Weir Gardens Nursing Home

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 service involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

This is the first assessment under the new provider of this 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 service treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect. People and relatives spoke positively about the care and support provided. Comments included, “the staff are very good here, they’re very nice” and “They [staff] have made us so welcome”. Many of the staff had worked for the service for a long time and knew people well. One person told us, “I really like a curry, 1 evening a staff member asked me if I’d like them to bring me a curry in on their way back from town. It was really good”. Staff respected people’s privacy and were seen knocking on doors before entering.

The provider treated people as individuals. People told us staff listened and acted upon their preferences. One person said, “I prefer my meal and pudding at the same time, so the staff are now doing it that way for me”. Another person told us staff knew her reading preferences and chose books for them to read. When we spoke to staff they demonstrated their knowledge of people’s needs however, further work was required to ensure care plans were truly person centred and took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics. The registered manager told us their ethos was to provide individualised care and would be working alongside staff to ensure improvements were made. People’s individual dietary needs and preferences were identified. For example, some people required food prepared to a specific consistency to reduce the risk of choking, records reflected this and staff demonstrated their knowledge of which people required this support. Some people were supported to access community groups, shops and banks to maintain a level of independence. Strong links were established with the local church and communion held at the service monthly. The registered manager told us, “I don’t believe there should be barriers which stop people going out. We need to critically analyse what prevents people from going out and remove them”. A visiting professional told us they had seen an improvement in activities since the new provider had taken over. They told us, “Activities are becoming more person centred”.

The provider promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. People were supported to maintain relationships with those important to them. Relatives confirmed they were able to visit their loved ones at any time. The provider was committed to ensuring people had regular one to one time with activity staff and a minimum of 2 outings a month were provided for people who wished to go. A wide range of activities were available for people. One person told us, “They [staff] keep coming up with different ideas”. Staff understood the importance of maintaining people’s independence where possible. A staff member told us, “I help them [people] to do things for themselves, like a flannel so they can wash where they can”.

The provider did not always respond to people’s needs in the moment or act to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. We observed call bells were not always responded to in a timely manner. Whilst daily checks were carried out these were only to ensure call bells were in reach and not that they were working. One person required assistance but was unable to summon assistance, measures in place to monitor their health and wellbeing were not robust enough. This meant their needs may not be met in a timely manner. We provided feedback to the provider who took action to address the concerns. There was limited signage to help people navigate their way around the service, however, the provider was addressing this as part of a refurbishment programme.

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff. Staff told us they felt listened to and supported. The provider had policies in place in line with best practice guidance to support staff. The employee handbook contained information on policies and support available to them. The provider celebrated their workforce through various initiatives such as employee of the month and annual awards ceremonies.