Silvermere Care Home

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture. At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained good. This meant the service was consistently managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality, person-centred 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 had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities. Staff had a clear understanding of these values.

Feedback from leaders was there had been a period of unsettlement in the service which had impacted on the delivery of care. However, they had taken robust action to address this, and the provider had sent in a ‘turnaround’ team to address this. People and relatives, we spoke with were complimentary about the improvements with comments including, “It feels like over last couple of weeks more attention being given to things”, “The new team has made such a difference, atmosphere and staff better – carers have always been good” and “The CEO (Chief Executive Office) appeared to be very open and honest. He took time to talk to people and not in the way you would expect a CEO to.”

Staff also fed back about the recent improvements and how this had impacted them and that this had a direct impact on the delivery of care. There was a positive culture from staff who understood their purpose. Staff told us, “I don’t feel rushed at all. I look at the residents as if they were my own parents. I make sure I check on all of them and give enough time to each of them” and “It’s always helped me a lot to get feedback from people. It’s their home and I am in their home, helping to make their life wonderful. I always ask how things are.”

Staff fed back that the management team were very hands on and stepped in where it was needed. One told us, “We all show support to each other. There have been so many times where (deputy) has grabbed their gloves and apron and provided personal care to residents when I have needed the additional support.”

The provider had inclusive leaders at all levels who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. They did so with integrity, openness and honesty.

There was visible and clear leadership in the service. Staff knew who to go to if they needed support to meet people’s needs and told us the manager was approachable and supportive. One member of staff told us, “Managers are so lovely and supportive. I couldn’t ask for a better management team. We are encouraged to call them for any concerns. They are so nice.” Whilst another told us, “I am proud I am here, and I am happy they appreciate me and want to talk about my personal growth.”

The manager told us, “We have ‘Employee of the Month’, so we make it a celebration and involve the families and residents, and they nominate.” The manager told us they felt supported by their manager and how they also encouraged their staff team to discuss with them any challenges they may face.

The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard.

Staff told us they felt confident to voice their concerns about anything in the service to the management team, and to approach external authorities if needed. One member of staff told us, “I feel comfortable speaking in these. I raised an issue with communication. (Deputy name) had already identified it and I thanked them for taking action.” Another told us, “We have something called ‘speak up’. We are in a perishable place. If it is not used it will perish. I made suggestions on how they can market better to get more staff, and they listened to me and have used it.”

The manager told us, “We had the last couple of meetings, we have more reassurance that they can always come and speak up. They now feel they can speak up to (deputy) and me. We also have made ourselves available in the later hours of the day. We have shared a 24 phone number to a duty manger phone so staff at night can contact us. We have smaller meetings and also on full staff meetings we open it up to Teams (online) as well for those that can’t come in.”

The provider strongly valued diversity in their workforce. They had an inclusive and fair culture which had improved equality and equity for people who worked for them.

Staff told us they were treated well and supported equally by the management team. The provider had processes in place to encourage an inclusive culture and optimise staff well-being. Any issues were discussed at team meetings, during supervision and face to face as they arose. Staff told us they would not hesitate to speak to the management team if they needed to. Staff surveys had taken place to gain their views about how the service could improve, and there were programmes in place to support staff to develop in their role. One member of staff told us, “I have never experienced any discrimination and haven’t witnessed any either. We are all see us equal here.”

The manager told us, “The staff here, we have multi-cultural staff and staff that are new to the country, so we celebrate their events like Diwali. We celebrate ‘country’ days for residents and staff to celebrate their culture. We do adaptations for working patterns for those are Eid and offer of working every other day whilst fasting. We accommodate the holidays for Eid as they won’t know until the sun has set.”

The provider had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. They used these to manage and deliver good quality, sustainable care, treatment and support. They acted on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, and shared this securely with others when appropriate.

There were systems in place to support the manager to identify and address risks to the service and quality concerns. The manager reviewed audits, and quality checks were completed which included qualitative care planning, staff training, accidents and incidents, health and safety, and medicine’s management. Outcomes from these audits were discussed with the management team and action plans put in place to address the areas required.

The provider understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services worked seamlessly for people. They shared information and learning with partners and collaborated for improvement.

The staff and management team told us they worked with a wide variety of health and social care professionals including dentistry, SALT, mental health services, the local authority safeguarding and the DoLS team, to ensure that residents were safe and protected from harm. The leadership team told us they, at times, had difficulties with some health care professionals recording their visits. However, they were planning to meet with them to discuss this.

This approach ensured that services were coordinated and met diverse individual and community needs, creating more integrated and effective care. The management team and staff ensured people had access to their wider community. One member of staff told us, “We have a Christmas fair organised to raise money for Princess Alice Hospice. The music school in Cobham are bringing children to come and sing and playing piano. They sent me a YouTube link to show residents what to expect. Some do not want to go because it is late in the evening. So, a live YouTube link will be shown in the cinema room at the same time.” The manager told us, “We have other care homes that they come here and share the events. We have residents led activities that we open up to other homes where we have talks.”

The provider focused on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. They actively contributed to safe, effective practice and research.

The service ensured they continued to learn and improve the service. We noted they had implemented learning from safeguarding incidents and accidents and shared these with staff to drive improvement. One member of staff said, “Management are always monitoring the time we take to respond to the call bells. They print out the time taken to respond each day and encourage us to be quicker.” The management team were keen to continue to build on positive relationships with partner agencies and the local authority. The manager told us, “This Friday it is mental health day, and we have other Avery homes coming in and we will have tea and discuss the importance of mental health. Family can come too.”