Henwick Grange

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 Inspection we rated this key question good. At this Inspection the rating has changed to requires improvement. This meant people did not always feel well-supported, cared for or treated with dignity and respect.

This service scored 55 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Not all staff treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion, or respected their privacy and dignity. We observed mixed interactions with people and staff. People and relatives also shared mixed views on how staff delivered care to people. One person told us, ‘Some carers are good and some bad”. Another person said, “They are all very kind and helpful”. Staff did not always respect people’s privacy and did not routinely knock on people’s doors before entering. We observed some staff did not speak to people before carrying out care tasks. However, we did also observe some positive interactions, where staff were kind, patient and clearly knew people’s wishes and spent time reminiscing over their lives, histories and families.

Staff did not always treat people as individuals or make sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. We saw a person was distressed in their bedroom listening to loud inappropriate music and was lay in an uncomfortable position. The persons preferred music choice was cited on their door. We shared this with a staff at the time who was initially reluctant to take action. However, action was taken to ensure the person’s preferences were considered and they were made more comfortable. Staff had gathered detailed information about people’s personal histories, including their family members, employment history and their hobbies and interests. Staff we spoke with knew people well and could tell us how they support people’s individual preferences. One staff member said, “We look at their likes and dislikes and how they like to be cared for. They have choices of what we help them with. So, for example, if somebody just needs support getting dressed then that’s what we do if they want to take a bath or shower then we can support them. It’s based on what people need, we try to make people comfortable and give them some autonomy when we support them”. The registered and deputy manager had good historical and present knowledge of people, and we saw people knew them well. We shared our findings with them and appropriate action was taken to ensure staff received support and additional training over the coming weeks.

The provider did not always promote people’s independence, so people did not always know their rights and have choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. For example, we observed a poor mealtime experience on the first day of our visit. People were not given a choice of whether they would like to wear an apron or what they would like to eat or drink. Staff did not interact well with people. We shared this with the registered manager and leaders and observed a much-improved mealtime experience for people during our second visit. People were given both verbal and visual choices and the environment had improved, making it a more pleasurable experience for people living at the service. People were supported to maintain relationships which were important to them, and we spoke with visitors during our visits. Staff told us,” We make sure that we include people in their care even if they are only a little task they do for themselves this means they have been included. We make sure that we have their permission and we always ask how they want things done”. The registered manager liaised with the relevant agencies to provide support to people and staff to ensure they are following the Right Care, Right Support, Right Culture” guidance in relation to how to support people with a learning disability. Staff had received the relevant training to support people with a learning disability and Autistic people.

We received mixed views from people and relatives regarding staff responding to people’s immediate needs. Some people told us staff came quickly when they used their call bell, whilst other people said there were times when their call bells were not answered, or they had to wait for long periods of time. One person told us, “They answer my bell quite quickly very occasionally it can be 40 minutes”. A relative told us, “I think they are slightly understaffed, if they (person) are distressed and want to go to bed, I can’t find anyone. Once I find one (staff member) they have to wait around an hour. When they do come, they are so apologetic”. Call bell logs were being recorded daily; however, the information was not logged collaboratively to give an overview of call bell times. We shared this with the registered manager to ensure they had effective oversight of call bell times and could take appropriate action if needed. When people’s clinical needs had changed, we saw evidence this had been shared with the relevant external professionals to seek support.

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. All staff we spoke with told us they felt supported by the registered and deputy manager. One staff member told us, “Managers are perfect, so supportive, really supportive with my personal life”. Another staff member said, “We can be supported to become a senior care, I am happy working here. People are looked after. We have team meetings we can discuss things which is good, so we have all of the information that we need”. Staff were rewarded for their achievements with gifts and cards from the provider as a way of recognising their work and commitments to Henwick Grange. The provider had processes in place to support the development of staff, these included staff meetings, supervisions and training courses to develop staff’s clinical knowledge.