Walsingham Support - Langdon Park

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 requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to 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.

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.

At the last inspection we found that staff did not always treat people with respect, described people inappropriately and referred to people by their surnames which were not their preferred names. Failure to treat people with dignity and respect was a breach of Regulation 10. Dignity and respect. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulation 10.

People and their relatives told us the staff were kind and caring. One person said the staff, “Are all nice.” Another person told us, “They are kind and they listen to me.” One relative told us, “The care and attention [family member] receives is very good.” A second relative said, “Staff are caring.”

Staff respected people’s dignity. We observed staff knocking on people’s doors and waiting to be invited in before entering. We heard staff refer to people by their preferred names. And we observed warm and meaningful interactions between people and staff.

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.

At the last inspection we found people were not supported to participate in social, educational or leisure activities. People spent most of their time at home either in their bedrooms, watching television or listening to music without staff support. This was a breach of regulation 9 of the Health and Social Care Act 2028. Person centred care. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulation 9.

At this inspection we found that people were supported to engage in the activities and pursuits they chose. One person told us, “I’m busy I do lots of activities and things. People engaged in a range of activities at home and in the community.” One person returning from an outing supported by staff, told us, “I’ve come back from a restaurant in Kingston. Went there on the bus. I had fish and chips. It was nice.” Staff supported people’s cultural and spiritual needs in the ways they preferred. One person told us that staff supported them to attend church services on Sundays.

People received care and support tailored to their specific needs and preferences. One relative told us, “The care and attention [family member] receives is very good.” A member of staff told us, “People have preferences for staff, activities, food, everything. And we have to respect that.”

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

Staff supported people to choose the activities they wanted to engage in. A pictorial activity board was used to assist this. People had keyworkers assigned to them. Keyworkers are members of staff who have responsibility for arranging people’s health appointments and activities, liaising with relatives, reviewing care records and planning activities. People chose and planned activities with their keyworkers. A whole-team approach was used to support people to engage in activities.

People’s independence was promoted. Staff supported people to develop skills towards greater autonomy. For example, the sink in the kitchen was height-adjustable to enable people to participate in washing dishes at a level that was comfortable for them. People were encouraged to be as involved and independent as possible with their personal care.

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.

The provider was adaptable and responsive to people’s changing needs. At the time of our inspection one person had been admitted to hospital. Hospitals were an environment they found distressing. The service responded to this immediate need by ensuring a member of staff was with them for 24 hours a day. They had done so for 2 weeks. This meant the service met the person’s social care needs in a clinical setting, enabling them to receive the healthcare they required whilst managing the anxiety it caused.

People’s changing needs were supported. For example, staff updated 1 person’s care plan 3 times in 5 months following reviews of their rapidly changing needs. The manager ensured that staff were kept up to date about changes to their care and support through daily handover meetings, monthly team meetings, individual staff supervision, daily care records and the service’s communication book. This meant staff had the knowledge and guidance to respond to people’s immediate needs.

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

Staff felt supported in their roles. One member of staff told us, “If staff have issues they can reach out to the manager and beyond confidentially. We try to be open. That includes sharing when you are overwhelmed by work or life events.” Staff received supervision and appraisal and attended team meetings where they shared their views, and the manager offered support. The provider offered staff a 24-hour telephone counselling service. This was external to the provider and confidential. This meant staff had the opportunity to discuss and maintain their well-being.