SeeAbility - Heather House Nursing 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 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 mostly treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

We observed 2 mealtime experiences for people. One was a positive experience, where staff sat with people, communicated with them and supported them with patience, dignity, and in line with their care plan. The other mealtime observation was not positive. 2 people were supported into the dining room, their dinner was put on the table in front of them and they were then left for 20 minutes. These 2 people required full support to eat the meal, therefore had to sit whilst their food went cold in front of them. One person fell asleep whilst waiting and then when the staff member was ready, they were too tired to eat. We spoke with the registered manager about this, who told us this fell short of the standard they expect, and they immediately raised it with the staff involved.

This reflected an inconsistent experience for people with varying quality of staff support.

We saw and relatives and professionals told us staff treated people with kindness, compassion, and dignity.

We observed members of the management team treating people with kindness and observed they had a good rapport with people and knew them well.

People could receive visitors when they wanted. When visitors came to the home there were private spaces both inside and outside the home which people could utilise. The provider also had 2 overnight accommodations within the grounds which visitors could stay in when needed.

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.

People were able to make choices throughout their day, including what they wanted to wear and eat. We observed staff offering people choice and responding to their wishes throughout the inspection.

The registered manager told us how they involve people in their care planning by asking them how they like to be supported, by listening to feedback from staff and involving family or key people in the person’s life.

The provider promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. Systems and processes were in place and staff understood people had the right to have choice and control over how their care needs were met.

We reviewed people’s daily notes which evidenced they were supported to maintain their independence, were offered choices, and their refusals were respected.

Staff told us they involved people where they could, for example during medicines administration. Staff told us people had the right to refuse, and they would respect their wishes.

Staff were communicating with people in their preferred way, and we observed them offering people choices.

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.

We observed staff responding positively to several people who were at different times in a heightened state of anxiety. It was clear staff knew people well and responded to their immediate needs with kindness, patience and compassion. We also observed staff knowing when to give a person space to enable them to reduce their anxiety.

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

Staff members told us the home was a good place to work, 1 staff member told us, “The service promotes equality, diversity and inclusion, and our cultural and religious needs are respected and accommodated wherever reasonably possible.” 2 staff members told us, they felt the provider could do more in this area. Team meetings were held to discuss issues relevant to the service or staff experience.

A staff survey had also been issued to encourage feedback, however, we did not see an action plan to evidence the feedback drove improvement.