Hoylands 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 in 2022 we did not inspect this key question. It was last reviewed in 2018 where we rated it 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. Care was person-centred and promoted people’s dignity, privacy and human rights. People were treated with kindness and compassion. Staff protected their privacy and dignity, treated people as individuals and supported their preferences. One staff member told us, “Always bear in mind what I would like. Encourage the residents to do things to help with respect or covering up with a towel etc for their dignity and knock on doors before entering their apartment.” Relatives were positive about the support provided by staff. One relative told us, “[Person] is treated with dignity and staff are very caring and understand [person’s] needs. Observations confirmed that staff supported people with kindness, compassion and dignity.

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. Care plans were person centred and focused on people’s strengths, abilities and aspirations. Staff worked well with people to understand their communication styles to support them to do activities they enjoyed and wanted to take part in. Staff knew people well and what activities they enjoyed taking part in each day.People’s care records included how they communicated and any specific support they required with their communication. We saw staff communicating with people in line with their communication needs and care plan. This included Makaton and also using the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) which supports people to communicate their preferences and decisions.

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 actively supported to maintain their independence and exercise choice and control over their daily lives. Staff promoted autonomy by encouraging individuals to make decisions about their routines, activities, and personal care. People were supported to make choices about how they spent their time and had opportunities to pursue different activities. These included leisure activities, going to places of interest and work experience. One relative told us, “Yes [person] gets lots of options of where [person] goes. [Person] has X hours of 1:1 and given lots of opportunities.” People were supported to learn skills and be independent. For example, we saw people supported with daily living skills such as making lunch or work experience placements. Care plans included how best to support people in line with their preferences and their preferred care routines. People’s communication needs had been assessed and plans put in place. We saw staff had received training on how to communicate with people effectively. Staff consistently encouraged people to make choices for themselves and maximise their independence. One staff member told us, “Ask if they need help before doing it for them. They might just need a verbal prompt.”

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. The service listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Where people had difficult verbalising how they were feeling, tools such as the DisDAT (Disability Distress Assessment Tool) were in place to help staff identify cues of distress and provide appropriate support. Staff were seen to respond to people in a timely way throughout our visits and utilise training around positive behaviour support and detailed specific support guidelines to reduce behaviours of distress. One staff member told us, “I use Studio 3 training (a type of positive behaviour support training focussing on promoting low arousal) on a daily basis. Low arousal is key to working with each resident. It helps keep them more relaxed and as stress free as possible.”

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff, and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. The provider ensured staff had the skills and knowledge to carry out their role effectively. Staff completed a range of mandatory and targeted training to ensure they could carry out their role safely and competently and meet the needs of the people supported at Hoylands House. Staff told us they had regular supervision and overall felt supported by the management team. One staff member said, “Yes I can raise any issues to managers and any suggestions we put in a suggestions box which is checked daily.” Staff also told us of times when reasonable adjustments had been made due to health or personal circumstances.