Clare Court Care Home

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 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 provider treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect. However, language used in reference to people with certain support needs was not always respectful. We heard a couple of staff and saw in some minutes of a meeting the term ‘feeding’ being used about people who needed help to eat. The registered manager agreed this was not appropriate and told us the team were working to make sure language used with and about people was respectful. Aside from this, staff spoke to and about people with kindness and fondness. We saw people and staff sharing laughter and dancing together. People spoke very positively about the staff team. One person told us, “The staff are all very nice…. [they] protect my dignity.” Another person told us, “The staff are all very nice and kind.” Relatives we spoke with had lots of praise for the care staff, a few we spoke with had some concerns about newer staff. One relative told us, “[The new staff] are not as active, they don’t use their common sense.” Another relative said, “[My loved one] gets a lot of attention from the staff who have been there a long time, the new staff not so much.” Other relatives spoke positively about the staff team as a whole. One relative said, “The staff are all caring and lovely people.” Another told us, “The staff are all very caring.” People told us staff knew them and their wishes well. Staff we spoke with could tell us about the ways in which people liked and wanted to be supported. People’s care plans also gave guidance to staff detailing their wishes and preferences.

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 gave details of people’s life history and background, this enabled new staff to learn key details about their lives. The management team made efforts to involve people in decisions about the running of their home, such as food choices and activities. People who enjoyed eating food reflective of their culture were offered options reflecting this. Although one person told us they would like to see these options on the menu more frequently, people were positive about the options available. Although people were not always positive about the quality of the food, they did feel their food choices were reflected in the meals offered to them. One person told us they would like to be supported to attend religious gatherings, we raised this with the registered manager who said they would look into this. Other people told us they were supported to practice their religious beliefs. One person told us they felt the hairdresser did not know how to care for their specific hair needs. The provider gave some evidence efforts had been made to care for a person’s hair. They explained they were seeking a hairdresser with the required skills. Other people told us they were happy with the way they were supported to dress and present 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 told us about the different ways in which staff supported them to make day to day choices. One person said, “I can please myself when I go to bed. Sometimes I get up early, sometimes I don’t.” People’s care staff guided staff regarding what people could do for themselves and what they may need support with. One person told us about how staff wait and support them to walk, but if they feel tired, they are on hand with a wheelchair. We saw many examples of staff consulting people about what they wanted to do during the day. People and relatives told us activities to help people feel engaged and stimulated had significantly improved. During our site visit ponies were brought to the home. We could see how much some people enjoyed this visit. People described many different activities they had engaged in, including cinema style film events, arts and crafts, physical exercises, singers, and entertainers. One person told us they had particularly enjoyed a visit from some local children. They said, “There is always something to do.” One relative told us they were pleased people were now getting trips out and had recently been to the zoo. Records showed efforts were made to spend time and engage with people who were not able to come out of their rooms.

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. Care plans gave guidance to staff about supporting people to manage pain and distress. We saw the nursing staff using symbols to help people who could not easily communicate verbally to discuss pain. Staff we spoke with could tell us about ways in which they would support someone who was distressed. One relative told us they had been unhappy with the way some staff had supported their loved one when they were distressed. The relative had been concerned about how much the staff understood about the person’s health concerns and needs. We could see efforts had been made to reduce the person’s stress. Staff had received guidance and training on how to support people when they were distressed. Staff were able to recognise quickly when a person needed urgent help. This ensured people received timely and appropriate care in the event of a medical emergency.

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 they felt supported by the management team. They had been through a lot of changes following and told us whilst this had been challenging, they could see the benefits for everyone. The provider gave staff annual surveys and also had regular meetings which gave opportunities to make service improvement suggestions. Staff were also receiving regular supervisions and appraisals. This helped them to progress in their role. Some staff told us about particular personal circumstances they had encountered and described how supportive the management team had been.