Social Care Solutions Ltd (Cambridge)

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.

We observed staff treating people with respect and dignity and always asking people’s permission before entering their room. One person told us "They always knock, and only come in if I say hi or come in. We agreed how this would happen, and it is in my support plan". Relatives described staff as “good, caring and amazing”. Another relative told us staff had “genuine affection” for their family member.

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.

Care plans were person centred and took account of people’s strengths, abilities and aspirations. We observed staff respecting people’s preferences and they understood people’s communication needs. We saw the compliments log which included feedback from health and social care professionals praising staff for knowing the people they support, promoting independence and choice and advocating for them in review meetings.

Staff told us “I know [people’s] facial expressions, their body language, I know how they express themselves.”

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

People we spoke to told us they chose when they spoke to and saw family. They told us about activities that they did at different times of the day and night and they chose what they wanted to do. People’s rooms or flats were decorated how they liked it. Staff told us “Activities are discussed with people in planning and keyworker meetings.”

Relatives told us how they kept in touch with their family member and gave lots of information on activities they did including bowling, shop visits, going to cafes and going on holiday.

People told us how staff had supported them to set up technology that would promote their independence for example to enable someone to manage their finances and order items online.

One person told us "I like to do as much as I can for myself. I do cleaning, but staff will help me with areas I can't reach".

Staff responded to people’s immediate needs.
We received mixed feedback about how staff responded to people’s immediate need. One relative told us when their family member became unwell that staff noticed “straight away”. One person told us "[Staff] come quickly, when they can”. We observed staff being responsive and people told us staff are available when they need them. Staff told us, by knowing people well and knowing how they communicate they can anticipate their needs to reduce any distress. For example, picking up on body language that someone is uncomfortable in a busy environment and asking if they would like to move somewhere quieter.
Staff told us how they would respond to an emergency. Staff told us how getting to know the people they support helped them to manage risks. For example, 1 member of staff told us how 1 person points to different parts of their body to communicate a need.
However, 1 relative told us that following anti-social incidents at one setting staff did not immediately support their family member to feel safe. Another relative told us that there was an occasion when staff did not recognise their family member’s illness and seek medical help. We saw evidence that following both these incidents the provider had taken appropriate action and implemented procedure changes and relatives reported improvements to their family member’s support.

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 that they felt supported and were encouraged to undertake professional development. One staff member told us the Registered Manager ‘Listens to you, gives advice, makes sure you are safe.’ Staff told us how managers had given them confidence by taking the time to teach them new skills. Another staff member told us “The company has the right values, care and effectiveness, supportive to people and staff, place I have been and never leaving.”