Nightingale Homecare East Sussex Ltd

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 newly registered 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 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 registered manager always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Feedback from people and their loved ones was very positive regarding the way care was delivered in a calm, kind and respectful way. The registered manager kept a compliments folder which had several letters and cards from people and their relatives, praising staff and thanking them for their compassionate approach in supporting them. Comments from people and relatives included, “They are always kind and treat me with respect,” “They treat me with dignity all the time” and “They stand outside of bathroom and are on hand were they to fall.” A member of staff added, “Looking out for people’s dignity is always important.” Professionals endorsed this view with one telling us, “My experience is that the service places a strong emphasis on person-centred care and consistently acts in the best interests of the individuals they support.”

The registered manager 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. People had choices about how they received their support. People’s preferred routines were respected and any changes to regular care call times were accommodated as far as was possible. Care plans provided details for care staff about people’s preferences. For example, some expressed a preference for female carers. Others were described as benefiting from a ‘calm and unhurried approach.’ Care plans also detailed people’s history, hobbies and interests and encouraged staff to engage people in conversation which put them at ease and made the more comfortable. If people had cultural or religious needs these too were recorded and respected.

The registered manager promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. People were supported to be as independent as possible with daily tasks and activities within the confines of safety. Staff knew the importance of encouraging people to maintain independence with certain tasks for example, washing, brushing teeth and choosing which clothes to wear each day. Staff were always close to support people if needed during these tasks to guarantee their safety. People acknowledged their own need for independence to maintain as active a life as possible, and they told us they were well supported by the staff team. A person told us, “They absolutely encourage me to be as independent as I can be, with washing and dressing and other things.” Care plans reflected the importance of people’s independence with each section focussing on what people could safely achieve for themselves before then describing support needs.

The registered manager 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 needs and requests were responded to in a timely way. This included when care staff were present and immediate support was needed and when people or their relatives made requests to the office by phone or message. A person told us, “The communications are good. They respond to my needs and requests.” People told us that care staff were rarely late and there was a process in place if they were unexpectedly delayed where they would be called and alternative arrangements put in place. The registered manager had created ‘Nightingales Kind Hearts.’ This was a monetary system, provided by the service that could be called upon to support people who were struggling to meet their own domestic needs. Recent examples involved paying for a cleaning service to support people in their home.

The registered manager cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. Managers provided an on-call system so staff could call for advice out of hours. Staff were confident to call in if they needed help and during our office visit, we heard several supportive calls between the registered manager and care staff. Staff told us they were able to achieve a positive work life balance, and they were supported in the event of having to request short notice leave for example, to cover childcare. The registered manager supported flexible working arrangements for their staff and were able to achieve this without compromising care calls and people’s safety. The service had a staff welfare policy, fostered a learning culture and provided one to one support for staff if needed.