Brambling Lodge

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

The key question of caring continues to be rated good. We assessed the quality statement ‘Independence choice and control’ which has been assessed as good. People were supported to be as independent as possible. Staff promoted people’s rights and gave them choices about their care and support, respecting their decisions.

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.

We did not look at Kindness, compassion and dignity during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

We did not look at Treating people as individuals during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

People's choices and preferences had been recorded in their care plans for staff to refer to. People's capacity had been assessed and recorded in their care plans. When people had been assessed as not having capacity to make decisions, people's past preferences had been considered when decisions were made. When required an application had been made for a Deprivation of Liberty Safeguard (DoLS) and when authorised any conditions were recorded and met.

We observed staff responding to people’s wishes and choices and respecting them. Staff understood people’s non-verbal communication and knew from their body language the support them wanted. For example, one person decided not to join in with activities and spend some time in their bedroom. Staff supported them to do this and the person happily spent time on their own doing what they wanted. People were supported to remain independent. We observed one person asking staff where they toilet was. Staff responded pointing and saying, “Down there, where the toilet sign is”. They observed the person walking to the bathroom to make sure they found it but did not intervene as they person was able to go without support. Staff offered people reassurance when completing tasks which could make them anxious. For example, we observed a person walking slowly with a walking aid. A staff member walked next to them, offering gentle encouragement, with a hand gently placed on their back for reassurance.

Staff told us they respected people’s choices regarding the gender of the staff member who supported them with personal care. Several ladies had requested support from female carers only. Staff described to us how they supported people living with dementia to make decisions. This included showing them a limited number of items to prevent them from becoming overwhelmed or showing them pictures. People were able to make decisions around their day to day care, for example, staff told us how some people preferred a soak in a bubble bath whilst others liked to have a shower. Staff supported people to be as independent as possible. They explained how they supported and encouraged people to do things for themselves and only offered support when people requested it or needed it. For example, they told us one person enjoyed a bath in the afternoon and only needed support to wash their hair and their back. Staff told us some people did not want their bedroom cleaned on occasions. When this happened staff told us they left and went back later when the person wanted them to clean.

People were supported to maintain or regain their independence. A relative told us their loved one had been supported to regain their independence since returning from hospital. This included eating and drinking without support and repositioning themselves in bed. Another relative told us they were “thrilled, the staff encourage them to remain independent”. People told us staff encouraged them to remain independent. A person told us, “I do my own thing, do what I want to do”. A relative told us they had worked with staff to plan their loved ones care when they no longer able to do this themselves, they told us, “Staff ask for advice if they are unsure”. A relative told us their loved one, “Gets love, support and encouragement from the staff. They get individualised care, staff knew (my relative) and they know their ways. I couldn’t wish for anything better”.

We did not look at Responding to people’s immediate needs during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

We did not look at Workforce wellbeing and enablement during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.