Affinity Trust- Domiciliary Care Agency- Central

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 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, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect. People and relatives told us they felt the staff were kind and compassionate. A person told us, “They (staff) look after me very well. They are always kind and caring. I like them all. ”Relatives told us, “The staff who support [Name] are always polite and very caring” and “I have absolutely no issues with staff; they are always very kind and friendly. They are always there for [Name].”A staff member told us, “This is a value-based company. Everything revolves around the people we support. We feel like family members and care for them and empower them to be the best they can be. ”People confirmed their privacy was being respected and we saw this when we visited people. People’s care plans included guidance for staff on how to ensure people’s privacy whilst providing care and how to recognise when people needed their own space.

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’s care plans included information about their personal information, their background, family and relationships. Information was provided about people’s specific health conditions, emotional needs and preferred communication. This helped staff to identify with people as individuals and assisted managers to identify compatibility between people and staff. We saw interactions between people and staff were personalised. People’s support plans included their goals and aspirations, and they were supported to work towards and achieve these. For example, person was working towards losing weight, whilst another person had identified new life experiences. Records showed staff met with people regularly to assess if they had completed goals or had the right support to work towards them. Staff working in the service received training in equality and diversity, dementia, learning disabilities, autism and mental health to help them understand people’s individual needs.

The provider promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care ,treatment and wellbeing. A person told us, “I have brilliant carers. I like 1-1 shopping, cooking and I help to clean. I have cleaned the bathroom this morning”. A second person told us, “I have a bar on top of my bed to manoeuvre myself to transfer into my wheelchair. There is a bleeper I can access if I fall. An assessment has been carried out saying I can cope using these strategies as it helps me to be independent. ”A third person described how they decided how care was provided to them. They told us, “I decide on the day; it is my choice and the staff respect this.” Some relatives expressed concern regarding a shortage of car drivers to support people to go out into the community and a shortage of support hours for some people. The provider has already identified these concerns and was addressing this through recruitment strategies. They were also liaising with local authority commissioners, responsible for funding supported living, where they felt people did not have sufficient support hours to meet their 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’s care plans included information around their preferred communication methods and how to identify and intervene at an early stage when people showed signs of distress. We saw staff were consistently responsive to people’s needs including sitting with them when staff identified they needed reassurance, responding to requests to go out and providing people with information when they needed it.

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. Staff told us they felt supported by management particularly in relation to their wellbeing and personal circumstances and had a sense of belonging. Staff comments included, “We are encouraged to be creative and that gives us a real lift knowing that we can make a difference for people” and “We have a positive, proactive team and the registered manager is approachable and supportive.”