Woodlands 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 good. At this assessment the rating has remained good. This meant people’s outcomes were consistently good, and people’s feedback confirmed this.
 

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.

People told us, “Staff are very good in helping me with my [condition]”, “The staff, they are good people” and "The staff are very good and look after me well".

We received positive feedback from relatives, which included, “Yes staff are [kind], more than what I thought they would be", "As soon as [family member] came in [family member] said they didn’t want to go home and wanted to stay. [Family member] was only supposed to be here as respite first and has thrived since being here and [Family member] is so happy, they try so hard" and "[family member] was only meant to come as a respite and [family member] phoned me after 4 days saying [they] love it".

We observed positive interactions between staff and people. Staff knocked on people’s door before entering and maintained people’s dignity and privacy when completing personal care tasks.

We observed staff to be kind and compassionate when supporting people. This approach was demonstrated through the whole workforce. The majority of staff had completed training in dignity and privacy.

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

People were treated as individuals. Their personal, cultural and social needs were understood. Staff were considerate of people’s life histories and used these to support people appropriately. There was a culture of respect throughout the service with people respecting each other and enjoying warm, family-type relationships. People’s views and opinions were respected throughout the service. Support plans contained information about people’s preferences for staff to support them in the way they wished.

Staff understood people’s needs and aimed to support people how they wished. For example, we observed staff giving people time to answer questions relating to what they would like to drink, this gave people time to express their preference.

People were supported to maintain relationships which mattered to them. Family and friends were welcomed, and staff gave people the privacy and space they needed to be with and enjoy time with their family members or friends. Staff told us the home held monthly religious service for people who liked to attend.

We observed staff supported people individually and offered a variety of snacks and drinks throughout the day. We observed the chef engaging with people and specific meals were prepared based on people's needs and allergies.

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

The provider supported people to maintain contact with those who were important to them, this included a regular gazette that people received containing messages and updates from their family members. We observed people receiving visits from family and friends throughout our assessment.

People had a range of activities they could be involved in including evening pub style quizzes, external entertainers and themed events. There was a full time activities coordinator who involved and engaged people in a positive way. During our visits we observed several activities taking place in the communal lounge, people appeared engaged and very happy. One person in the service attended a day centre on a regular basis.

Staff told us people who are cared for in bed or like to spend time in their bedrooms also had the access to activities. A staff member stated, "One to one massaging, sing along, personalised Alexa's in their rooms, particular play list on wall and nail care".

A relative told us, “There’s plenty of activities. [family member] also loves the food and it does look amazing.”

The provider did not 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.

On day 1 of our visit to the service some call bells were not in place in areas where they would be required, such as en-suites. This impacted people being able to call for assistance from staff and did not always allow staff to respond to people’s needs in the moment or act to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress, we raised this concern immediately. However, on day 3 of our visit the management team told us that they had arranged for a new call bell system to be fitted on 11 November 2025, furthermore we observed that one person now had a call bell pendant in place meaning they had constant access to summons assistance if needed.

For people in communal areas or areas where call bells were accessible to them, we observed staff listening to their needs and wishes and responded to them in the moment to minimise any discomfort. Where people had limited communication, we observed staff supporting people in a caring and compassionate way, anticipating their needs and acting promptly to ensure people had the support they required and were not distressed.

People's needs were reviewed regularly and changes to their care and support were recorded appropriately in their care plans and daily care records.

One relative told us, “The staff respond straight away whenever [family member] is unwell. When they thought [family member] was [deteriorating in health] they phoned an ambulance straight away and then phoned to inform me straight after" and "[family member] has had 2 falls and I have been informed within 2 hours after [family member] has been assessed and cared for".

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

Staff told us that they enjoyed working at Woodlands Care Home and felt valued in their roles.

Staff received regular one to one supervision and were given the opportunity to send feedback to the provider. This meant that staff were supported, given opportunities to discuss their learning and development and take part in the service's quality assurance processes.

Staff told us the service supported their well-being. Comments included, “The (working) patterns tailor made for how I work best, so for example if need 2 days off – they use an agency but the same staff so enables flexibly due to consistency" and “[Management] show respect, [they] acknowledge that we are a team and what I have to say is valid" and "[Management are] really supportive with juggling days off.”