Gairloch Residential 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 changed to Requires Improvement.

This meant people did not always feel well-supported, cared for or treated with dignity and respect.

This service scored 50 (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 did not always treat people with kindness, empathy, and compassion, or respect their privacy and dignity.

During our observation’s staff interaction was minimal and task focused, rather than being person-centred. However, staff knew people well and spoke to people in a caring manner. Peoples’ comments about the quality of care and support they received was positive. Peoples’ comments included, “The majority of the staff are kind”, “91% of the staff are perfect, none are unkind, and they treat me with respect” and “I cannot complain about the staff, you can have a laugh with them, staff are considerate.” Relatives’ comments were equally positive and included, “I feel we have a good relationship with the staff” and “[Family member] is happy and settled here and we have a good relationship with most staff.”

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 unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

People’s protected characteristics under the Equalities Act 2010, such as age, disability, religion and ethnicity were identified as part of their need’s assessment where completed. Staff knew about people’s individual characteristics.

The provider promoted people’s independence, dignity and privacy but did not always promote and afford people choice. Staff told us they understood people’s rights and choices and were able to tell us about how they tried to include people in decisions. However, this did not always happen in practice. Observations during our assessment demonstrated people were not routinely offered choices and improvements were required. For example, during morning and afternoon refreshments, people were not always offered a choice of drinks, given the choice to sit at the dining table to have their meal or to participate in meaningful activities. People’s dignity and privacy were respected. People received support with their personal care in private and staff were discreet when asking people if they required support to have their comfort needs met. People were supported to maintain their personal appearance to ensure their self-esteem and sense of self-worth. People were supported to maintain relationships that were important to them, including family members and friends. The service supported visits for people living at Gairloch Residential Care Home and people were able to receive visitors without restrictions.

The provider and staff did not always respond to people’s needs in the moment or act to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. For example, a person using the service activated the emergency alarm from within a communal bathroom. Staff did not initially respond in a timely manner and a member of the inspection team had to intervene and speak with the provider, drawing the above to their attention.

The provider did not have processes in place to support and promote the wellbeing of their staff.

Staff wellbeing was not being advocated.Information was not readily available and displayed for staff relating to wellbeing initiatives. For example, employee of the month, the Employee Assistance Programme [EAP]. This is a benefit that offers employees confidential support and guidance for personal or professional issues that may affect their work performance and for those struggling with their mental health. Additionally, recognition programmes and projects that could improve staff retention and wellbeing, coaching and software application subscriptions that could focus on promoting staffs’ mental health and improving emotional wellbeing had not been pursued and considered. This was confirmed as accurate by the manager.Following our assessment the provider wrote to us and confirmed staff had access to ‘Care First’ which provides confidential support to staff and the ‘CARE: Your Wellbeing Matters initiative which supports staff’s mental health and wellbeing.