Oldham House

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 newly 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 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 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.

Staff knew how to ensure people were treated with dignity and respect. This included making sure doors and curtains were closed and people were covered, when providing personal care.

During our assessment we observed staff explaining what they were doing, which helped put people at ease. For example, we observed staff transferring a person from their wheelchair to the lounge chair using the hoist. They chatted and talked to them throughout the procedure which helped prevent them from becoming distressed.

People told us they were happy living at Oldham House. One person said, "My room is comfortable, and I have visitors, and they are always welcomed by the staff." A relative said, "It is quite a settled team on here at the moment and they do seem like caring staff." A health professional fed back to us, “The staff at Oldham House are kind and caring towards residents and appear to know the residents well.”

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.

Throughout our visit to the service, we saw staff engaging with people, chatting, touching appropriately and supporting them when needed.

Each day an activity coordinator provided a range of different activities. They told us, “We generally dedicate the mornings to the main lounge areas and then in the afternoons we will do our one to ones in resident’s rooms who can’t get out or don't like coming to the lounge so much.” They went on to say, “We celebrate all the special days, we do parties for the big birthdays, we have artistes in, pet therapy, the schools come in regularly. We do keep fit, move and groove, board games and movies. If the residents have expressed an interest, then we will do it.”

A relative told us, “The activities girl who normally works on here is brilliant, she gets them all involved, gets them singing and dancing. They use a big sensory ball and do a lot of chair exercises. It’s very good.” Another relative commented, “[Person] gets a lot out of the activities. She is always doing something when I get here and it’s good to see. She was in her room a lot before, but now she is a lot busier which is great."

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

Staff promoted people’s independence and had a good understanding of how to support people in a way that enabled them to do as much as possible for themselves. Care plans set out what people could do for themselves and the support staff should provide to maximise their independence. A staff member told us, “We let them do what they can for themselves, such as go to the toilet themselves.”

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.

On the whole staff responded promptly to people’s requests for assistance. Staff appeared alert to the people’s needs and dealt with buzzers from rooms quite quickly. However, we noted during the lunchtime meal that there were times when people had to wait for support from staff.

People spoke positively about the care at Oldham House. A relative told us, "[Person] has been here for nine months. It is excellent. The staff are very helpful. I can't fault them at all.”

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

The registered manager was supportive and approachable and concerned about staff well-being. One staff member told us, “If I need any support I can go to [registered manager’s name].” Staff meetings, individual supervision meetings and the registered manager’s ‘open door’ approach provided staff with the opportunity to discuss how they were feeling at work and any personal issues. Staff were rewarded for their good work through the ‘employee of the month’ award, in which the winner received a certificate and a £50 voucher.