Primrose 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 service involved people andtreated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect. At the last inspection we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained good. This meant people’s outcomes were consistently good, and people’s feedback confirmed this.

This service scored 65 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Staff treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect. A person said, “The staff are brilliant and kind, they do everything.” A relative said, “The carers are mostly lovely and [person] likes them.” Another relative said, " The staff are really nice, nothing to worry about, they are all pleasant and joke and carry on conversations with [person].”

Staff treated people as individuals and made sure the care, support and treatment offered met their needs and preferences. They took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics. Staff valued everyone’s opinions. Staff had followed best practice around dementia care, which had led to people retaining their communication skills and social skills. One person said, “The staff work very hard and have a lot of care for people.”

Staff had not always made sure people knew their rights and knew they had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. For example, when person recently moved to the service staff had not made them aware, if they were safe to do so, they could go out of the service on their own. We discussed this with the management team who immediately ensured staff actively let people know about their rights.

People told us they had previously been encouraged to participant in the running of the home but at present this was not occurring. A person said, “We used to help with interviews and have residents’ meetings but haven’t for a long time. ‘We were going to have them, but nothing happened.” People felt there was little to do. A relative said, “The residents are often in the main room, but football is on the television all the time. The activities person is supposed to do activities, but they don’t do anything with them really just a colouring book sometimes, nothing in a group. There is sometimes a singer but it’s very loud and lots of the residents don’t like it. They never take them out and there is nothing for them to look forward to.” A person said, “There’s not enough to do, they offer daft things like painting and drawing. I need more opportunities to go out.” The new management team confirmed they were working with staff to ensure people were encouraged to lead active lives and were involved in the running of the service.

Staff did not always listen to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. We observed staff were considerate but at times the dining experience and how they communicated information with each other could have been better. We observed people pop out of the dining room to attend to a task and staff throw their meal away prior to checking with other staff if the person had said they were coming back. We discussed this with the management team who immediately put measures in place to improve staff practices. Staff responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. Staff could describe people’s needs, including how any of their cultural needs were met. A staff member said, “We make sure we get to know people really well so we can quickly spot if their needs change.”

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff, and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. Staff confirmed that the management team supported their wellbeing to make sure they could give their best to people when at work. Staff described how the management team were very supportive and praised them.