Forest Lodge 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 as good. At this assessment the rating has remained 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 and empathy. Staff interacted with people in a way which indicated a sense of respect and compassion. People were treated with dignity and their need for privacy was maintained in the support they were given. A staff member we spoke with told us, “The place is very loving, we have friendly staff.”

A family member told us, “Staff are polite, friendly and accommodating.” Another family member said, “For his birthday they brought him a cake and arranged a little party for him, they go all out to make everyone feel special”.

The provider treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. Staff told us how they asked people what their preferences were and how they ensured this was met. They told us about how people were supported to practice religious practices in line with their cultural beliefs. They added, how the provider matched staff with the same religious backgrounds as the people they supported to create opportunities to attend their places of worship together.

The provider promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choices. People made choices about their care and support and were asked, politely and with respect about the choices they had.

Staff told us they asked people about the daily choices that people were involved in such as the clothes they wore, food they ate and the activities they wanted to get involved in during the day. Families told us that people got involved in doing things and staff knew when people did not want to engage. One family member told us, “If [person] is not in the mood they leave them alone, they don’t force [person]; they know when to let them alone and when to push the issue”. However, some families told us that they would like to see their loved ones doing more than what they currently do including activities where people could get more exercise.

The provider listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted immediately to people’s health needs. Medical professionals we spoke to praised the staff for their ability to identify people’s changing medical needs and to reach out for support when it was needed. During our visit we saw staff were busy with various tasks but were able to balance all their duties with ensuring people’s immediate needs were met.

A family member we spoke with told us about how the service responded to people’s needs. They told us, “My family member has very complex health needs and is on a lot of medication. There is 24 hour nursing care, [person] is never without medical support, staff follow processes to the letter.”

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. The senior nurse told us about the support for colleagues they supervised, meeting weekly as well as daily to ensure the nursing staff got the support they needed. Staff told us that the management team was right for the service, knowing how to support staff and being there to assist whenever required. The Manager told us about the different levels of management within the organisation and the meetings they went to with their peer group to share learning.