Verity Healthcare - Haringey

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 ‘Good’. At this assessment the rating has remained Good.

This service scored 65 (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 did not always ensure people were treated with kindness, empathy and compassion. We received mixed feedback from relatives and people using the service about the quality of care and support provided.

Where comments were positive, people indicated staff were kind, caring, friendly and polite. A relative told us, “All staff are competent, kind and compassionate. They [staff] note when [family member] are tired and are alert to changes.” The relative stated staff were very good at monitoring and maintaining their family member’s skin integrity. Other comments included, “The care is pretty good”, “The quality of care is good. The staff look after [relative] really well, they do what they need to do” and “The staff take their time with [relative], and they have built a nice relationship, best of all, [relative] can talk to them easily.”

Less positive comments indicated not all relatives spoken with felt staff understood the support needs of their family member, particularly if they were living with dementia. A relative informed us that an unfamiliar member of staff recently visited their family member who was living with dementia. When asked if they needed anything, the family member replied, “No” and the member of staff left the property without providing any care or trying to understand the reason for the refusal of care. Concerns were similarly raised that having unfamiliar staff provide support could also affect the quality of care provided. A relative told us, “When it’s unfamiliar staff, I have to back them up and explain a lot, so the care then isn’t up to the usual standard.”

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 life history, backgrounds and protected characteristics. This is important as this information can foster a person-centred approach to care, enhance communication between staff and the person being supported and promote the person’s wellbeing.

People’s protected characteristics under the Equalities Act 2010, such as age, disability, religion and race were identified as part of their need’s assessment where completed. Staff knew about people’s individual characteristics. Following our assessment the provider wrote to us, including people's comments. Comments included, "They really understand my [family member]; they know their routines, their culture and what makes them feel comfortable," and "The staff always respect my [family member] beliefs and preferences, they treat them as an individual, not just as a task."

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

People who used the service confirmed staff encouraged their independence and supported them to be in control of the care they received; they told us staff were respectful of this.For example, people had access to appropriate equipment, such as walking frames to help maximise their mobility. Where applicable, people were encouraged to retain their autonomy at mealtimes by eating independently or with minimal staff support. Staff confirmed that some people who were very reliant on them for activities of daily living, were actively encouraged to undertake some aspects of their personal care, such as washing their face and hands, brushing their teeth and dressing and undressing to maximise their independence.

The provider did not always listen to and understand people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff did not always respond to people’s needs in the moment or act to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. As already recorded within the text of this report, some people and relatives told us their immediate needs were not always met due to their calls from time to time being late or being completed by staff who did not know them or their family member’s needs.Other people shared they were happy with the times of their calls.

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff to ensure staff well-being was supported and advocated.

The staff workforce at Verity Healthcare - Haringey were diverse, including representations from a range of different cultures, ethnicities and religions. The provider confirmed appropriate arrangements were in place to recognise different multi-faith festivals and customs for staff, such as, religious observance, prayer times, fasting and supporting religious leave requests. The provider made sure their recruitment practices was accessible to all, adopting and supporting anti-discrimination and equal opportunities policies. The provider advised informal work placement adjustments were made for staff in relation to supporting staffs’ childcare arrangements.

Staff received equality and diversity training as part of their induction and ongoing development.