St Mary's 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 the provider involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

At our last assessment we rated this key question requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to good. This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care.

This service scored 65 (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.

We saw staff treated people with care and kindness and appeared to know people well. People and their relatives told us staff were kind and polite. People’s comments included, “The carers are nice, and they look after me”, ”They [staff] are caring, if I am upset they take time to talk to me. They are very nice.” and ”They [staff] are nice, they are kind to me. I don’t have any problems.”

We received a comment from a person about an incident when they were not happy with the approach of a staff member. We shared this with the care consultant, who addressed it at time of our visit.

There was information in people’s care records relating to their life history and background and staff were aware of this information. This meant they were able to use this information to help them engage with people and build relationships.

People’s care plans had been improved and there was a more individualised approach to people’s care, including in the use of bed rails.

Staff were aware when people’s religious beliefs were important to them and people told us they were able to practice their faiths. However, people told us there were no links with or visits from religious organisations in the local area.

People told us that staff knew them well and respected their privacy. We saw staff would knock and wait before entering people’s rooms.

Staff told us they were committed to providing support which promoted people’s choice and independence. Staff members told us they supported people to carry out tasks for themselves, wherever possible.

People praised the staff and confirmed they offered them choices and promoted their independence. When discussing this, 1 person said, ”I think the staff are really very good. I can’t fault them. Even the cleaners are super.”

People praised the staff and said they tried to respond to people’s needs and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. Staff were kind, caring and compassionate and people and their relatives told us staff responded to them promptly when they were unwell, and records showed GPs were contacted for further advice and support. However, some people told us staff sometimes struggled to provide support promptly. One person said, “At certain times you have to wait for help. At mealtimes I think they could do with more staff.” One relative said,”[My family member] is looked after very well here and is getting better. They will be coming home soon.” By contrast, a relative of a person who was nursed in bed on the first floor said, “They are not as effective as they should be as there are not enough staff. They get [my family member] washed and dressed but she has to wait a while. I don’t want to criticise the staff, there just isn’t enough of them. They are super and they do their best. I think that it’s better downstairs.”

We saw some people who were cared for on the first floor who were left alone for long periods.

Staff told us the treatment of staff had been improved by the management company overseeing the management of the home, and systems were in place to support staff, such as staff meetings and supervision sessions. However, they felt there was need to review the way the service was staffed as they often felt very stretched. One staff member said, “A lot of [people using the service] want to chat. They like to talk and I try to give them emotional support. There’s not much time to talk, as staff are too busy. I do what I can, but here are not enough staff.”

Staff we spoke with said they would talk with the management team if they had concerns.