First Thought Care Services

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 registered service. 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 85 (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 was exceptional at treating people with kindness, empathy and compassion and in how they respected people’s privacy and dignity. Staff always treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

Staff spoke genuinely about people and knew them well. We observed staff speaking respectfully to people and giving them time to respond and respecting their wishes. Staff clearly knew people well and adapted their approach according to people’s communication needs.

Feedback from relatives was overall positive and complementary. Relatives commented that staff were caring and had built up a warm and trusting relationship with people.

Relatives stated staff respected people’s privacy and dignity. One relative praised staff approach and their communication skills and said staff politely reminded people of other people’s boundaries in a respectful manner. Another relative said, “They give him space, have learnt to give him time, and reassure him.”

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.

Relatives highly praised staff and said they treated people as individuals as well as adults. Staff respected people’s wishes and preferences and supported people to pursue daily living tasks and engage in activities of their choice in the community. The skills and attributes of staff were considered when creating a staff team to support people. A bespoke training presentation had been created for each person to ensure staff fully understood people’s needs.

People were supported to maintain contact with their families. Systems were in place to enable people’s relatives to visit or engage in video calls with them at a time of their choice. This was confirmed by staff.

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 try a wide range of activities and promoted and encouraged their independence. People’s care and support plans identified people’s level of independence and how staff could assist. This prompted and supported people to remain independent and to have choice and control over their care and how they wished to spend their day.

Staff supported people to become increasingly independent and to develop daily living skills and to engage in activities of their choice in the community. One staff member said, “We support people and empower them to do things for themselves, and they have their own privacy.” We observed staff providing people with choice and prompting to be as independent as possible such as choosing their own clothes. People were supported to undertake activities new to them and complete their hobbies such as arts.

Staff told us how they had supported people to improve their communication which had improved their ability to make choices about their day and increase their independence. One staff member said, “Every non-verbal cue is a communication, and we check the care plans for each person.”

People had been supported to decorate their homes in way which reflected their interests and sensory needs.
 

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.

People were funded and supported to have 24-hour support with various staffing levels depending on their individual support needs and activities. An additional staff member was on duty to provide additional support or advice as needed. Through time and the dedication of the staff who supported people, the staff levels had been reduced for some people. This demonstrated that staff had built up a good understanding of people’s needs and were able to support them proactively and reduce the need to have a high staff ratio. The managers told us they constantly reviewed people’s staffing levels and ensured enough staff were on duty to be responsive to people’s needs.

The provider always cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff, and was exceptional at supporting and enabling staff to always deliver person-centred care.

Staff overwhelmingly praised the provider and said that they felt truly supported and that managers were interested in their well-being.

The provider stated they valued the wellbeing of staff and were committed to bring out the best in their staff and ensure they had the support they required to support people with complex needs. Systems were in place for staff to gain support and have debrief sessions after incidents.
The provider ensured people were supported by staff who were compatible with them. They were mindful of staff ‘burnout’ and rotated staff as needed to support their mental wellbeing and to reduce people’s overdependence on regular staff members.

All staff said they felt confident in raising any concerns about their wellbeing. Staff told us how they had been supported by manager during times of personal difficulty. We were provided with examples of when adjustments had been made to staff working arrangements to health, personal and cultural needs.

The provider recognised the potential in staff and provided staff with the training and support to develop and be promoted in the service. One staff member who had been promoted within the service said, “I can’t praise [name of managers] enough. They have been amazing. I wouldn’t be where I am today without them.” They explained the support and training that had been provided to them professionally and also, the support they had received personally to overcome their own personal anxieties.

The provider recognised the emotional demand placed on staff when supporting people with complex needs. They offered staff regular supervisions and had an open-door policy. A clinical psychologist had been employed to help monitor and promote staff’s psychological wellbeing when they supported people.

There was a strong culture in recognising and celebrating good practices within the staff team. Staff and managers regularly nominated colleagues who demonstrated exceptional compassion and professionalism. Those selected as finalists were celebrated with prizes and formal recognition for their commitment to excellence.