Blenheim House Care 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 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. People and relatives told us staff were caring and maintained people’s dignity and privacy. We observed people being supported in a caring and dignified way.

The provider treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met their needs and preferences. They took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics. People had individual care plans which contained information staff needed about their life history and preferences. The home manager told us they were introducing a key worker system which would help staff get to know people in more detail. People would have a key worker who would be responsible for reviewing care planning.

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 do as much for themselves as possible. People could have visitors without any restrictions. Relatives confirmed they could visit at any time. People and relatives told us staff encouraged people to be as independent as possible. One relative said, “They [staff] support [relative] to do what [they] can do for themselves. We have learned [relatives] likes and dislikes centred around what [they] wants to do. They [staff] try to involve all the people in the home in activities.”

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. People and relatives told us staff responded in a timely manner. One relative said, “Staff respond quickly to [relative’s] needs. They do recognise when [relative] is uncomfortable or in distress. All the permanent staff recognise this.” People’s records demonstrated that incidents of distress had been reported to senior staff so that referrals could be made to relevant healthcare professionals.

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff, and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. Staff tod us they felt well supported by the provider. Staff knew they had a range of resources available to them such as access to a GP. The home manager had completed some out of hours visits to check on night workers. Staff could raise concerns with their health and wellbeing and ask for support such as reasonable adjustments to their working patterns. Staff talked to us about how supported they felt coming back to work following periods of ill health. Staff had access to a range of benefits such as charitable grants, discounts on shopping and financial assistance. The home manager was a mental health first aider and able to signpost staff to relevant support if needed.