Rowland House 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 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.

Staff treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. One person told us they liked living at Rowland House and they felt safe. A relative said, “They (staff) are very good on that (kindness and dignity) and explain what they are about to do.” A second told us, “My general impression is they seem to be very caring.” Another commented, “Since [interim manager name] has become manager I’ve noticed a good change and noticed they treat [relative] with care and respect.”

We heard and saw staff knock on people’s doors before entering their room and staff addressed people when seeing them. We heard staff talk through what they were doing or about to do, for example, when they repositioned someone in their armchair to make them more comfortable. Throughout this time, staff regularly checked the person was okay. There was a gentle approach from staff to people, and it was clear people had good relationships with people.

We received positive feedback about staff from relatives with one telling us, “He seems to like them. He says thank you each time they leave his room which shows he is content."

People were treated as individuals. One person liked to read the newspaper, and they were supported each morning to the local shop to purchase one. Another person liked a particular genre of music and staff ensured their favourite CDs were put on when they requested them.

One person told us staff supported them to visit a family member and also to go to the local shop to get a newspaper. A relative said, “What I’ve observed when they give personal care and they are good. If [person] spilled food down their front staff change them quickly. As far as I can see they protect their privacy.”

People’s care plans contained a good level of detail for staff in how to support a person sensitively, with dignity, but also letting the person be in control.

Relatives felt staff supported people’s choice and control as much as they could. One relative told us, “Staff are always prompting him to do things on his own and he always gets there in the end. They give him the time that he needs.” A second relative told us, “I think they (staff) support choice.”

The interim manager told us how 1 person had mentioned they would like an alcoholic drink in the evening, and they had immediately arranged for this. They told us, “[Person’s name] now has a glass of red wine each evening."

Staff responded to people needs as we observed staff ensure people did not have to wait for their care. This included repositioning someone promptly when they had slipped down in their chair and providing people with their meals quickly at lunch time. A relative told us, “I used to go to see [person’s name] and she wasn’t properly cleaned after lunch. Since [interim manager name] started, the staff now take the time to clean [relative] properly. It’s nice to come in and see her presentable.”

In addition, one person requested a cup of tea during the afternoon, and staff immediately responded to this request to help prevent them becoming anxious.

The feedback we received was positive. A relative told us, “They (staff) are definitely meeting his needs.” A professional said, “[Interim manager] definitely has improved the home and has encouraged staff to engage better with the residents.”

The interim manager and provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff. They told us, “We have a freedom to speak up guardian who staff spent time with staff when we went through the recent safeguarding issues. It has really helped to tackle the closed culture which was in the service.”

The interim manager had introduced a new rota management system to ensure staff had a better work/life balance. In addition, we were told the provider had an award programme Where staff could nominate each other for commitment or outstanding practice.

The provider had developed a 3-year wellbeing strategy plan for staff with year 1 offering initiatives like workshops and drop-in sessions on mental and financial wellbeing, staff wellbeing surveys and the introduction of a wellbeing group.