Amy Woodgate

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. This is the first assessment for this newly registered service. This key question has been rated 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 treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity.

People were well-cared for by staff. We received only positive comments about the approach of the managers and staff from people living in the home, their relatives and external health and social care professionals. People described staff as compassionate and kind. Typical feedback included, “Staff are very good at knocking on my bedroom door and asking me first if they can come in. The staff are absolutely brilliant here”, “The staff are all lovely. Really nice people. My [family member] and I have a particular soft spot for one young carer who works here. They’re so good to us” and “I can’t fault any of the staff. Such an amazing bunch of people”. People looked at ease and comfortable in the presence of staff. Staff interactions with people living in the care home and their visitors were characterised by warmth, kindness and respect throughout our site visit. We observed staff sit next to people they were assisting to eat or drink so they were able to make good eye contact and engage socially with them. The atmosphere during the serving of the lunchtime meal was pleasant and remained calm and relaxed throughout. Managers and staff always spoke about people they supported in a respectful and positive manner.

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 told us staff treated them as individuals and understood what their specific personal care needs, preferences and daily routines were. Care plans were personalised and contained detailed information about people’s strengths, likes and dislikes, and how they preferred staff to meet their personal care and support needs and wishes. For example, managers and staff confirmed people had the right to choose the gender of staff who provided their personal care. Care plans contained detailed information about people’s spiritual and cultural needs. Staff were aware of people’s diverse spiritual and cultural needs and wishes and knew how to protect them from discriminatory behaviours and practices. For example, the catering staff knew who did not eat certain foods in accordance with their expressed religious beliefs and customs.

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

People told us staff supported them to be as independent as they could and wanted to be and to have as much choice and control over their lives as possible. Photographs of the meals people could choose to eat for their lunch on the day of our site visits were displayed on all the dining room tables and we observed staff ask people what they would like to eat for their lunch. Several people told us they had decided to have a late brunch instead of breakfast that morning and we observed staff prepare some hot food and a drink as requested by these individuals. People told us staff always respected the choices they made. One person said, “You can do more or less as you please here within reason of course. I fancied a late breakfast of just toast and tea and it was no bother for the staff to arrange that for me.” Another person added, “We do as we like here. The staff always ask me want I would like to eat at mealtimes.”

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.

Staff supported people to access external health and medical care services as and when required. On arrival we saw the London Ambulance Service were already on site having been contacted immediately by staff at the care home in response to a health care emergency involving one person. We also observed staff respond quickly to find a walking frame for someone who had left it in their bedroom but required one to safely move around the care home.

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

Staff told us the new managers had created a positive working environment for everyone to work in. Most staff expressed feeling happier at work since the new management team had been in post. One staff member told us, “I think as a group of staff we work well-together and we have a good team spirit here.” Managers and senior staff routinely used individual and group meetings to enquire about staffs’ wellbeing.