Inver House

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 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 and family members told us people were treated with kindness and privacy and dignity was respected. For example, one person said, “The staff do not rush me and respect my dignity and privacy and independence.” A family member told us “The staff get on really well with my relative and are helpful towards her.” Care staff spoke about people in a caring way and, with one exception when a staff member moved a person in a wheelchair without first speaking with them, were observed to be polite to people throughout the day and treated people kindly. Care staff were aware which people preferred personal care from staff of a particular gender and confirmed that this was met.

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. Feedback from people, family members, staff and observation showed people were understood and treated as individuals. One person told us they interacted well with the care staff and added, “One of them will do the word search with me”. Care plans included information about people’s spiritual or religious views and what support may be required to meet these. Care plans also included a ‘Who am I’ section which was usually well-completed. People were able to receive visitors at any time and activities were organised to support people to maintain normal family relationships such as the February Valentines afternoon tea. A family member told us they had been invited to have Christmas dinner with their relative.

The provider promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care and wellbeing. There were systems in place to ensure people received care which promoted their independence, choice and control. People had access to mobility aids and at lunch time we saw people were provided with adapted cutlery and the support they needed. People confirmed choices were made available to them. One person told us, “I can come and go as I please and am very active in the local community.” Another person told us about the choices in respect of meals and that there was always a variety of options available. We observed staff offering people choices at mealtimes. Staff understood people’s rights to make choices.

Although staff and the management team listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes, staff did not always respond to people’s needs in the moment or act to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. People told us call bells were not always responded to in a timely way and that care staff were busy. The management team told us that when people thought they had used the call bell system to summon staff support this did not always alert staff to the person’s need. The management team were investigating improvements in respect of this so people would know if they had correctly activated their call bells. Emergency alarms (movement alert equipment) sounded different to generical call bells meaning staff would be able to prioritise these.

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. All staff felt valued and were clear that they could speak with the management team at any time and felt that their views, opinions and suggestions would be listened to. The registered manager understood the need to make reasonable adjustments for staff who had social, religious or culture needs to fulfil.