Norwich

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.
Without exception, everyone we spoke with told us care staff and leaders treated them with kindness, compassion and dignity.
People’s care records were written in a dignified way, using language which was kind and respectful.
One person told us “They are all kind and caring to me, and they all chat nicely to me. They treat me in a respectful way and always ask if I am warm enough”.
The service ran a social group to help prevent isolation amongst people. Known as ‘Larrys Club’, this incentive had been successful at creating new friendships between people who ordinarily would not have met.
 

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.
Although the service was large, effective systems were in place to ensure people received personalised care. People were allocated a named senior carer, which promoted continuity and ensured people had a clear and consistent point of contact.
Staff and leaders knew people well, including their individual preferences and life histories. Staff spent time getting to know people, including their interests. For example, one person told us how one carer knew the person was a historian, and together they had spent time reading up about the origins of the care staff member’s name.
 

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 they were given choices and their decisions were respected. One person told us “The carers are all kind to me, and they always show me respect and never rush me. They always offer me choices for my lunch”.
Care records were created with the whole person in mind and contained a high level of detail about individual preferences.
Where a person was living with a condition which made verbal communication difficult, the service had taken action to ensure they were able to communicate their choices. Initially there had been some difficulties, however this had improved following reviews and discussions with the person and their representatives.
 

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.
The service had recently experience challenges relating to staffing levels. This had been at a time of accepting several new care packages. In response to this the service reviewed their capacity and had stopped accepting new care packages until staffing levels had been stabilised. This was to ensure peoples care needs could continue to be met and responded to appropriately. We spoke to people using the service and their family members, who told us they had not experienced disruption, and felt the service was reliable in meeting their needs.
 

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff, and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.
The registered manager had placed high emphasis on staff wellbeing and enablement. For example, where staff from different cultures worked for the service, sessions were arranged to ensure they were familiar with how to meet the cultural needs of the people they were caring for. The service provided staff with weekly newsletters, which contained helpful and caring information, such as weather forecasts for those travelling for work, staff birthdays, achievements and key changes to people’s care needs they needed to be aware of.
Staff spoke positively about the support they received at work, and told us they found the registered manager to be approachable and caring.