Blandford Grange 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 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 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 described staff as kind and caring. Comments made included, “Care is outstanding, I’m very happy.” And “The care is amazing they couldn’t do more. I visit several times a week and I’m never worried when I leave because I know [loved one] is well looked after.” People told us they were treated with kindness, empathy and compassion and that staff respected their privacy and dignity.

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 choices about things such as what they wanted to do and what they wanted to eat were listened to and respected.Staff knew people well and used this knowledge to build relationships with them and treat people as individuals. People were involved in the activities being provided if they wanted to, regular meetings included people’s ideas and suggestions about what they wanted to do.

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

People were consistently offered choice in relation to their care and daily routines. Observations of mealtimes demonstrated good practices with choices being offered to people over the type of food, quantity and whether they required any additional condiments or second servings. This was the same for the offering of drinks.

We observed people being offered support to use the toilet and where people were solely reliant on staff to provide this care, documentation reflected timely support being offered.

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 told us staff were available for them whenever they wanted or needed support. We saw staff were attentive to people’s needs and responded quickly when people wanted or needed anything. Staff knew people well and were able to anticipate and manage situations that may cause people distress.

A healthcare professional described how they had observed an interaction with someone who was disorientated. They said staff, “Had such a calm and empathetic approach and made sure he felt reassured and comfortable. She engaged him in conversation about his past and held his hand.”

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

There was an emphasis on staff wellbeing. Carer of the month celebrated achievements and good practice, and an employee assist programme was available for staff to access confidentially.

Staff told us they were ‘very well supported.’ A member of staff said, “Staff morale is picking up now that things are feeling settled after several management changes in the last year or so”.

All of the staff we spoke with were positive about their employment within the service. They told us they had regular supervision sessions and staff meetings which they found useful. They added that they felt valued and felt involved in decisions and could give ideas about how the service was run.

Managers and staff spoke about the importance of maintaining a cohesive and well supported team. This enabled them to provide a consistent and individualised service for people.