Austin Place

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 as 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.

People said they were treated with dignity and respect by staff. One person told us, “Yes, they always treat me respectfully.”

People were generally happy with the care they received from staff. Comments included, “We are reasonably happy. They meet our needs”, “Very happy with them”, “They are so caring” and “It’s nice to know they’re here.” A comment in a recent survey included, ‘All staff are lovely’.

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 felt staff knew them as a person. One person told us, “Some staff know me better than others” and another said, “They know me as a person.”

People also told us they had good relationships with the staff, with 1 person saying, “We can talk to each other. She [staff member] has just been on holiday and she brought her photographs. It was so nice and that is what I like about her.”

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

People felt able to retain their independence. One person told us, “They come and check I’m up and they make my breakfast. I shower and get dressed after they’ve gone. I want to stay independent all the time I can.”

We read in people’s care plans information relating to people’s ability to do things for themselves which helped to ensure staff did not take over all the care tasks.

People were given choice and control over their care. The registered manager told us, “We tell people they can use other agencies.” This meant it was made clear to people that they were not obliged to use the in-house service. Some people told us they had external care agencies provide their domestic calls and that it had been made clear to them that they had the ability to use whichever service they chose.

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.

People felt their needs were met and they were happy with the service provided. One person told us, “I am very happy here. I never need to be lonely. I have food, friends, entertainment and I can be on my own in my flat too if I want to.”

We read that 1 person had developed such a positive relationship with a staff member that they requested an increase in their care calls which the service was able to accommodate this.

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

The provider and registered manager supported their team. Staff had access to an advice line as well as a service offering counselling and therapies. Regular staff meetings were held giving staff the opportunity to raise or discuss any aspect of the service.

The registered manager told us, “I work alongside them (staff). They can come to me if they have any problems and I will always fill in care calls when needed.”