Acer Healthcare Northwood & Ruislip

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 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 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

People were treated with kindness, compassion and dignity. People had good relationships with care workers and managers. People were treated well and told us staff respected them. Their comments included, “Care workers are friendly and chatty”, “They are nice, caring people” and “The care worker is lovely. They treat [person] like their own relative.”

People were able to make choices about the gender of their care workers. They told us their privacy was respected and staff provided sensitive care and support.

People were treated as individuals. The provider carefully planned personalised care with people and their relatives. They matched people with staff who met their specific requirements, for example those who spoke the same language. People using the service and their relatives confirmed this, telling us their individual needs were respected and met. Relatives told us care workers respected their families and home environments. They told us the agency celebrated their birthdays, Christmas and other special events. Managers told us they always ensured people had a celebratory cake and flowers on their birthdays and provided gifts for staff and people using the service at Christmas.

People were supported to make choices about their care and support. They told us that care workers knew people’s likes and dislikes and always offered choices in accordance with these. Their comments included, “Care workers encourage [person] to make decisions” and “[Person] is given choices and the staff know [person’s] routine and preferences.”

People were supported to be independent when this was what they wanted and it was safe for them. Care plans described things people could do for themselves. Managers explained how support and encouragement for 1 person to be more independent had led to a reduction in their need for care. They celebrated this success with the person. Relatives told us that staff understood and valued people’s need to be independent. Their comments included, “Staff encourage [person] to be independent but are there to help keep [person] safe from falling” and “[Person] has always liked going to shops themselves. But because of [their] condition they find this hard. The care workers go with [person] to ensure they can still do this.”

The provider responded to people’s immediate needs. Staff told us they worked with the same regular people. They explained this helped them to recognise any changes which indicated ill health or something was wrong. They always alerted relatives and the management team to any concerns so that people could get the help and support they needed. Records of accidents and incidents showed that staff followed emergency procedures and contacted medical teams when needed. Managers reviewed care plans and risk assessments following changes in people’s needs or an accident. This helped make sure staff understood about any additional care they needed.

The provider supported staff wellbeing and enablement. There were formal systems for staff to meet with managers and discuss their work. Staff told us there was also good informal support and they felt valued and respected. Comments from staff included, “There are opportunities for us to meet and discuss our work”, “If I have any concerns I can speak with managers or other staff”, “I feel that I can report any issues to my manager and feel that they would be dealt with” and “My individual needs are met. The service gives priority to my personal health, and my individual needs.”

Staff were supported to request additional training if they wanted this and opportunities to develop in their roles and work towards promotion. The provider celebrated good practice and staff successes.