Bembridge 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 since it changed provider. 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.

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. During our inspection we observed staff treating people with kindness and compassion. Staff spoke kindly about the people they supported. Relatives told us staff were kind and caring. One relative said, “I have 100% faith in the staff, my [relative] is so happy.” We saw some feedback from a healthcare partner who worked closely with the service, which said, “It is clear [person] is so well understood and cared for. I got a sense of genuine fondness and concern for [their] wellbeing from all staff who came into contact with [person] during my visit.”

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. People’s care and support plans contained information about people’s likes and dislikes. Staff knew people well and their preferences. For example, one staff member told us, “One lady loves dance, we found a dance class for her, and she ended being able to perform in a dance show. Anything identified [people] may like we try to accommodate as far as we can.” A staff member gave another example of how they had adapted their way of working to ensure a person’s changing needs could be met. They told us, “We support an individual who really enjoys dinners and lunch at the pub. [Person] now needs puree diet and we struggled to find a pub that will accommodate this – but we found a portable blender so staff can blend his food in the pub.” The staff member told us they blended the person’s foods separately.

The provider promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. People’s care and support plans informed staff where people were independent or where they needed support. People were offered choices and had control over their lives. For example, staff told us “We always give people a choice of 3 drinks”. We observed choices being offered to people during our site visits. The manager explained how one person had improved by being supported to exercise choice and control. The manager said, “[Person] chooses which staff she wants to be supported by, and by asking her who she wants to ‘be’ that day like [pop singer].”

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.

For example, staff noticed some changes to a person and immediately recorded that they felt the person was unwell, despite there being no evidence to suggest they were poorly. Staff told us “[Person] just was not right, I cannot explain it – but we all knew”. The registered manager then ensured staff were available to take the person to hospital. An ultrasound confirmed what staff suspected. The person was then supported to rest at home to recover.

Further comments from staff included: “We know people well, we keep [person] safe and can anticipate [person’s] moods”. This meant staff were able to proactively respond to people’s care needs based on how well they knew them.

The provider strongly valued diversity in their workforce. They had an inclusive and fairculture which had improved equality and equity for people who worked for them.

Staff told us they were treated as individuals by the provider. They felt listened to and encouraged to speak up in team meetings and share ideas.

Some of the provider’s workforce were from overseas. The provider informed us they had introduced a migrant worker support package. This package had an allocated person within the organisation who oversaw cultural and spiritual needs of overseas workers, and which helped introduce them to British culture.