Shawford Springs Care Home

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• 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 80 (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.

On both days of the inspection the atmosphere at the service was friendly and welcoming. Staff knew people well, and people also knew most of the staff by name. All the staff, not just care staff, spoke to people by name. We observed many positive interactions between staff and people. For example, we observed one person ask a staff member to help [them] go into the garden in order to tie up a clematis the person had noticed that had fallen in the wind. The person and the staff member went off together to the garden with scissors and string to complete the task.

We received unanimously positive feedback from people about the staff. People described the staff team as, “very kind”, “ever such lovely people”, “incredibly patient” and “very friendly.” One person said, “The staff here are really remarkable. I love to chat to them, as they're an international bunch and I can usually talk to them about the countries where they come from, most of which I have been to. They are very dedicated, kind and caring.”

People’s relatives spoke highly of the staff. One person’s relative said, “Staff are friendly, patient, attentive and approachable. They also have a sense of humour. They are kind to both [relative] and to me.”

Staff understood how to maintain people’s privacy and dignity. For example, one staff member said, “We ensure that we give [people] dignity and respect. It’s in the little things like how they like to be looking, smart, brushed hair, and nail care done.”

The provider treated people as individuals and was exceptional in how they made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. The provider took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

People’s life stories were recorded, and these were detailed and informative. People’s relatives consistently told us that staff asked about life stories as part of the admission process.

The service had ‘resident ambassadors’ whose role was to listen and share any feedback, make suggestions heard, and support new people moving to the service. They ran their own sherry afternoons and fed back any issues to the management team. One person told us, “We have residents’ meetings, where ideas are knocked about, and if there's anything bothering people, we can take it to the meeting, and it's dealt with.” We saw minutes of these meetings and heard how issues raised had been resolved. For example, people had asked for people visiting with dogs to be kept on leads, and this had been actioned.

During dementia action week, the service had invited a dementia charity to give a talk. People, staff and relatives were invited to attend, including the resident ambassadors so that learning about dementia could be shared with other people living at the service.

There was a wide range of activities on offer. These included gardening, quizzes, and entertainment for example. People told us they had access to sherry afternoons and trips out that they had specifically requested. Some people told us about trips to the local cathedral and another person told us there was a canal boat trip planned for later in the year. One person said, “There is a great activities programme, I tend to pick and choose, but there is plenty going on. For example, I was a guide at a cathedral, so they took us all in the minibus and I gave everyone a guided tour.” One person’s relative said, “They do lots of activities, including keep fit. They sing in the afternoons, and almost every day there's a quiz. Every Friday there is a Scrabble Club. There have been many outings. For example, they are planning a canal boat activity during one weekend in June. They've been to museums, to the beach, to cafes, to garden centres, etc. It's been great. There's also a good art club. I'm very happy with the activities that are provided because these help to keep people independent.”

We were shown many case studies of people being actively involved in meaningful activities. The service encouraged people to take part and had sourced innovative ways to ensure people felt included. For example, when one person’s hearing made it hard for them to take part in quizzes, the service had sourced a speaker and microphone, which was now being used to make more activities accessible to more people. We saw records of people giving talks to other people using the service about subjects that they were passionate about. One person’s relative said, “[Name] has given talks in the home about [their] war history. For example, [name] most recently talked about [their] experiences on VE Day.” Staff told us how they had supported some people to go out on trips when they had never been out before due to their health conditions. This had involved a whole home approach and had resulted in positive outcomes for people who had enjoyed the trips and gone on to engage more in social activities.

There was a secure garden which people were able to access in the warmer weather. People living on the ground floor had access to the garden from their bedrooms. There were raised planters so that people could get involved with gardening. There was a gardening club run by the chef who told us, “I have an interest in gardening, so we work with the residents, and a couple of people in particular really like it. Some people like to sit and watch, and some people want to get involved. One person got involved with sowing runner beans with me.” We saw that people had asked for more flowers, and the gardening club had been tasked with planting these.

The registered manager said, “I speak to residents to find out what they think about the care here. At our resident meetings, we talk about employee of the month and seek people’s feedback.”

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

Care plans we looked at informed staff how to support people to maintain their independence where able. People told us they were supported to maintain their independence where able. For example, one person said, “I have a bathroom with a shower, and I can manage all that on my own, so I can please myself.”

Staff told us they encouraged people to do as much as possible for themselves in order to maintain their independence. For example, one staff member said, “I like to promote their independence; for example, if someone can wash their face and hands themselves then we should let them.”

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.

We saw that staff were available to help people when needed. We observed a quiz taking place and saw a staff member discreetly ask one person if they needed help to get to the toilet. On one occasion we observed a staff member asking one person if they were OK as they were crying. Another member of staff was asked to sit with person and staff told us this was because this was unusual behaviour for the person.

Records showed staff monitored people’s observations during ‘resident of the day’. One health professional said, “The staff are very proactive here. If they have concerns about someone acutely or urgently, they will call the practice. Someone on the on-call team will come out if needed, but if it's more routine, they will put it on the list. I have no concerns about them informing us about us when people are unwell.” We observed the staff interacting with a visiting professional. They were knowledgeable about people’s pain for example and discussed how they were managing it for one person. Records showed staff used a nationally recognised tool to assess people’s clinical condition if they had concerns about their wellbeing. The tool supported staff in knowing when to escalate concerns about people’s health.

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

There was a staff benefits scheme in place and employee of the month awards and the management team gave examples of how they supported staff welfare. One staff member said, “[Registered manager] is fantastic; very easy to speak to, very reasonable, and cares about the residents and the staff. By looking after staff, you get the best outcomes for the residents. It’s a whole home feel here. We all work together.”

Staff were positive and felt supported to carry out their roles. Staff told us the whole staff team, including the management team were “friendly”, “supportive” and “worked together.” Staff told us they were encouraged to develop professionally and personally. The management team had introduced ‘champion’ roles across a range of areas such as end of life, health and safety, infection control and speaking up. Staff we spoke with who had taken on these extended roles were proud of their achievements and the positive impact they had made. The registered manager said, “We have champion meetings to share best practice, and the staff involved take their roles really seriously.”