Woodlands Court 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. This is the first assessment since the service was re-registered under a different provider name. 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 70 (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 spoke positively about their care and support and the staff who provided this. One person stated, “The care is perfect. If I said I don’t feel well and asked if I could lie down, they would say that’s fine and they would check on me.” Another person told us, “‘The carers are lovely. They are kind and attentive; they treat me like family.”

People also confirmed they were treated with dignity and respect. Comments included, “Dignity and respect is top of the carers list. They never enter my room without knocking” and “I have never been treated badly and I am treated as an individual.”

Staff knew how to ensure people’s privacy and dignity was respected. This included explaining what they intended to do, ensuring people were okay with this, and when providing personal care ensuring doors and curtains were closed and people were covered, as necessary.

We received feedback from a professional about the care provide at Woodlands Court. They stated, “The staff at Woodlands are genuinely caring with the residents, treating them with dignity, respect, and compassion. It’s clear that they build strong, trusting relationships and always have the residents’ best interests at heart.”

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 feedback supported this. One person told us, “I feel they respect me as a person. They know my likes and dislikes”. Relatives also provided positive feedback, one stated, “The staff all work as a team. They are friendly and treat [relative] as an individual.”

Care plans explained people’s needs and how they wanted staff to meet these. This included support with personal hygiene. People were happy with the support they received, telling us they made choices about their care. One said, “I use the sink [to wash] and I have showers. They never force me to have a shower; we are not given allotted times or anything like that.” Another person said, “I have a shower about 3 times a week. The staff support me and help me dress.”.

Consideration had been made with ensuring the décor within the home helped meet people’s individual needs. Art work was displayed on corridor walls, which due to the imagery chosen helped stimulate people’s memories of the past. Pictorial signage for toilets, bathrooms and other communal areas, was displayed at an appropriate height for people to see to help them recognise rooms they may need to use.

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

People confirmed they were offered choices and were able to make day to day decisions about their care. Comments included, “They [staff] let me do as much as I can by myself. I wash myself and I put my dirty clothes in a bag and put them in the laundry myself”, “I can do a lot by myself which they encourage me to do” and “I can make choices every day. I can choose what to wear, what to eat and what time to get up and go to bed.”

Staff explained to us how they supported people to make choices and maintain their independence . One told us, “In a morning, we prompt them to brush their teeth, their hair. If able, we give them the flannel and let them wash themselves. Clothes wise, offer choices, let them decide.”

People’s care plans included information about how they liked to spend their day and what activities they enjoyed. The provider employed a dedicated activity coordinator, who oversaw a range of daily activities. We asked people about activity provision within the home. One person told us, “There are lots of activities, but I don’t take part in them; I just like to watch.” Another person stated, “There is plenty to do here. The lady that does the activities works very hard to entertain everyone. I enjoy the bingo sessions.”

The provider listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. However, guidance to meet people’s specific needs was not always clear and staff did not always respond to people’s needs effectively.

Observations of care during the assessment process, showed people’s requests for help, either made verbally or via call bells were responded to timely. People told us staff were always on hand to provide assistance. One stated, “I feel the staff work very hard and are always there to help with whatever needs doing.” To ensure staff were responding timely to requests for help, approximately once a week, the registered manager pressed a random person’s call bell, and timed how long it took staff to respond. This was logged on a daily walk round form.

Where people had specific care needs, for example, they required support to maintain skin integrity, we found guidance for staff was not always sufficiently detailed and interventions were not always completed consistently. Turn charts for one individual indicated repositioning was not being done as frequently as needed. We identified no impact to this person, and they reported no concerns with the support they received, which suggested this was a record keeping issue.

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 their wellbeing was supported and they felt enabled and supported to carry out their roles. They told us the fact management were so easy to approach helped with this, as it allowed them to discuss things honestly and openly.

The provider had a number of processes in place to support staff wellbeing and reward staff for their hard work. They had worked with Wigan Council to implement a new supervision process, known as ‘My Time’ which was a more person-orientated method. They also operated an employee of the month scheme, with a ballot box introduced to allow people, staff and relatives to vote for who they felt deserved to be recognised for their work. The winner received a certificate and a voucher, and had their photograph displayed in the reception area.