Bramble Home Care Limited

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 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.

Staff respected people’s privacy and dignity. One staff member told us, “When I give someone a shower or wash, I always ensure curtains are closed and I use 2 towels, 1 for their private areas and I always ask for consent. I wouldn't comment on a person's body when they were receiving personal care. I try to compliment people to make their day. One person had a haircut, and I made sure to compliment her on how nice she looked.” Another staff member told us, “When personal care is being given, I talk and include the person and never talk to my colleague over the client. Each step is discussed with the person and consent is sought at every stage of the care I provide.”

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.

Staff considered and supported people’s individual needs and preferences. One staff member told us, “I know my clients very well, for example, there's 1 person I get along with really well and I can tell when he's having a bad day, I try to encourage him to go for a walk. Another example was when I was the first person to meet a new client who has dementia and just came out of hospital. I called the office and advised them to make the call longer because he was quite resistive to having help with a shower and I felt a longer visit would mean less stress for both of us. There’s also another client I support who collects certain types of items and so I make conversation with them about those items when they are having a bad day.” Another staff member told us, “I talk to people, that’s the best way. The care plans are quite long, but they give a lot of details about people’s background and preferences so it’s a good starting point for me to engage in conversation about their likes and dislikes.” Feedback from partners was positive. One professional told us, “Staff consistently treat people with dignity, patience, and respect. They take time to engage with individuals, not just complete tasks. Staff are mindful of people’s preferences and routines. I have observed warm, respectful interactions during my visits.”

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

The provider and manager empowered people to be active participants in their care records and demonstrated exceptional ways they engaged with people. This ensured people were at the centre of their care and could speak with managers about their goals. The provider had introduced into the reviews of care records a section called ‘voice capture’ which was an innovative way of speaking with people about what mattered most to them and how they wanted staff to support them. This allowed people to feel in control of the care. The provider told us, “I found some people's care plans used language which was not person-centred and so I've introduced voice capture. Within care and support planning training we cover voice capture. This system allows us to acknowledge people’s views on their own outcomes and what they'd like to achieve, and not have it based solely on their health needs, but social needs as well.”

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.

Staff told us how they were able to use the training provided on unmet needs to assist them in observing people’s non-verbal body language which may indicate people were experiencing an unmet need such as pain, hunger, loneliness, mental health deterioration or anxiety. Staff told us, “I support an individual who has limited verbal communication. I have worked with them to develop an easy way for them to communicate using hand gestures.” Another staff member told us, “I focus on non-verbal gestures, head movements, thumbs up, thumbs down. I show them options so they can point to things they want. If someone were deaf, I could write things down for them. I also make sure they have glasses, hearing aids etc in before I start to communicate as this is really important.”

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 safe at work and were supported with their personal safety. One staff member told us, “I feel safe, but the village I usually cover in the evening, I do worry sometimes because it's a really remote area and if I broke down, I only have my mobile. I'd really like to have another carer nearby who can check on me if I don't make contact.” Another staff member told us, “One time, I didn’t have any signal on my phone, and the system didn’t log me in at an address, the office thought I hadn't arrived and I was bombarded with calls to see if I was ok. Another time there was an incident where a client made a remark to me which made me feel uncomfortable. I finished the call and rang the office and the on-call manager offered to do the evening call for me.” We raised staff concerns about their safety with the provider who told us they were working on introducing devices for staff to provide additional safety measures.