Branch Court Care Home

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 and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

At our last inspection we rated this key requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to good. This meant people felt well-supported, cared for and treated with dignity and respect.

This service scored 70 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The service 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 felt staff were kind and caring, one person told us, “All the staff are kind, and they help me have a shower and get dressed.” Staff spoke about how they supported people with dignity, respect and privacy, one staff member said, "During personal care we encourage people to wash themselves. We make sure doors are shut and we knock on doors." Observations we witnessed throughout our onsite assessment between staff and people were kind and caring.

The service 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 told us they could make choices. People’s comments included, “I like wearing pyjamas in bed, but I like to decide when to put them on.” And “We can go out when we want. I am going to visit my family to help them with their garden, but it has to get a bit warmer first.” Staff told us they knew people well. One staff member gave us an example of how they supported people as individuals, they told us, "I have a person who is very concerned about privacy at showering, so I respect that." During our walk around, we saw people’s bedrooms were personalised with their chosen items such as photos and belongings important to them. People had appropriate communication care plans in place. We did see some examples of people’s cultural beliefs being referred to in their care plans.

Although the service promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing, we found on going short falls in relation to activities.

Staff we spoke with flagged concerns relating to the activities coordinator. Staff comments included, “We have an activities coordinator, but she doesn’t do enough with people." And “Sometimes. I think we need more (activities)." During the assessment the activities coordinator was on annual leave, though we witnessed people were taking part in activities in communal living spaces with care staff. We were able to review some photographs of the residents taking part in some activities. The service had an activity plan in place on the noticeboard that showed some of the activities that were being offered throughout the week. We did see that some activities listed included watching television and listening to music. At our last inspection we noted improvement was needed around activities, this was a theme also identified in the most recent Healthwatch report.

Feedback around independence was positive. People’s comments included, “I enjoy the food here and I can have a drink whenever I want, they help me go to the toilet, but I like to be independent.” And “You always get enough to eat and drink there’s plenty of choice.”

The service 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 and relatives felt staff understood their needs. During our assessment we witnessed discussions between staff and people, where staff were supporting people to go and smoke outside when they wished to and we also saw an example where someone was due delivery of new glasses the next day, and staff were advising the person of this.

The registered manager told us how they communicated with people who may find it difficult to communicate verbally. One staff member told us how they looked out for signs of pain when considering ‘as and when’ medication requirements. We observed staff responding to people’s needs by supporting them with things such as mobilising and providing one-to-one support where required. At lunch time we witnessed staff supporting people when required. We also saw that when one person looked distressed, staff approached them and supported them when they said they felt dizzy.

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

Staff told us they felt the service was a good place to work. One staff member said, "Yes (it is a good place to work), I think the staff are friendly and the residents, we all love each other. I am happy. There is nothing I don't like." Various policies were in place to support staff wellbeing. Staff were able to raise concerns in various ways should they have any and through various channels. A dependency tool was in place to help calculate staffing requirements, and staff were able to raise any concerns at staff meetings.