Highfield 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 Requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to 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 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 and their relatives were positive about the service. One person told us, “I am quite happy living here” Another person said, “They are gentle with personal care. They help me put my t-shirts on. I do feel safe”.

Staff were attentive to people’s needs and respected people’s privacy and dignity. Staff knocked before entering people’s rooms and closed doors when providing people with personal care. Staff spoke to people in a kind way and there was a positive atmosphere between staff and people.

Staff treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. However, there were areas where assessments about people’s equality needs were not complete.

Staff knew people well and could tell us about people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics. People were supported to have visits from religious leaders where this was important to them. During lunch we observed people were supported with a range of different aids and adaptations to meet their individual needs.

However, these were not always documented in people’s care plans to support consistent support.

The provider 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 spend time where they wanted to do so and move about the service during the day. There were quiet areas where people could spend time if they chose to do so. People ate their meals where they wanted to do so and chose if they did or did not engage in activities.

Staff understood the importance of encouraging people to continue to do things for themselves as much as possible and told us how they would support people to do so. For example, one person made their own hot drinks.

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.

Staff responded to call bells throughout the day. We observed these were responded to within a reasonable time frame.

When people were upset or confused staff provided the person with comfort and reassurance. One person needed assistance during lunch, staff responded to this need and supported the person in a dignified way. Staff and people interacted well, and people were comfortable with the staff who provided them with support. One relative told us, “[The staff] have so much patience, they’re all really lovely, kind and caring.” Another said, “Staff explain what they’re doing to [my relative] so they don’t get too distressed.”

Staff provided people support to people when they were anxious. For example, told us how they would sit with one person to provide them with reassurance and explain their medicine to them when they were worried about taking them.

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

Staff told us they felt well supported by the management of the service and had breaks during their shifts. One staff told us, “They are giving support. If we need help, such as to go home, they support to us and we can go if we have a family emergency.”

Staff had access to an external employee support service if they needed this assistance.