Alexander Court

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 service under a new provider. 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 service always treated people with kindness, compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. We observed staff to be kind, thoughtful and gentle with people. They respected people as individuals and gave them the time and space they required in supporting their needs.

Throughout our assessment, we observed positive and meaningful interactions between staff and people using the service. Staff took time to engage with people in a warm and respectful manner. People were treated with dignity and respect; we observed staff knocking on people’s doors before entering.

People told us the staff were lovely. A relative told us.’[Person] seems happy there and happy with the staff. They seem friendly and caring.’

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.

We saw care plans which provided information about people’s likes and dislikes. This enabled staff to support people in a way in which people preferred.

One person told us, ‘I haven’t been here long, but the staff have learnt quickly what I like.’

One relative told us, ‘[Person] is a big Norwich City fan, for their birthday they got them a Norwich City mug with their name on it, to me that shows they care and know the residents as individuals.’

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 make choices, including around meals. Staff used picture menus to help support decision making.

One person told us, ‘I can go down to the lounge for meals, or I can have it in my room, it’s up to me.’

The service 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.

We observed staff regularly offering refreshments and supporting people’s needs with dignity and respect. We observed staff responding promptly to call bells which ensured people’s needs were met in a timely manner.

One relative told us, ‘[Person] can use the call bell and whenever I have been there it has been within their reach. If [person] used it, they have come pretty quickly, I would say within 2 minutes.’

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

The staff we spoke to enjoyed working at Alexander Court Care Home and felt supported in their roles.

Records showed staff received regular one to one supervision with a member of senior staff. This meant staff were supported and given opportunity to discuss their learning and development. The manager told us that they supported staff who wished to develop in their role, for example care assistants being supported to develop skills to enable them to become senior care assistants.

Staff told us they felt supported by the leadership team. One staff member told us, ‘The manager has been very good and supportive.’