Townsend Manor

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

The service was in breach of legal regulation in relation to 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.

Some staff treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion, and respected their privacy and dignity. However, during this assessment, we observed missed opportunities for staff to engage with the person they were supporting and to acknowledge others present in shared areas when entering the room. We also initially observed instances where staff spoke about people, or in front of them, in a manner that did not uphold their dignity.

During lunch times observations, some staff were overheard describing supporting people with their meals as ‘feeding’. For example, a staff member was heard saying, “Someone needs to feed [named person].” We also overheard staff talking in front of people about their work shifts in an undignified manner. The conversation included, “I picked up Friday and now I am regretting it," And, "I will be knackered," "Would rather stay in bed," "[Named person] told me at the weekend, you will be moving to the Darkside." “There is no such thing as light duties is there.” We also observed occasions where people’s dignity was not always promoted, we saw a person half naked in their room with their bedroom door open. We also observed a person’s catheter on show when walking past their room.

However, we also observed staff talking to and supporting people with kindness, patience and compassion. When asked if staff were kind and caring, relatives in the main told us, “They really are kind and caring and they always listen to you,” And, “I do think they are very kind; they listen to me.”

Leaders and the staff team treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s preferences. They took account of people’s abilities, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics. People’s religions and religious wishes were clearly documented to guide staff with people supported to attend religious services should they choose to do so. A relative told us, “[Named person] is religious, someone comes in to do [named religious service], and he used to attend, and we would go with him, we are encouraged to do things with him. The relatives and friends or children can go to the coffee morning, which gives the community chance to see how the home is working.”

Specialist diets were available for people who had specific dietary needs such as a gluten free diet or a low sugar diet. People’s rooms were personalised to make them feel more homely. We observed staff in the main, knew the people they supported well, including any individual preferences they may have. Relatives when asked if staff knew their family member told us, “Yes they know him well,” and, “Yes, the ones that are there all the time, know the family well and offer us a cup of tea and sometimes a meal, we can have a laugh with them.”

The provider did not always promote people’s independence, so people did not always know their rights and have choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. A person told us of the arrangement they had to have an earlier evening meal and then to not be disturbed by staff after a set time in the evening. A relative said, “Yes, they do encourage him to be independent.” However, some relatives gave examples where a lack of staff at times meant that people’s requests and personal choice to be assisted were delayed. For example, we found a person requested paper to write their Christmas card list and this was not responded to.

Staff did not always listen to and understand people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff did not always respond to people’s needs in the moment or act to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress.

Whilst we observed staff working hard, we also saw missed opportunities for staff to engage and respond to people’s needs. We observed a person tell a staff member they were cold, rather than offer a blanket or cardigan to the person, the staff member just affirmed back to the person that they felt cold. Another person left their room and appeared increasingly anxious as they looked for staff to help them, as they wished to leave, however there were no staff nearby to offer reassurance. We also saw a person with their visitor. The person had slumped to one side, and their visitor was trying to help them sit up. A staff member witnessing this said to the visitor, “He keeps going to the side, I don’t know why.” But gave no further reassurance. This demonstrated to us that not all staff were responsive to people’s requests for assistance.

Whilst we noted areas for improvement, we also saw staff respond to people in a kind and timely way. For example, when a person was becoming unwell, we observed 2 staff respond quickly and with compassion when supporting the person.

The provider did not always care about and promote the wellbeing of their staff. They did not always support or enable staff to deliver person-centred care. Staff had mixed opinions around the support they received from the provider of this service. One staff member described the provider as having, “Unrealistic expectations.” Another said, “No one from head office [visits] at night.”

In the main staff had positive opinions of the support they received from the registered manager. One staff member said, “I can escalate any issues to the nurse or senior [staff member], or if no action taken, I can go to the management.”