Dimensions Somerset Spring View

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

Staff always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

Two people told us they were well cared for. We saw very kind, considerate and patient interactions between people and staff throughout our visits. People’s rights to privacy and confidentiality were upheld. Staff demonstrated clear understanding of why this was important and how they achieved it. People’s information and care records were stored securely.

The provider’s organisational values promoted kind and compassionate care. The management and staff team promoted people’s dignity in all aspects of their care and support.

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.

People’s care and support was tailored individually to their needs, wishes and ambitions. Care records included a wide range of information about the person’s life history, their interests and hobbies, their cultural and spiritual identity and preferences. Each person had a key team to support them. These were named members of staff who the person could consult with about any aspect of their care they wished. Key teams worked alongside individuals and their family members to ensure people’s care, needs and wishes were respected and kept up to date.

Staff spoken with knew people well and were able to give examples of how each person liked to be supported. Staff were trying to create a real sense of ‘home’ for people and valued everyone’s opinion. One staff member said, “It feels like a warm family home when you come in; like a real home [not like a care home]."

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 have choice and control in both their day to day lives and in any longer-term goals they had. Staff were knowledgeable about people’s needs and wishes and were skilled at supporting people to express their views and make choices. People had annual reviews to ensure any aspirations and outcomes they wish to work towards were planned.

People were encouraged to be as independent as they could be and were supported to build on their skills and abilities. One person spent time showing us how they used a laptop to write their own daily records. A staff member supported them but encouraged the person to do as much for themselves as they could. They had their own mobile phone which they used to set alarm reminders for things important to them. They also controlled the lighting and music in their own room using their phone which supported their independence. One staff member said, “When it comes to independence, we ensure that each person is given the opportunity to try, [even if this takes a long time]. It’s important I don’t intervene and do it for them. The smile on their face as they successfully [do things themselves] is the best feeling in the world to me personally.”

Some people did not use words to communicate. Therefore a number of communication methods were used to support people to express themselves and to have choice and control over their lives. These included body language, documents in an ‘easy read’ format, photographs, picture exchanges, verbal cues, objects and ‘intensive interaction’ (a person-centred approach designed to support people with learning disabilities with communication development). People were also being supported to use ‘smart’ home devices, and communicate with their families using tablet computers.

People were active members of their community. People enjoyed holidays, meeting their family and friends, going to the pub, for meals out, shopping, to theatre shows and concerts, disco nights and walks. Two people have been supported to buy their own cars so staff could take them out whenever and wherever they chose to go.

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.

Staff knew who to contact when people needed urgent help or support or to report a concern. Staff understood what was important to people and were able to respond to them promptly. Staff were caring and patient and took time to listen to people.

The provider always cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff, and was exceptional at supporting and enabling staff to always deliver person-centred care.

The registered manager, assistant manager and other leaders cared about the wellbeing of staff and supported them in caring ways. Staff told us they felt respected and valued at work by managers and colleagues. Staff received both formal and informal support and said they were able to raise anything at any time with managers. We had many positive comments from staff which included: “[The registered manager] is fantastic. The team are amazing to work with”, “I absolutely love working at Spring View” and “I was nominated for an ‘inspiring person’ award which I won. At the regional care awards, I was highly commended; it was a lovely feeling.”

The provider had carried out a staff survey in 2024. This was focused on how positive staff felt and measured their trust in the organisation. The survey contained a section which specifically covered staff wellbeing. The scores throughout the survey were consistently high, other than those related to pay or other rewards. Where scores were lower, an action plan had been put in place to improve these areas. For example, staff had been nominated for national care awards as well as being recognised for an 'outstanding contribution to Discovery' award, which is due to be held in September 2025.

The provider had a wide range of support initiatives in place for their diverse staff teams. They had translated policies into British sign language for staff who were deaf and deaf awareness training had been developed for all staff. They had supported colleagues with specific needs to obtain ‘access to work’ funding. Women’s health champions had been trained and a support group formed.

The provider had ‘disability confident leader accreditation’, (a government scheme which encouraged employers to “think differently about disability and take action to improve how they recruit, retain and develop disabled people).” They were members of a national business forum (which led on disability inclusion) and they were part of a national business network “dedicated to building a fairer and greener world together."