The Amwell

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 requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to good. This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care.

This service scored 65 (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.

Staff had positive relationships with people and relatives. We observed the staff treated people with kindness and dignity. Each person had a named keyworker who helped to oversee their care and ensure their records were reflective of the person’s needs.One person told us, “Staff treat me very well, we are on Christian name terms it’s like a family.” A relative commented, “It’s warm and comfortable and the staff try and look after the residents well. We’re happy.”

The provider treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences.

People were supported to take part in a range of communal activities within the home, which helped promote social interaction and relationships. However, we identified that further work was needed to ensure people who preferred to remain in their rooms, or who were unable to leave their rooms, received personalised activity support that reflected their individual needs and helped prevent social isolation. One relative told us, “I’d like to see [relative] go on more trips out but their actual care is good.” The provider informed us they were in the process of recruiting an additional activities assistant and planned to use this to strengthen person-centred engagement for these people going forward.

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 supported to maintain their independence and were encouraged to make choices about how they spent their day. Staff respected people’s individual preferences and supported them to make decisions in line with their wishes. People’s preferences regarding the gender of staff providing their care were recorded and consistently respected, which helped promote dignity, choice and a sense of control over their support.

The provider listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. However, staff did not always respond to people’s needs in the moment or act to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress.

Most people had their immediate needs responded to. However, people who required support with distressed behaviours did not have sufficiently detailed Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) plans to guide staff in anticipating and responding to their anxieties or early signs of distress. For example, 1 person’s PBS plan focused primarily on reactive strategies following incidents of distress, rather than offering preventative approaches to reduce the need for such responses. Additionally, some staff lacked knowledge in PBS methodology and were unable to clearly explain how they would recognise early signs of distress or manage situations proactively. These gaps meant staff did not always have consistent, structured information or the necessary understanding to support early intervention or promote positive, preventative approaches to behaviour.

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

There was a wide range of support avenues for staff to access. The provider recognised achievements of individual staff through employee of the month awards. Staff felt well supported and valued by the registered manager and provider. They said they were happy in their roles. One member of staff said, “Overall communication has developed and I feel like the dark cloud is lifting and everyone seems to be happy. The [registered manager] is very fair and approachable. [Manager] gets things done and changes what needs to be changed.”