Langdale Heights

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 outstanding. This meant people were truly respected and valued as individuals; and empowered as partners in their care in an exceptional service.

This service scored 90 (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 was exceptional at treating people with kindness, empathy and compassion and in how they respected people’s privacy and dignity. Staff always treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

For people living with dementia, their care plans emphasised the importance of people’s emotional well-being and guided staff to validate people’s emotional experiences. This person-centred method of care is based on good practice principles for dementia care. For example, the care plan for one person explained what factors the person’s emotional well-being relied on and how staff were to achieve this. If the person became upset staff were guided to acknowledge the person’s feelings rather than dismiss or challenge them and reiterated to staff that emotional validation was essential. The care plan contained details unique to the person on how to provide reassurance to ensure their emotional well-being.

We observed staff were kind, friendly and compassionate in their interactions with people. We observed a staff member talking to a person as they supported them into the main lounge area. They said kindly, “I don’t want you to be alone in bed.” On another occasion, staff put their arm around a person when providing them with reassurance. Staff sang to another person when they had become upset, and this reassured them. Staff acted with compassion, warmth and kindness when caring for people.

Relatives told us how they felt when they visited their loved ones living at Langdale Heights. One relative told us, “You feel like you are going into [family member’s] home. Staff bring us tea and biscuits, and they make it the best experience for me and make my visits like an occasion.” Another relative said, “It’s [family member’s] home and staff welcome us in and call us by name and say, ‘it’s nice to see you again.’ They make us feel welcome and it puts us at ease with [family member] being there.” While another added, “It is a pleasure going there, they are all so lovely.” A healthcare professional who worked with the home told us, “There’s great patient care here. I’ve noticed how staff interact when I’m waiting. They exhibit such kindness, the way they speak to people.” Staff took steps to make sure relatives felt welcome when they visited.

Relatives all agreed that staff provided kind and compassionate care and promoted their loved one’s dignity. One relative told us, “[Family member] looks clean and staff assist and offer them things, they are more content. Another relative said, “[Family member] is always dressed lovely and staff match [their accessories] as they know [family member] likes that.” Our observations showed staff promoted people’s dignity in care. For example, we saw staff adjusting people’s clothing to ensure their dignity and providing a blanket to make sure a person was warm. One staff member took on the role of being a ‘dignity champion’. This meant a staff member took the lead to continually promote dignity and compassion in care.

Leaders at Langdale Heights had identified a set of ‘core values.’ Core values are guiding principles that shape the culture and behaviour of the organisation. These included, ‘Compassion at the heart of care,’ and ‘A home filled with belonging.’ Feedback from relatives, visiting healthcare professionals and our own observations showed these ‘core values’ had been achieved. Leaders and staff had created a home where people felt it was their home; visitors were welcomed and staff cared for people with dignity and compassion.

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.

Relatives shared the view staff treated their family members as unique individuals. One relative told us, “On [family member’s] birthday we were about to leave, and staff said you can’t leave yet! and they bought out a birthday cake that was homemade. It made it an inclusive event and a nice surprise. They packed us all slices of birthday cake to go home with.” Another relative told us how Mother’s Day had been celebrated. They said, “This place is wonderful. Good food, nice music, with flowers and chocolates for Mother’s Day.”

As well as celebrations of personal events, Langdale Heights used cultural, social and religious events to help shape the activities at the home. For example, the ‘Activities Planner’ included a wide variety of events including St David’s day where the suggested activities including listening to Welsh cultural music; zero discrimination day suggested listening to cultural music from different countries; World wildlife day suggested relevant games and nature therapy sounds and world engineers day suggested reminiscence activities and discussions on old transport, photos of bridges, and building block games. Plans were in place to acknowledge a forthcoming religious celebration, Eid al-Fitr, with sweets and cultural music. On the day of our inspection, St Patrick’s day was being celebrated. A local Church group visited each month to lead songs of celebration. This helped to create a celebratory atmosphere of different cultures and social and religious events.

People’s care plans had detailed information on people’s lives and experiences, and on what was important to them. This was in-depth and relevant to help ensure staff understood how best to care for people. For example, staff were made aware of certain dates that were sensitive for one person.

Care plans provided staff with detailed information on how best to communicate and support people to have choices. This included details of any impacts on a person’s communication ability. For example, where a person was living with dementia, care plans guided staff to ensure they listened in an unhurried way and observed the person’s behaviour as well as their words as a way of understanding how they were feeling. We observed staff communicated with people well during our assessment. We observed staff demonstrating eating as a way to help prompt a person that their meal was there for them to eat and on other occasions, staff listened effectively to people expressing their wishes.

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

Relative’s spoke highly of the activities staff engaged their family members in. One relative told us, “Staff were doing [a specific therapeutic activity] with [family member]. They were very stiff and were often in a [specific] position. [Family member] seems more relaxed now in their sitting position and I felt it had really made a difference; they are much calmer.”

Our observations showed a range of activities matched to people’s individual needs were used effectively and helped people engage and feel calm. For example, we saw staff supported two people with dementia doll therapy. This is an approach used in dementia care to help people connect and find comfort through their own nurturing instincts. It can often promote a sense of purpose while reducing agitation. We observed people benefited from this approach and were calm and reassured. Staff engaged other people with magazines that reflected their interests. At other times, staff organised sing-alongs that were from the era relevant to people living at the home.

People had ‘Wellbeing enrichment’ care plans in place to specifically detail and plan activities. These were regularly reviewed and monitored people’s levels of engagement and enjoyment of meaningful activities. People’s care plans included ‘All about me’ details. These covered activities people would usually enjoy engaging in and what they did not like. For example, one person did not really like big groups and was happier engaging in smaller, quieter spaces. This meant care plans provided clear details of people’s levels of engagement with their preferred activities and so any changes in this could be quickly identified and monitored. In addition,

leaders maintained oversight of the quality and suitability of activities provided for people to engage in. A recent audit found activities were reviewed for each person and adjustments were considered to adapt activities to changes in people’s mood, cognition or engagement. Leaders recognised when people showed a reduced level of engagement in activities this was a potential indicator for low mood or an indicator of deterioration in a person living with dementia and worked to ensure this was effectively monitored.

Staff with a lead role for activities showed us records of the activities people enjoyed participating in. This included activities with tools and structural puzzles that suited some of the men who had a history of this type of work. For other people we saw they had been supported with sensory activities and crafts. Another person was supported to take part in household activities and enjoyed helping staff set the dinner table and afterwards put the used clothing protectors into laundry bags and cleaned the tables. Staff told us these activities were meaningful to the person and helped to support their sense of involvement and purpose in the home. The staff member with responsibility for activities told us they appreciated Leaders had nominated them for ‘Activity Coordinator of the Year’ where they were a finalist in the 2025 Great British Care Awards for the East Midlands. The Awards aim to help celebrate excellence and to recognise individuals’ dedication and achievements within their work.

Staff worked to promote people’s independence, acted on people’s choices and gave them control. We observed one person had been served their meal and staff kindly reminded them it was ready for them to eat. However, the person said they wanted it leaving where it was for a while. Staff continued to monitor and offered alternatives, however the person continued to express their wish for their meal to be left where it was. Staff followed their instructions and soon after the person started to eat and finished their meal completely without any further need for assistance from staff. We saw how staff supported other people to be independent with their meals. Where needed, people had adapted ‘scoop’ bowls. These are specially designed with high sides and prevent meals from spilling and provide and edge that allows people to push food onto their fork or spoon more easily. Staff offered people clothing protectors to wear when their meal was served. We observed one person wanted to wear one in a particular colour and staff followed their wishes and went and found one that met with their wishes.

Leaders at Langdale Heights had identified a set of ‘core values.’ Core values are guiding principles that shape the culture and behaviour of the organisation. These included, ‘Promoting independence and wellbeing.’ Feedback from relatives and our own observations showed this ‘core value’ had been achieved. Leaders and staff were dedicated to promoting people’s independence and wellbeing.

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.

We observed staff responded quickly to people’s immediate needs throughout our inspection. For example, we saw people were supported to use the bathroom promptly when they asked for assistance and staff were quick to comfort and reassure people if they became upset. Relatives we spoke with felt assured staff responded well to their family members’ needs. One relative told us, “Staff are very attentive.”

Staff knew people well and understood how their usual health and mood would present and could tell us when people were not themselves. One staff member told us, “We know people well, we know how they respond. With dementia, we are trained to use short sentences and to not rely just on verbal communication. We look at their facial expressions too.” This helped staff be able to anticipate people’s needs.

We reviewed a recent incident where a person had placed themselves and others at risk of harm. This showed the staff team responded immediately and worked together to maintain and act on a dynamic risk assessment throughout the duration of the incident to maintain the person’s safety. Staff had to take immediate and dynamic actions throughout the incident in response to new and imminent risks. They did this successfully and the staff team worked well together to ensure the person’s safety in an environment with various quickly changing risks. Other incident reports showed staff were effective at routinely monitoring people for any changes in the health or wellbeing. They were quick to identify and report any changes that needed actions to help people stay well and to report any risks at the earliest opportunity. One staff member told us, “If we see something is different from their usual pattern, if they are drowsy, we will inform the nurse.” This demonstrated staff took action promptly in relation to people’s immediate needs.

Leaders at Langdale Heights had identified a set of ‘core values’ to help shape the culture of the home. One of these included, ‘Quick to act, ready to support.’ Leaders and staff demonstrated through their actions in response to people’s immediate needs and in response to incidents that they acted quickly and were ready to support and help 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.

Staff all consistently spoke highly of the support they received from Leaders at Langdale Heights. One staff member told us, “They are amazing, they always help and I can say if I am not well. Every month there is an ‘Employee of the month’ and we get £100 extra if we get this and we get awards. We get appreciation every day and I like this home; I am working in the best home.” Another staff member told us, “I get a proper uniform, we get good hours and we can work flexibly, I am happy.” Leaders worked well to show appreciation and support their staff.

Leaders understood the well-being of staff was fundamental to providing good quality care to people living at Langdale Heights. They were committed to staff well-being and did so through a variety of initiatives. For example, leaders had developed a staff well-being programme. This provided staff with numerous benefits including free meals when on shift, a wellness hour on the night shift with an additional paid break dedicated to staff’s self-care and relaxation. Access was provided to private medical care, mediation, counselling, financial support in emergencies, support for education and development and if staff wanted to, gym membership and other health and relaxation activities were available.

Leaders monitored staff well-being and actively assessed if they could help staff with their stress levels. Incident reports included when actions were taken to help staff if they had been involved in something that had caused them upset. For example, one incident report included that a staff member was given a short break after an incident to help them feel better.

Leaders completed stress audits with staff where they looked to identify any themes, concerns or areas where staff may be experiencing difficulties and what actions could be taken to improve. Leaders told us the options considered could include looking at work-life balance and whether any further support may be helpful. In addition, well-being meetings with staff members provided staff with an opportunity to discuss how they were feeling, raise any concerns and explore any pressure they were experiencing. Again, leaders told us they used these meetings to identify whether any staff member needed more support, reasonable adjustments, or any guidance to promote their health, well-being and resilience at work. Leaders worked hard to ensure their staff team felt supported, valued and their well-being promoted.

Opportunities to promote a happy and supportive team environment were taken. Leaders organised a well-being café and a staff Christmas party. These occasions helped staff spend time together and build stronger bonds.