Gables Nursing Home

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture. This is the first assessment for this service under the new provider. This key question has been rated good. This meant the service was consistently managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality, person-centred care.

This service scored 71 (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 had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities.

People and their relatives had opportunities to give their views and opinions during meetings with staff and management. They were kept up to date with the events within the service through the meetings.

Policies and procedures and staff training were available to guide staff in equality, diversity and human rights, helping to promote good compassionate care.

The provider had inclusive leaders at all levels who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience, and credibility to lead effectively. They did so with integrity, openness, and honesty.

Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience, and credibility to lead effectively.

The provider had processes in place such as team meetings which were facilitated regularly and involved staff on improvements they planned to make within the home.

The registered manager had also kept their knowledge up to date to ensure care was delivered in line with good practice and national guidance.

The registered manager acted with honesty and integrity and applied duty of candour as and when required.Audits/spot checks on culture and quality of carewere conducted regularly and appropriate action was taken in response to concerns.

The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard.

People and their relatives told us they felt they could raise concerns if they had any. One relative told us, “I speak with [registered manager], she’s good, she puts me at ease and says I can ring at any time. They ring me about things that are going on. I can’t think of anything that would improve the home.”

Staff we spoke with told us they felt they had a safe space to speak up. One staff member said,” Oh yes, I have a voice, and I can speak up, we are encouraged to. We have a culture of that here now.” Staff told us how they had staff meetings.

The provider valued diversity in their workforce. The provider had an equality, diversity and inclusion policy. They worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them.

Regular staff meetings were held with each of the staffing groups to share their views and experiences and for the registered manager to cascade information about things happening in the service. Staff meeting minutes were maintained to ensure that all staff had access to the information they needed.

The provider did not always have clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability or good governance. They did not always act on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, or share this securely with others when appropriate.

The provider’s quality assurance arrangements monitored the quality of care and people’s experience through its internal auditing processes. A wide range of audits and checks were carried out to monitor the quality and safety of the service and to identify how the service could be improved. These included areas such as risk assessments, care records, daily records, medicines charts and staff training to ensure they provided care and support to people to the required standard. Where shortfalls were identified, appropriate actions were taken to resolve them.

We found the provider needed to make improvements to the content of some of their audits (for example wound care audit and care plan audit) and this had been identified with plans in place to make improvements. We also found that there was duplication of action plans between the audits and the overall action plan. Some relatives weren’t aware of care plans or reviews of these. These were discussed with the management to improve the systems around this.

Data was used to identify trends and patterns in key areas such as accidents and incidents. This information was used to help the management team drive improvement.

The provider was also focusing on embedding their governance systems, to ensure good governance and improve ways of working, to better identify, review and manage risk.

We found the issues we had identified in relation to governance had been discussed at a management meeting with a plan to be developed of how this will improve moving forward.

The provider understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services worked seamlessly for people. They shared information and learning with partners and collaborated for improvement. We spoke with a visiting professional who told us, “Staff and the provider are extremely transparent. Staff are really engaged, and people are more engaged, their wellbeing is paramount.”

Staff and leaders ensured people received holistic and seamless support which met their needs. For example, a structured annual frailty review for people, specialist diabetes nursing support, mental health team support and community therapy teams.

The provider had taken active steps to support people engaging with groups and organisations in the local community in innovative and proactive ways to support people with their personal identity and interests. For instance, by being involved in Leeds-wide activity initiatives, including creative arts, music-based activities, reminiscence sessions and themed cultural events.

The provider also worked with the ‘Dance in Care Homes’ Research and Yorkshire Dance Company and hosted weekly dance-based exercise sessions for people, to enhance wellbeing.

The provider also worked with the local community to provide weekly singing sessions led by a local church group and organised regular church services within the home to support people’s religious and cultural needs.

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

The management team were open and transparent and wanted to drive improvement at the service. Accidents and incidents were reviewed, and lessons were learned which were shared with the staff team through team meetings and discussions. One staff member told us, “The difference now with the home is totally different, not just the environment but the culture.”