1 Fengates Road

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 told us they were treated with kindness, compassion and dignity and we observed this during our visit. One person said, “They take you out and do nice things with us. Like when it’s our birthday, we do special things. I love it here. It is great.” A relative echoed this and said, “The staff are aware of [family member’s] particular ‘peculiarities and ways’ and are empathetic and understanding. They are responsive to [their] needs.”

The staff were kind and caring and responded to people’s needs promptly and respectfully. We observed the staff to be patient, caring, and displaying genuine affection and respect for people. For example, we observed 2 people were sitting at the dining table bantering with staff. One person was remembering a funny event with a member of staff, and they laughed together.

The atmosphere was calm, relaxed and happy with a lot of laughter and fun. A member of staff asked one person what their plans were for the day and asked what they fancied doing. Another person said they did not feel well. The senior member of staff gently asked what was wrong, if they wanted to have any pain relief or see a GP.

External professionals commented the service provided good and effective care to people.

The provider treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. The provider took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

The registered manager and staff knew people as individuals and were committed to ensuring people were treated as such.This included in relation to their faith and sexuality. Care plans detailed people’s wishes and preferences and we saw evidence the staff knew and respected these.

People were supported to undertake a wide range of activities in line with their interests and choices.

The provider used a ‘Keyworker matching tool’. This tool looked at the level of support the person required, particular personality characteristics they wanted from their keyworker, and shared interests and skills the keyworker should have. This helped ensuring the keyworker and person were a good match and enjoyed a good relationship. People told us they liked their keyworker.

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 supported to remain as independent as they could be. People’s choices, as well as their personal, cultural, social and religious needs were understood and respected.

People’s daily living and independent skills were recorded in their care plans and regularly reviewed. Some people were able to go out by themselves and visit the local town. Staff were available if they required support.

Some people enjoyed cleaning the home and their rooms and were supported to do this. We saw some people were able to prepare their own breakfast and clear up the table.

There were regular key worker meetings where people could discuss all areas of their care and support and raise any concerns if needed. The keyworker and the person were able to discuss specific goals they wanted to work towards together. For example, any outings they would like, how they could improve their health and any encouragement they required to achieve these goals.

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.

From our observations, we found people’s needs were responded to by staff promptly and kindly. We saw during our visit staff were available and spent quality time with people chatting about a range of subjects. Conversation was natural and lively. The registered manager told us, “I don’t like being in the office. I love being at the table with people chatting. This is home.”

People’s health and wellbeing were monitored and any concerns were addressed without delay. We saw evidence people were supported to access healthcare professionals as needed.

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.

The management team spoke positively about the staff team. There were systems in place to identify if staff had any specific health or wellbeing needs. Staff were supported to express their views of the service and any concerns they may have during staff meetings and supervision meetings. The registered manager told us, “We had observational supervisions to look at care notes and discuss where they could be better as I had noticed some issues. Since then, this has improved a lot.”

Staff felt supported and spoke of being a good team. They told us the management team cared about them and took any suggestion seriously. A staff member told us, “There is a lot of support for staff. The management team is always supportive to any suggestions raised.”

A range of ideas had been put in place to help staff feel valued and appreciated. The registered manager told us, “We have a staff member/manager of the month program. Nominations go through and it goes to the executive team who look at the entries and make a decision. I got nominated before.” The regional manager added, “We have an employee assistance programme and a team reward system – the team may choose what they want to do with the voucher.”