St Mary’s Team Care

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 newly registered 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 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.

People received their care and support from staff who were caring and kind. One relative told us, “They are as kind and as caring as I would hope for.” Staff spoke to people politely and were respectful to people’s homes. Staff followed the preferences in people’s care records and demonstrated cultural and religious sensibilities when supporting people. A relative gave us an example of compassionate staffing, citing an occasion when staff spent 5 hours with a person experiencing distress which they said, “was completely above her contracted duty and demonstrated her passion for providing excellent service.”

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.

Staff treated people as individuals. People were referred to by their preferred names and received their care and support at the times agreed. People and their relatives were involved in needs assessments and planning how they should be met. This meant that people’s care and support was personalised to people’s unique needs and preferences.

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 make choices that gave them control over their lives. For example, people chose when and how they received personal care, what they wore, drank and ate. Where it was stated in people’s care plans, staff supported them to engage in activities at home and in their communities. Staff also supported people to maintain as much independence as they felt confident and comfortable with and continually discussed this with them.

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.

People and staff knew each other well. This meant staff had an elevated understanding of when people’s needs changed. Staff worked with people and their relatives to identify and meet people’s changing needs in a person-centred way. When people’s needs changed significantly they were supported with reassessments and staff received updated guidance in revised care plans.

At the time of our inspection none of the people receiving care and support were identified as requiring end of life care. Leaders we spoke with told us they felt confident that they could continue to support people during end-of-life care by working in partnership with people, relatives and healthcare specialists.

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

Care staff felt supported by the registered manager, nominated individual and the office-based leadership team. Staff told us that they regularly met with leaders who checked on their well-being. Staff told us they felt encouraged to develop their careers in caring and received the emotional support they required following difficult situations.

Following incidents such as behavioural episodes, managers met with staff for debrief meetings. These meetings were used to discuss incidents, their impact on staff well-being and how this could be supported. Where required, staff had access to a confidential counselling service. This meant the provider promoted the well-being of staff.