The Yelverton Residential 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 remained Good. This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care.

This service scored 80 (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.

Feedback from relatives and people was positive about the staff that supported them and about the service. People’s privacy and dignity was respected by staff allowing people their personal time and space as they wanted it. Staff were seen to have close professional relationships with people which enabled good 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 experienced a full and active lifestyle as they individually wanted and preferred. People had personalised rooms where their styles and preferences were respected and their surroundings made comfortable and homely. People had brought in their own furniture and furnishings to their rooms which enabled their rooms to be as they wished to suit their own personality and preferences.

People engaged in the activities they liked. The activity coordinator visited people daily to offer them group activities but also to support them individually if they did not wish to take part. They also offered each person the food options from the menu daily. There were many and varied group activities available to everyone using the service so that everyone’s personal preferences could be supported.

The service was actively enabling people to lead their lives as they wanted. The service bought and made available to people, alcoholic drinks when they wanted and within their own control in their rooms and / or with their meals. The administrator of the service said, “It is great here, we keep a stock in here if people want alcohol. (A person) asked us to get their wine all in order in preparation for (watching) the World Cup.”

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

Staff were supporting people to maintain their own skills and abilities, to help people maintain as much independence as possible. People were given excellent choice in the support being provided by the staff. People told us they had consistent relationships with staff and staff knew peoples’ preferences and offered choice in all personal care and activities of daily living. Staff rarely left the service’s employment and so this enabled staff to have long standing relationships with people.

People were given excellent support to keep in touch with their relatives that lived in other countries or at distance from the service and so the person rarely saw their relative in person. For example, the provider produced a regular newsletter which they emailed to all relatives. The service also enabled people to have live video Face Time calls with their relatives every week. This enabled effective face to face communication between people who would otherwise rarely see one another.

The activities coordinator, or another member of care staff, visited every person each morning to tell them about the group activities available that day. If the person did not want to participate in that activity the coordinator ensured they spent some individual time with the person during that day enjoying either an activity or chatting individually.

The service provided an exceptional quality of stimulating activity inside and outside the home,and the service was actively part of its local community. The quantity, variety and choice of group and individual activity provided by the service enhanced people’s quality of life and supported them to socialise and stay active. For example, a mothers and toddlers group came into the home regularly enabling people to spend time with the excitement and activity of young children. This provided people with stimulation as well as fun.

People often went out of the service. The home had access to a 7-seat minibus to support group outings. Regular activities outside the home included, going to the village pub, going to activities in the village community hall, and attending church every Sunday.

Group activities within the service included; regular karaoke, visiting singers, a weekly pianist from a local secondary school, a secondary school choir, a monthly church service, and a monthly nail spa.

The monthly ‘Newsletter of Special events’ was sent to all families so they were aware of forthcoming events and could attend. These activities included; 2 summer barbecues, cheese and wine evenings during the summer, and visiting animals such as dogs, ponies, and llamas. Christmas party was organised every year which families were also invited to attend. Every person was offered a birthday party with cake, cards and presents. Families were really made to feel part of life at The Yelverton Residential Home.

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.

There was a medical emergency on the morning of our first visit to the home. The care staff on duty had acted immediately and appropriately and persevered until the situation was addressed by health professionals.

The electronic system produced ‘red flag’ notifications from the data inputted by the care staff on their hand-held devices. This system automatically highlighted issues to managers immediately and ensured action was taken to address issues quickly. The registered manager told us they often accessed the care electronic system offsite through their phone before they came to work so they were well informed and everyone’s needs were responded to as quickly as possible.

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

There was good communication between the leadership team and the staff team. We saw a good culture of mutual support between the management, senior care staff and the rest of the staff team. There was a very low turnover of care staff and care staff had come to the service or returned to it, as they had heard about the quality of the working conditions at the home.

The provider actively supported staff morale and wellbeing. For example, a free lunchtime meal was offered to all the staff on daytime shifts and food was made available to staff on night shifts. Staff birthdays were celebrated by the home with cards, presents and cake all provided by the service.