St Martha's

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 did not assess enough quality statements to rate this key question. At this assessment the service has been rated 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 and the registered manager treating people with kindness and observed they had a good rapport with people. One relative told us about how a staff member had supported him and his relative in a particularly kind way. One person told us, ““I like living here very much, I don’t ever want to move.”

Visitors to the service were welcomed, depending on people’s needs this was done in a planned way. Private spaces were available both inside and outside the home for people and their visitors to utilise.

A professional who worked with the service told us, “I am always amazed about the things they do here. Karaoke, visiting animals, quizzes. It’s good, even simple things when going past the ward there are pictures, posters and paint which is changed regularly so its current and relevant.”

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.

We observed people making choices throughout their day including when, where and what they wanted to eat and what they wanted to wear. The registered manager told us they ensured care planning documentation was person centred. Care planning documentation clearly included information about people’s needs, wishes and preferences.

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

Staff empowered people to be as independent as possible and celebrated people’s achievements. We observed staff offering people choice using people’s preferred communication methods and responding to their wishes throughout the inspection.

We observed the mealtime experience for people. People chose what they wanted to eat and where they wanted to eat it. Some people preferred to eat their meals alone and this was respected by the staff team. We observed a member of kitchen staff brought a picture menu to a person for them to choose what they wanted to eat.

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 interactions with people throughout the inspection, it was clear staff, and the Unit Manager knew people well and responded to their immediate needs with kindness and compassion. One person was showing signs of distress, a staff member lowered themself to the person’s eye level and engaged in some banter with them which made the person laugh and redirected their distress. One person told us call bells were responded to within about 5 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 they were well supported. One staff member told us, “The management team are very approachable when we need management on call, usually the registered manager comes up. This is the main reason I did my nursing qualification, because everyone is so supportive.”

Staff surveys took place, and the registered manager shared the responses and had an action plan in place which supported improvement. There had been clear improvement following action taken the previous year. The registered manager had an open-door policy, so staff had access to them when needed. Regular Schwartz rounds took place, which are a structured forum where all staff, clinical and non-clinical, come together to discuss the emotional and social aspects of their work.