Gwen Walford 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. At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained the same. This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care.

This service scored 80 (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 treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. People and relatives we spoke with told us staff were kind and caring. One person told us, “I do like it here, the carers and nurses, treat me with respect, they are very friendly”, another person said, “Staff are respectful and are good, they respect my dignity”. Relatives shared the same views, these included, “Very kind and caring and understand them well” and “Staff are getting to know (relative) now, they chat with them and give them a shave, all seem very kind and caring”. We also observed some positive interactions with people and staff where they showed kindness and patience when supporting people. Staff told us they enjoyed supporting people at Gwen Walford House, one staff member told us, “I really like working here, I like looking after older people, I really enjoy taking people out for a walk”.

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. People’s care plans demonstrated ways in which people were treated as individuals, for example, some people had preferred ways in which their personal care was delivered and chose for this to be delivered in a specific way. Staff treated people as individuals and consideration had been given to any protected characteristics, they were able to give us examples of people’s individual preferences and how these were accommodated. Staff had received training in equality and diversity.

The provider promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. Staff supported people to maintain their independence where possible. For example, one person told us, “I'm an independent person, I need help with some things but try and be as independent as possible”. A relative told us, “They can choose how they spend their day, either in their room or the day room, they participate in the activities if they feel well enough, they enjoy painting and bingo. Staff are always respectful towards them”. Care plans evidenced where people had chosen to undertake certain clinical tasks themselves, this had been noted and reviewed by leaders. The provider was in the process of recruiting an activity co-coordinater, during an absence in the activity role, the provider had sourced additional external activity providers to visit the home. One person told us a singer has visited, “It was brilliant, and it connected with everybody, you had a laugh with people. They finished off with a familiar song; this was one of the best shows I saw in a long time”, this was particularly meaningful to the person as it represented their country.

The provider listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to people’s needs and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. Most people told us staff attended to their call bell in good time. Relatives told us they were happy with how staff responded to people’s needs. One relative told us, “Staff are very amenable to talk, their TV was not working and fair play in 45 minutes a maintenance man visited, very on the ball”. Our observations supported this, we saw staff regularly checking on people who spent time in their rooms.

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to deliver person-centred care. Staff told us they felt supported by leaders and spoke fondly of their colleagues and their how they worked well together as a team. One staff member told us, “I really enjoy working with colleagues, (registered manager) offers support if you need them”. The provider had a “employee of the quarter” where staff were nominated for their contributions to the service for their hard work. One staff member had won “The Good Nurse Award” at the Hereford Times Health Social Care Awards. These awards celebrate the hard work, dedication, innovation, and exceptional care delivered across the health and social care sector, focusing on the people who make a meaningful difference. One staff member had secured an apprenticeship with a celebrity chef who will advise and train staff on providing person centred meals for people. The provider had processes in place to support development of staff, these included staff meetings, supervisions and training courses to develop staff’s clinical knowledge.