Archived: Cumberland

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 re-registered service. 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 80 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The service 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 were positive about how caring and kind staff were. A person told us, “The staff are kind and caring”, while another said, “All the staff are very nice to me.” People looked at ease and comfortable in the presence of staff. Staff interaction with people was characterised by warmth and kindness throughout this assessment. Staff spoke about people they supported in a respectful and positive manner. We observed a member of staff support a visiting relative who had become visibly upset in an extremely compassionate and kind manner.

People told us staff respected their privacy and dignity. We observed staff frequently sit and speak with people relaxing in the main communal lounge areas and always knocked on people’s bedroom doors and sought permission to enter before doing so. We also saw during lunchtime service meals were attractively presented, and the overall atmosphere was calm and pleasant.

The service 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 received care and support from staff according to their individually assessed needs and wishes. People told us staff treated them as individuals and understood what their specific personal care needs, preferences and daily routines were. Care plans were personalised and contained detailed information about people’s strengths, likes and dislikes, and how they preferred staff to meet their personal care and support needs and wishes.

The service was exceptional at promoting people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and well-being.

People told us staff supported them to be as independent as they could and wanted to be and to have as much choice and control over their lives as possible. A person said, “Sometimes I don’t like what’s on the menu and if I ask the staff, they give me something else instead. I can also choose what I want to wear.” A relative added, “My [family member] can choose how they spend their time including, what daily activities they join in with and deciding if they want to spend time alone in their room.”

Managers and staff confirmed they supported people to be as independent as they wanted to be while remaining safe. Staff told us care plans gave them a good overview of people’s differing dependency levels, so they knew exactly what people were willing and capable of doing safely for themselves, and what tasks they would need additional support with. Several staff gave us examples of how they actively encouraged and supported people to move freely around the care home by ensuring walking aids such as sticks, and Zimmer-frames were always easily accessible for people who used this equipment. People moved freely around the care home and spent their time as they wished, with no unnecessary restrictions. We observed staff allow a person who had asked to access the wider community independently without the need for staff support as they had been assessed as capable of doing so safely. Managers and staff confirmed they respected people’s choices and supported them to make informed decisions about the care and support they received. We observed staff during the serving of lunch use trays to physically show people the lunchtime meal options they could choose between on the day of our assessment. This enabled people to make an informed decision about what they ate and drank at mealtimes.

The service 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.

Staff supported people to access external health and medical care services as and when required. Staff were aware of people’s health care needs and how to respond to any immediate health care emergencies to minimise the risk of people becoming distressed or unwell, emotionally and/or physically. A relative told us, “The nurse was quick to call an ambulance for my [family member] when they suddenly became unwell.”

The service cared about and promoted the well-being of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.

Staff told us the managers helped them to feel happy and safe at work. A member of staff said, “We have a good team spirit amongst the staff team in the home and we do support one another.” Managers routinely used individual and group meetings to enquire about staffs’ wellbeing.