Choices for Living Well (Reablement)

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 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 70 (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.

Without exception, all the people we spoke with said they were treated with dignity and respect. One person told us, “I am a very private person, and I was dreading having strangers doing personal care, but they reassured me and I feel quite comfortable with them now.”

People's relatives also spoke positively about the kindness shown to their family members. One relative told us, “Not only dad’s needs are being met but the service is supporting mum as well.” This demonstrated the consideration carers gave to others living within the homes they visited, extending compassion beyond those people for whom the service was commissioned.

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 got to know people well in a short period of time. In line with service values, they considered people's goals and aspirations. One staff member provided an example from their practice, stating, “I take time to engage with customers, try to build working relationships, give customers time to make a choice, remind people that it will be different staff supporting a customer. For example, I supported someone to get into college, wanted to study but worried that wouldn’t be accepted, helped with preparation for college interviews.”

Feedback from agencies involved with the service was consistently positive. Staff were described as knowledgeable about people's individual needs.

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

Staff demonstrated a good understanding of the reablement model and consistently promoted independence. One staff member stated, “Our whole job is to promote independence”.

Staff consistently encouraged people to complete activities of daily living themselves but were on hand if support was required. In support of this, a family member reported, “They are encouraging her to do what she can do, what is appropriate for her individually.”

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 told us staff helped them access external healthcare services and support when they needed it. We were told staff were “competent. The other day they noticed my wound was leaking. They called the nurse out. They are on the ball”.

Staff demonstrated a good awareness of people's healthcare needs and how to respond to changes in their condition. Feedback received from external professionals demonstrated that timely and detailed referrals were made when the need for additional support had been identified.

The provider did not always care about and promote the wellbeing of their staff. They did not always support or enable staff to deliver person-centred care.

Staff did not always feel well supported during this transition period. They felt changes to the service could have been communicated more effectively, particularly regarding the transition from paper to electronic records.

The frequency of supervision was also a concern raised by staff. One staff member stated, “I don’t feel that it is often enough, would like to have once per month.”

The service was undergoing a transformation. As part of this, management was reviewing existing processes and roles to enable staff to feel better supported and receive supervision in line with company guidance, thereby aiding the communication of changes.

The staff we spoke with talked about their roles in a very person-centred and passionate way and ultimately enjoyed their jobs.