The Mill House

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 75 (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 observed staff to treat people and their relatives with kindness and compassion. People newly admitted to the service told us how staff had supported them to settle in and made them feel welcome. Staff supported people to protect their dignity, and people spoke fondly of the staff team and care provided. One relative told us, “I think they [staff] are great. They are a fantastic team there.”

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 were encouraged to have items of personal importance within their bedrooms, to make them personalised to their tastes. Staff protected people’s individuality, and ensured people maintained consistent standards of personal presentation. Our findings were supported by feedback received, a relative told us, “All [staff] seem quite good in the way they speak and interact with [relative] from the cleaners to the care staff. They are all quite a sweet bunch really."

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 encouraged to be involved in activities happening within the service, and the wider community. People were supported to maintain their hobbies and interests. We spoke with people who used assistive technology and specialist equipment to aid their levels of independence and control over their own environment.

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 discussed people’s overall care and support needs, as well as any emotional support within shift handover meetings. Staff recognised people experienced challenges at different times with changes and deteriorations in their health presentations and levels of independence, and spent time talking with them, and offering comfort. We observed call bells to be responded to in a timely way. Our findings were supported by relative’s feedback. One relative told us, “They [the service] don't keep anything from us, and I feel that I can always ring the registered manager if there is anything that I am concerned about.” Another relative said, “[Relative] has a call bell and if they press it, staff respond within a few minutes.”

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

Staff told us morale had greatly improved as a result of having a stable leadership team. Staff told us they enjoyed coming to work, and we observed staff to work well as a team. We identified some areas of risk and concern within the culture of the staff team; the provider agreed to implement additional support measures for staff as an outcome of our feedback.