Willowbrooke Residential 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 service 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 felt well-supported, cared for or treated with dignity and respect.

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.

The service treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and they respected people’s privacy and dignity. Staff always treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

We witnessed kind, supportive, encouraging and caring interactions during our assessment. During our first day of the assessment, we overheard a conversation between staff and a person. The person said, "You are amazing" and the staff replied to them with, “Oh no, you are amazing, you are doing so well with walking." Professionals told us people were treated with kindness and compassion. One said, "They (staff) always treat people with compassion.” A professionals also told us about their positive experiences in the service. They said, "Yes (I am treated with kindness and compassion). I get brews and things; they do look after me."

People felt staff treated them with kindness and respect. People’s comments included, “Yes, they are kind and have listened so far” and, “Yes, they respect me and knock if they are coming into my room.” Staff spoke about how they treat people with kindness, compassion and dignity. One staff member said, "Yes (I would let one of my relatives live here). Because I feel people are well looked after and staff care about residents (people who used the service)." Some staff and visiting professionals had relatives who had lived at the service previously. They told us they would recommend it.

The service 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.

People felt staff communicated with them effectively during their day-to-day care and support and treated them as individuals, staff told us they knew people well. The registered manager said, "We support people’s religious needs, we do have a priest that comes in. We have people that like holy communication. We have a diverse staff group from different religious backgrounds from different countries."

During our walk around, we observed people’s bedrooms were personalised with their chosen items, such as photos and belongings important to them. Professionals feedback told us how people were treated as individuals.

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

People felt they got to make everyday choices. One person said, “Yes (I get to make everyday choices), within reason. I can go to bed and get up when I want.” Staff spoke about how they tried to encourage people’s independence. One staff member said, "When we get people up, we knock on their door before entering, we ask them if they need help or assistance, they get to choose their clothes, and we encourage people to dress themselves when they can."

The service employed an activities coordinator, and we did see some photos of some activities people were involved in. The service had an activity plan in place on the noticeboard this showed some of the activities that were being offered throughout the week. The service had an agreement with a local supermarket who donated flowers regularly and people took part in arranging the flowers in the service. Visits in the community included going to the local conservative club and to Blackpool illuminations. People and their relatives spoke positively about the activities on offer. One person said, “I join in with singing and dancing” and 1 person’s relative said, “There are lots of activities and [person] joins in.” The service had a hairdressing salon which was available for people to use every Wednesday when a local hairdresser visited to offer haircuts for people. People were supported to maintain relationships with their loved ones.

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.

We observed staff responding to people’s needs by supporting them with things such as mobilising and providing one-to-one support, where required. People and their relatives felt staff listened to them. One relative said, “Yes (they do listen), they are really helpful.” The registered manager told us how they could use and access communication tools to communicate with people who may find it difficult to communicate verbally, though no one currently required this type of support.

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

Staff feedback about wellbeing was positive. One staff member said, "I think staff morale is pretty good." Various policies were in place to support staff wellbeing.

Staff were able to raise concerns in various ways should they have any and through various channels. Staff health was considered as part of the recruitment process though completion of health questionnaires, this helped the service accommodate any specific needs staff may have to help support people.