Westside Nursing 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 Good. At this assessment the rating has changed to Requires Improvement. This meant people did not always feel well-supported, cared for or treated with dignity and respect.

The service was in breach of legal regulation in relation to person-centred care.

This service scored 60 (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 did not always treat people with kindness, empathy and compassion, or respect their privacy and dignity.

We observed staff to be kind to people though some interactions were task-orientated. We also observed a person struggling to use cutlery and was unable to finish their meal. They had been given a spoon and told us that using it for a main meal made them feel like a child. We observed another person start reminiscing about a relative to a staff member but the staff member did not respond and changed the subject.

Care plans set out how staff could protect people’s privacy and dignity. However, some care plans for people sharing a room did not refer to sharing a room and how that might affect dignity and privacy when receiving personal care.

Most people and their relatives told us that staff were kind and caring. A person said, “The staff are marvellous and always kind to me.” However, another person told us that some staff were caring, but not all. A relative said, “They keep her clean. I’m so impressed. They come every 2-3 hours. It means a great deal to me that she is so well cared for.” Another relative told us that they had always found staff to be caring to their family member.

Policies were in place to provide guidance on treating people with dignity and ensuring privacy was protected.

A professional commented, ‘Westside Nursing Home are offering a really good service in my opinion. They are always very welcoming and kind with their residents and their families.’

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

People’s individuality and preferences were respected. Staff knew people well and their likes and dislikes. However, care and support plans could be further developed to include more information on people’s likes, dislikes and preferences and to reflect their life history.

People did not receive sufficient support to take part in regular activities. We observed activities during our assessment and very few people were engaged in them, people were often passive and disengaged with low levels of stimulation.

An activities coordinator had been recently employed but only worked 8 hours each week. They told us that they did 1:1 activities when they worked in the morning and group activities when they worked in the afternoon. We were told that exercise activities took place once a month and a singer also visited once a month. We checked people’s activities records and they were extremely limited with most not recording any specific activities other than personal care-related ones.

Most people told us that they could choose when they wanted to get up and go to bed, although one person told us they got up when staff were ready and if they were lucky, they could stay up until 10.00pm; otherwise, they went to bed at 7.00pm, which made them feel like a child.

We observed people being encouraged to be independent during the assessment.

There were no restrictions on visiting. The provider’s website stated, ‘Visitors are welcome at any time, however, we would prefer if you could avoid visiting during mealtimes.’ People and their relatives did not raise any concerns in this area.

Staff responded to people’s needs to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress.

We observed staff promptly responding to people’s distress during the assessment visit. People and their relatives did not raise any concerns regarding this area. A person told us that staff had been supportive when they were upset following the death of a loved one.

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

Staff told us they had good relationships with the registered manager and that staff worked well together. A staff member said, “The management are supportive on a personal level, about administration and staff wellbeing. They show a high level of duty of care both to the residents and the staff.”

Supervisions and team meetings provided opportunities for staff to raise any wellbeing concerns. Staff told us they were happy to raise concerns and felt they were treated fairly.

Policies were in place to support staff wellbeing. Staff were monitored to ensure they did not work too many shifts and staff told us they were able to have breaks during their shifts.