Wandsworth Common 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 for this newly re-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 service 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 were extremely positive about how caring and kind staff were. Comments included, “The staff are an absolute delight. They’re all so compassionate and kind”, “The staff are friendly and the home has a real family feel about it” and “The homes biggest asset is the staff who are all exceptional!They are all the most kind and caring people including the nurses, domestic and catering staff”. People looked at ease and comfortable in the presence of staff. Staff interaction with people was characterised by warmth and kindness and we saw they treated people with the utmost respect throughout our onsite visit. Staff spoke about people they supported in a respectful and positive manner.

People told us staff respected their privacy and dignity. For example, we observed staff frequently sit and speak with people relaxing in the main communal lounge areas and always knocked on people’s bedroom doors and sought permission to enter before doing so. One person told us, “Staff always knock on my bedroom door and ask me if it’s alright if they come in.” People could also choose to have their meals delivered to their bedroom to eat in private. In addition, the service has numerous private dining areas where we observed people living in the care home enjoying a meal in the company of their family.

The service had a proactive and positive culture of safety, based on openness and honesty. They listened to concerns about safety and investigated and reported safety events. Lessons were learnt to continually identify and embed good practice.

People were encouraged and supported to raise safety concerns with the provider. Managers and staff understood the importance of reporting safety concerns and learning lessons when things went wrong.

Systems were in place to support staff to report and record safety concerns and events when these arose. Managers investigated safety concerns and events and used the learning from these to support staff to continually improve their practice, reduce risk and keep people safe.

The service was exceptional at promoting people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

People told us staff supported them to be as independent as they could and wanted to be and to have as much choice and control over their lives as possible. One person said, “I like to remain independent and go for walks on my own around the home and staff still let me brush my own hair, which is something I’m keen to continue doing in my dotage.” An external care professional added, “From my experience of what I have witnessed the nurses and carers do support people to do as much for themselves as they can do safely.” Managers and staff confirmed they supported people to be as independent as they could safely and wanted to be. Staff told us care plans gave them a good overview of people’s differing dependency levels, so they knew exactly what people were willing and capable of doing safely for themselves, and what tasks they would need additional support with. Several staff gave us examples of how they actively encouraged and supported people to move freely around the care home by ensuring walking aids such as sticks, and Zimmer-frames were always easily accessible for people who used this equipment. A member of staff told us, “I help one person who I know likes to walk independently around the home and minimise the risk associated with this positive activity by keeping a close eye on them at all times and remaining close by when they decide to go for a walk.” People moved freely around the care home and spent their time as they wished, with no unnecessary restrictions.

Managers and staff confirmed they respected people’s choices and supported them to make informed decisions about the care and support they received. Typical comments we received included, “We can choose what we want to eat and drink at mealtimes and we can ask the chef to make food which may not be on the daily menu”, “We can make some of our own choices such as when we get up, eat our breakfast and if we want to have it delivered to our room” and “I feel my [family members] wishes are respected by staff who enable her to make her own choices when she can.” We observed staff show people various meals that were being provided on the day of our inspection which had already been plated up to enable people to make informed choices about what they wanted to eat for their lunch. In addition, we saw one person being served a cooked breakfast around mid-morning which they told us staff knew they liked to lie in and have a late breakfast.

The service 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.

Staff supported people to access external health and medical care services as and when required. Staff were aware of people’s health care needs and how to respond to any immediate health care emergencies to minimise the risk of people becoming distressed or unwell, emotionally and/or physically. A relative told us, “The nurse was quick to call an ambulance for my [family member] when they suddenly became unwell.” An external health care professional added, “The staff are extremely well-trained and understand the risks that our clients face. This is demonstrated by their ability to communicate problems to us in a timely manner. I cannot say enough about how well they manage health care emergencies and critical situations.”

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

Staff told us the managers helped them to feel happy and safe at work. A member of staff said, “I really like working at this care home. The managers and staff are all so supportive to one another. Best place I have ever worked.” Another added, “I do feel strongly that the managers have the staffs best interests and wellbeing at heart.” Managers routinely used individual and group meetings to enquire about staffs wellbeing.