Affinity Supporting People (North Lancashire and Burnley)

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 rating for this service which registered in November 2022. 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 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.

Kindness was at the heart of how staff supported people. Staff understood the importance of upholding people’s dignity, and we saw people were respected in their own homes. People we spoke with said they were very happy with their staff and felt they were kind.

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 recognised as unique.

People’s life experiences and what was important to their own sense of identity was valued, respected and celebrated.

One tenancy had been decorated with LGBTQ pride flags and decorations. Staff had supported people’s decisions to attend local Pride events. Relatives who also attended said, “The staff were really good, caring and tactful, they asked a lot of questions and really listened to the answers.”

Care records included detailed explorations of individuals’ life experiences and identified their goals and ambitions.

Communal areas and people’s own rooms were highly personalised and reflected their personal taste, lifestyle and choices. Some people took great pride showing us their rooms and told us how happy they were with their private space.

The provider promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

The provider was committed to supporting people’s independence and control in all areas of their lives. Some people used assistive technologies to maximise their independence.

Care records included people’s goals and ambitions for the future, staff were skilled in supporting people to develop their skills and have more independence and control in their lives. People had been supported to develop their decision making and independence in highly individualised ways which embraced their strengths and skills. Feedback from relatives supported this. One relative said, “[Name] is more confident with decision making, including unwise ones. [Name] has to some extent developed their independence.”

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 understood the needs and preferences of the people they supported and were able to respond to their ongoing and changing needs. The provider supported people flexibly to achieve positive outcomes. One relative described the service they experienced as ‘Very responsive and adaptive.’ People had been able to arrange their support hours as they wished and use their time flexibly. Staffing levels were maintained as commissioned which helped ensure staff were available when people needed them.

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

All staff we spoke with said they enjoyed working for the provider and felt supported and valued at work.

Staff recruitment records demonstrated the provider respected staff and considered what was important to their sense of identity. The provider had made reasonable adjustments for staff to support their health and wellbeing needs.

There were a range of additional welfare services available for staff which were accessible through an application on staffs' handsets. These included, online talking therapies, occupational health, menopause Mondays, mental health awareness and an advocate for men's mental health.