AA-I-Care - 35 Southwell

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 were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care.

This service scored 75 (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.

The provider had established effective systems and processes to ensure staff focused on building and maintaining open and honest relationships with people and their families, friends and others important to them. Staff spoke about people respectfully and with kindness. Staff were aware of the importance of respecting people’s privacy and dignity and ensuring they were comfortable with the care and support provided.

People and relatives commented positively about the care and support provided by staff. They told us staff were kind and caring. A person told us, “The carers are very nice, they are kind to me.” All relatives confirmed that the staff were friendly and caring.

External health and social care professionals agreed. Comments included, “They employ compassionate and hard-working carers who are dedicated to the care work they do. I have seen carers show kindness, compassion, dignity and professionalism to people receiving a service by live-in carers. Carers have done things like arrange for memory boxes to be sent to people in order to carry out reminiscence work.”

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.

The provider ensured that staff consistently treated people as individuals and quickly responded to changing needs. Care plans contained information about people's individual wishes, preferences, and how they wanted their care was to be delivered. Each person had a care plan developed in close collaboration with them and others important to them. People’s care plans were detailed, and person centred. Each section of care plans included people’s goals and desired outcome.

Staff knew people well and were aware of the individual goals people wished to work towards, and actively encouraged and assisted them to achieve those goals. People were happy with the way staff cared for them, felt well supported and told us that staff really cared about them. Comments included, “I have a live-in carer who is very good. I wouldn’t want [them] changed. [They] are the same age as me and we get on really well.”

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

People and relatives confirmed they had as much choice and control as possible in their lives. Comments included, “I’m sure my carers would do anything I asked them to. They are very helpful” and “The carers do what I want them to do in the way I want them to do it. I go out whenever I want.”

The provider ensured people were supported to have as much choice and control as possible in their lives and kept them informed about any changes to their support. This included people’s preferences in relation to the staff who provided their support. Staff knew people well and supported them to direct their own health and care whenever they could and encouraged them to maintain and develop their independence. They supported people to be independent when they were able and monitored them to make sure they were safe. Staff demonstrated a good understanding of people’s social needs. People were supported to maintain and develop their relationships with those close to them, their social networks and community. People were supported to have access to their family, friends and community.

One of the social care professionals we contacted commented, “The provider actively promotes people’s independence and autonomy, encouraging participation in outings and personal interests. They support my current client to self-feed, even when this requires significantly more time, demonstrating a respectful and person-centred approach.”

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’s support plans contained person-centred guidance for staff on how to meet people’s emotional needs including details of the different levels and triggers for people’s distress and the action staff should take. This meant staff had information to identify when they needed to intervene to prevent or reduce the likelihood and impact of distress.

Staff told us they felt supported and confident to support people when they were distressed. Staff understood and anticipated people’s needs and recognised distress and discomfort at the earliest stage. They offered sensitive and respectful support and care. For example, we reviewed care plan for a person who had been prescribed PRN (when required) medication to be administered at the times of distress and anxiety. Their care plan contained range of proactive strategies to recognise situational patterns and potential triggers of emotional distress for that person. This enabled staff to intervene and successfully use personalised de-escalation techniques to support them with more positive emotional responses to the triggering situations. The person was able to respond more calmly to those situations which gave them control over their environment, so that the medication prescribed for emotional distress and anxiety was not always needed and used as a last resort.

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

The provider encouraged staff to share concerns and engage in open dialogue, fostering a supportive culture where staff felt heard and valued. People were supported by a diverse workforce from different cultures and backgrounds. All staff confirmed they felt supported and appreciated by the management team. They confirmed they were able to take regular breaks which were covered by a regular staff member familiar to the person they were supporting. Comments included, “I do have regular breaks and whenever necessary they do send someone staff to cover additional breaks”. Staff told us they had a sense of belonging and the ability to contribute to decision making. They told us they were offered opportunities to feedback about concerns with the service provided or their own wellbeing and felt confident to raise any issues by phone and through regular supervisions. Comments from staff included, “The management are always there for us to support us in our role as their carers. I have regular one-on-one supervisions with a senior staff member” and “They do consider staff wellbeing and welfare.”

By ensuring staff had the necessary support, the provider empowered them to make decisions and deliver care that was tailored to people who used the service.Staff were supported with training and completed an induction programme to provide them the skills and knowledge to support people.