Mayfield Road

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 as good. At this assessment the rating has changed to requires improvement. This meant people did not always feel well-supported, cared for or treated with dignity and respect.

This service scored 60 (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 treat people with kindness, empathy and compassion. A family member told us, “Staff are not busy with clients or interacting with them.”

During our visit, we observed care staff responding to people’s direct requests promptly but otherwise did not engage with them.

Staff demonstrated a commitment to treating people with respect and respecting their privacy and dignity. One senior staff member told us “We make sure staff are being respectful, if there was ever an issue, we would pick this up with staff.” We observed staff treating people with respect and saw they knocked on people’s doors and asked for their permission before they supported them.

We spoke with senior staff about our observations at the end of our site visit and they agreed with our findings. They said they were in the process of working with staff to work more closely with people.

The provider did not always treat people as individuals or make sure people’s care met their needs and preferences. They did not always take account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

We observed staff responding to people’s specific requests and completing specific tasks as required, for example, through ensuring people’s meals were prepared on time. However, they were not proactive in supporting people with activities or making suggestions about things they could do. We saw people and staff sitting together, but not interacting. People were either engaged in their own individual activity without staff support or appeared bored.

This was a breach of Regulation 9 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

Senior management confirmed they agreed with our findings and were in the process of addressing them.

The provider promoted people’s independence, so people’s rights were protected and they had choice and control over their care. People were encouraged to make choices in their care on a daily basis and staff ensured these were met. The staff team followed people’s routines, requests and choices in relation to the food they wanted to eat and the clothes they wanted to wear. People’s care records included personal details about their likes and dislikes and care staff ensured they followed these.

The provider understood people’s requests and responded to their needs, views and wishes. We observed staff responding to people’s immediate needs throughout the course of our site visit. This included responding to people’s direct requests.

Staff demonstrated a commitment to meeting people’s immediate needs and acted promptly in response to these. One senior member of staff told us “We make sure staff are listening to people and acknowledging what they need in the moment and doing what they can to support them with this.”

The provider did not always promote the wellbeing of their staff. Staff gave mixed feedback about whether they felt listened to. One person specifically told us they did not feel they were listened to and another person told us “I feel my opinions are respected. I am listened to.” All staff members told us the lack of a permanent manager had been destabilising to the service and had affected them negatively.

We spoke with the acting manager about the lack of a permanent manager and they confirmed they had hired a suitable person who would be starting work in the new year. In the meantime, they assured us they would be available to lead the service and would support the new manager when they started working in their role.

One senior staff member told us “There has been a big improvement in a short space of time. I feel confident we’re going to get there.”