Eskdale House Supported Living Service

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.

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 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 treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity.

People were treated with kindness and respect. One health and social care professional told us, “I have observed the care team engaging well with service users and feel that the well-being of the individual who I am involved with has improved since the provider took over running the service.”

We observed several examples where staff used enthusiasm, humour and compassion which people clearly appreciated and reciprocated. Physical contact from staff was used appropriately and when instigated by the person they were supporting.

For the most part, people and their relatives told us staff treated them with kindness and respect. However, some feedback from relatives and health and social care professionals indicated there was often a language barrier which affected how people could communicate with staff.

People received care which gave people dignity. One staff member told us, “All staff treat people with kindness and we respect people’s wishes.”

Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect. One health and social care professional told us, “The staff are kind to me.”

The service treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. One staff member told us, [Person] loves their privacy. I respect this and support them according to their wishes.

People’s care plans mostly included person-centred information which reflected them as individuals such as their personalities, preferences and what things like they to do or be involved in.

Communication plans contained clear guidelines for staff on how people communicated. For example, one person required staff to use short, simplified sentences and to be aware how their anxiety can affect their communication, using a calm and clear tone. Pictorial planners were used, where required, to support people to make decisions about their daily lives. Another person used technology to support them to communicate independently.

Staff conversed with people around their preferences. We observed people were able to choose their own evening takeaway meal. We observed 1 person was able to choose what clothing to purchase and how they would like their hair to be done.

The service took account of people’s strengths, abilities, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

The service did not always promote people’s independence, so people did not always know their rights and have choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

Support around pursuing person centred interests and activities was not always consistent. Where people were more independent or required minimal support, we found examples of where they could access employment or voluntary work and community-based activities. However, where people required dedicated support from 1 or 2 staff members, this was not always available to them. This meant their ability to access person centred interests or activities was sometimes limited.

Where people could access individual activities more regularly, this was often because they had personal assistants who were employed separately to the service.

This was reflected in feedback. One relative told us, “I feel the lack of 1-1 time and lack of contact through the evening affects [person]. They need to be more sociable.” Another relative told us, “[Person] needs a lot of support. It has been difficult with a lack of staff. They are not getting out as much but hopefully this will improve as [the service] is recruiting more staff.” One health and social care professional told us, “Activities in the community are still not being completed. I’m being told that this is down to staffing (not enough).”

The registered manager told us, “We really want to improve our service users’ quality of life and independence skills. They are having reviews to ensure we can allocate staff effectively. We put in 1-1 staff for [specific activity] but we need to plan better for activities. We could take over supporting some activities where personal assistants currently do this.”

During our inspection, we observed a singer performing where people could participate in singing, dancing and using instruments.

People were able to maintain regular contact with those important to them over the telephone, technology or through visitation.

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.

Staff were working closely with people and their relatives to understand signs and symptoms of when people were unwell. Staff understood how people communicated their needs and where

people required immediate support around their mental or physical needs, we saw examples of staff involving the appropriate services. One relative told us, I went with [person] and a member of staff for a doctor’s appointment.” One health and social care professional told us, “The staff team know how to get in touch with our service if support or advice is needed.”

People were able to request staff support quickly via a call bell system.

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

All the staff members we spoke with enjoyed working for the service and spoke warmly about the management team and how supportive they were. One staff member told us, “They look after us. They will help us learn and move forward. I had a work-related issue recently and management have really helped me, putting support in place. I also have an exceptional relationship with my supervisor.” Another staff member told us, “Management is good. They are always giving advice on how to improve our care. They are encouraging.”

Staff wellbeing and how to promote person-centred care was discussed in one-to-meetings with a senior or manager, and in team meetings. Handover meetings took place to ensure staff were up to date with people’s needs and risks.