Passionate About 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 service involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

At our last assessment we rated this key question requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to 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 service always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect. The service carried out dignity audits every 6 months to ensure staff were treating people with compassion and dignity. They looked at staff training and observed how staff treated people during care calls in people’s homes to ensure people were being treated with dignity. People we spoke with felt staff were kind and compassionate. One relative told us, “They are respectful and kind, they position his chair and cushions just right for him but ask him if that is okay and never rush him.” Other comments included, “They (staff) are kind, caring and friendly”, “The carer`s are very nice and always happy, they create a good atmosphere with me.”

The service 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. People’s cultural, religious and spiritual needs were assessed and recorded in their care plans. The manager confirmed adjustments to care were made to ensure people’s preferences were met. These adjustments included, changing care call times and meeting people’s preferences around staff. Staff and people could describe how staff considered people’s wishes and preferences when providing care.

The service promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. Staff gave us examples of how they promoted people’s independence. Staff recognised the importance of people maintaining daily living skills where possible. One staff member told us, “I encourage everyone to be as independent as possible whilst making their own decisions and ensuring they know I value their choices, all my clients are treated with respect and I listen to their feelings, any concerns etc, I choose to encourage self-care and like to go the extra mile to make my clients feel their best selves.”

The service 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’s care plans detailed where they had specific medical conditions and how these presented in everyday life. Staff had a good knowledge of recognising when people’s needs were changing and the appropriate action in response. The manager analysed care call times and care records. This helped them to identify when people’s needs were changing, and their care required adjusting.

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff, and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. Staff felt supported in their role and they could contact the office, who operated an open door policy, if they had any concerns. Leaders had taken steps to recognise and meet the wellbeing needs of staff. There was a culture of staff safety. Policies were in place in relation to lone working and monitoring stress in the workplace and there was a robust on call system in place to support staff out of office hours. Leaders had taken steps to recognise and meet the wellbeing needs of staff. The manager told us, “Morale has been a focus. We now recognise a ‘Carer of the Month’ and present them with a small token of appreciation, such as a gift voucher. The response has been overwhelmingly positive.” One staff member told us, “I feel 100 % supported in my role the most I have felt supported in any of my previous companies.”