Archived: Creative Support – Carlisle Services

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 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 65 (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. Feedback from people was positive, one person said, “Staff are nice.” We saw genuine interactions between people and staff which displayed care and compassion in a respectful and person-centred way. It was obvious staff knew the people they supported and treated them with kindness. A relative told us, “I've observed the staff with [relative’s name] demonstrate genuine compassion and kindness, making sure they feel relaxed and secure, as they struggle with real anxiety and insecurity when they feel outside their comfort zone.”

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. Care plans gave a summary of each person, highlighting their strengths, goals and any important personal characteristics. We observed that people using the service had built good relationships with staff and there was a genuine warmth towards staff and a sense of belonging in the home. A person said, ”I like it here and I like my bedroom.” A relative told us, “They (staff) clearly know [person] well and they are happy and comfortable with them.”

The provider did not always promote people’s independence, so people did not always know their rights and have choice and control over their own care, treatment and well being. Rotas did not always support staff to facilitate planned visits to see family or outings and these activities needed rearranging, sometimes last minute. People were at risk of losing their independence or ability to choose how they spent their time. A relative told us, due to changes on rota patterns their relative was not always supported to visit their home as had previously been the case and when this had been resolved the following visit was cancelled again due to not having a driver to support with the visit. Processes were in place for staff to ensure people could make choices when possible. Staff included family members in decision making where people could not do so themselves. Care planning specified details that promoted people’s independence and choice.

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 told us staff responded to them when they needed them to, and they felt they were listened to. One person said, “Staff come if I ring the buzzer, they come quick. ”A family member told us, “Staff react very quickly and respond accordingly.”

The registered manager did not always consider and promote the wellbeing of their staff. Staff said they received appropriate training to enable them to deliver the care needed by the people they supported. However, they did not receive regular or planned supervision or effective support to progress.

Healthcare professionals and relatives said staff lacked enough support from management and as a result felt staff were stressed but continued working very hard to deliver care and support to people.

The provider had various policies and processes in place, including an employee assistance programme, staff recognition awards and monthly newsletters circulated to all staff, via email.