Home Instead Senior Care

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 the same. This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care.

This service scored 85 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Staff always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff ensured people, and their loved ones, were supported as partners in their care. Staff adapted how they worked with people to minimise distress. Staff provided emotional support to people's loved ones and went over and above to show compassion at times of distress. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect. People and relatives described staff as, kind, compassionate, caring, dedicated, respectful and friendly. One person told us “They bring calmness, they instinctively look to your dignity”. Another person said, “I ask to be given privacy, and they (staff) get on with something else, they stay out till I ask them. They knock on the door and use the key safe and introduce themselves”. Staff had completed privacy and dignity training, and the registered manager and leaders completed regular observational spot checks of care delivery.

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.Staff supported people to have choice and control over their own care and to make decisions about their care, treatment and wellbeing.Staff supported people to understand their rights by using different ways to communicate. Their understanding was reviewed throughout their care and treatment. People had access to activities and the local community to maintain independence. Staff had access to a range of equipment to support people's individual needs and to maximise people's positive outcomes.People and relatives described staff as having good skills and abilities when supporting people’s needs with neurodiversity, mental health conditions, dementia, and some challenging incidents. They told us staff communicated well and de-escalated situations in an empowering and person-centred way.

The provider promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. Care staff supported people to maintain and develop their independence by encouraging promoting self-care and enabling them to manage daily tasks within their own homes. One relative told us, “They will ask if they want help getting out of bed, get washed, dressed and brush their teeth. They encourage them to walk a bit”. Another relative said, “They (staff) try to encourage them to walk. They have special cutlery to eat themselves”. Care plans demonstrated what support people needed and what people were able to do for themselves”. External professionals spoke positively about the service and told us, “The service really promotes independence based on people’s needs. The staff are very empathic”.

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. One person told us, “I had a hospital appointment, I phoned Home Instead to send someone to come with me to the hospital and someone else to stay with my relative. Within hours I got all the cover that I needed from Home Instead”. Some people wore alarm pendants in the event of a fall, they could seek assistance. Care plans contained information on how best to communicate with people. Staff told us in the event of an emergency they would stay with the person until they either received medical help or a family member was present. The service had a “Real-Time Alerts for Late Visits” which had recently been implemented. The rostering/care management system sent real-time alerts to the office team or on-call manager when a staff member had not logged into/out of a scheduled visit within a specified timeframe (e.g. 15 minutes late). This ensured instant visibility of missed or late visits and allowed prompt contact with the staff member or person.

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. All staff we spoke with told us they felt supported by the management team. One staff member said, “I love it here, good training, staff are supportive, management are supportive. I have worked in care for a very long-time, the management are very proactive and listen to what services users want and listen to what we say. We can put forward ideas and management will look at them”. The provider had policies and processes in place which supported the staff, people and management team. These included staff supervisions, meetings, training and competency checks.