. So many details, a clearindicationthat someone cares and has not just read notes. This means that deteriorationis pickedup ingood timeand any risksidentifiedearly”.

Peoplewere supportedto go out of the home on trips that aligned with their interests. We saw instances of peoplebeingencouragedtomaintainand develop their independence. For example, during our visit weobserveddifferent peoplebeing supportedto go out to a local market and1personwas supportedto go out to the local pub at lunchtimes. Peoplewere supportedto choose their preferred themes for celebrations, and thecare homehosted a variety of different birthday parties and events, depending on the person’s individual preferences.

Thecare homegathered person centred information when a person moved in and then developed this information into care plans over time as they got to know more about the person. A staff member told us, “We have all the information needed about a resident in the care beans(electronic)system, andwe get to know about them more through their family and friends. Every individual is unique and we focus on supporting everyone based on their needs and interests.” A healthcare professional who works with thecare homesaid,“Staff make every effort to support residents’ needs in a respectful and person-centred manner”.

People were supported to maintain relationships and networks which were important to them. People had access to their friends and family while they were living at the care home. We observed many visiting family and friends during our inspection and people were supported to spend time with their visitors, mostly in communal areas.

People had access to activities and the local community to promote and support their independence, health and wellbeing. Three people attended meetups of a local community group and another person living at the care home was supported to regularly attend a local men’s group.

We found the provider did not always demonstrate an understanding of people’s needs and how to respond to them.

Staff did not always respond to people’s needs in the moment or act to minimise any discomfort or distress, particularly in relation to people living with dementia or other cognitive impairment. For example, lunchtime meal orders were taken during the morning, and we observed during the lunch 1 person living with dementia could not remember what they had ordered that day. This person was not offered a choice of food at this point nor shown the different meals available, but was instead told what they had previously ordered, and this was what they were served. When we asked how people remembered what they ordered we were informed by a staff member, “Most [people] can tell me but quite a few will forget so we just say this is what you ordered or find something else.” This approach meant the person was not fully supported in their decision making and meant people living with dementia were not always empowered and supported to have their immediate needs met by staff.

We also observed some instances where changes in the environment led to some people appearing less comfortable than others. For example, during lunch service a staff member began hoovering in the area where people were eating which made it difficult for some people to hear what staff were saying.

The care home did not have a system to monitor call bell response times. Leaders told us they sometimes did this informally by manually alerting call bells and waiting to see how long staff took to respond. This was not documented or analysed however, meaning that it did not provide robust information of whether people’s needs were being met in adequate time.

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

Peopleweresupportedby staff who feltvalued by their leaders and their colleagues. They hada sense of belonging and the ability to contribute to decision making.

A staff member told us, “Although a comparatively smaller home, the love, care, warm and friendly atmosphere makes Oak Tree Mews quite exceptional. The owner and management strategyseeksto create a family experience between staff and residents which makes everyone feel comfortable. Recently I needed to change my shifts urgently and thiswas accommodatedimmediately”.Another staff member said, “I have a good relationship with them[the management team]and all the team I work with. Iam treatedwith respect and feel like I am a valued member of the team. I am proud to be working at Oak Tree Mews” and “Teamwork makes a huge difference-we look out for each other, plan ahead as much as possible, and our managers try to adjust shifts when we’re stretched”.