Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust

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• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

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 good. At this assessment the rating has remained good. Staff treated people with compassion and kindness. They respected people’s privacy and dignity. They understood the individual needs of people and supported people to understand and manage their care, treatment or condition. Staff involved people in care planning and risk assessment and actively sought their feedback on the quality of care provided. Staff informed and involved families and carers appropriately.

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.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. 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.

Staff attitudes and behaviours when interacting with people showed they were discreet, respectful and responsive, providing people with help, emotional support and advice at the time they needed it. We observed staff on home visits. We saw staff interact in a calm, friendly, respectful manner, they took time to establish how people were feeling, supporting them to express their views, and ensured people were not rushed during the visit. Staff understood the individual needs of people, including their personal, cultural, social and religious needs. We observed how communication was appropriate and sensitive, and staff actively listened to the person’s responses.

Staff supported people to understand and manage their care, treatment or condition. We observed staff responding to an emergency, they responded promptly and appropriately, contacted emergency services and remained with the person to provide reassurance and ongoing support.

We observed clinical appointments; all were conducted in a calm and unhurried manner. People appeared comfortable speaking openly with staff and were given opportunities to ask questions and raise concerns.

Observations provided positive evidence that people receiving support from staff were treated with kindness, compassion and respect. They demonstrated a strongly empathic and person-centred approach and took sufficient time to listen to people, understand their individual experiences and responded appropriately to their needs.

Communication skills were particularly effective when supporting people experiencing memory difficulties. Staff demonstrated patience, sensitivity and an ability to provide information in an accessible manner.

Staff directed people to other services when appropriate and, if required, supported them to access those services. People said staff treated them well and behaved appropriately towards them.

Staff said they could raise concerns about disrespectful, discriminatory or abusive behaviour or attitudes towards people without fear of the consequences. Staff told us they felt strong psychological safety.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. 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.

The service made adjustments for disabled people, offices were accessible and there was disabled parking at the offices we visited.

Staff ensured that people could obtain information on treatments, local services, peoples’ rights, how to complain and so on. Teams produced a ‘who we are’ team leaflet and staff told us how they would support people to raise complaints or make compliments by sharing friends and family leaflets.

The information provided was in a form accessible to individuals, for example easy read. Staff made reasonable adjustments for people with dementia by using easy read care plans. Staff told us they gave people calling cards and helpful numbers.

Staff told us people had access to interpreters and there was a number to contact at the bottom of all letters for people to request the information in a different language.

People had a choice of where to have appointments and staff told us this could be in the office or at home.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. The service promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

People told us they had a better understanding of their mental health condition since receiving the service. They valued medicine reviews, self-management plans and interventions such as breathing exercises, and encouragement to engage socially. Also, community involvement, such as joining support groups and choirs, had improved confidence and reduced isolation for some people.

Staff told us they encouraged people to engage with additional support from dementia and admiral nurses. In the service’s reception areas, we saw posters and information advertising community café’s run by the Alzheimer’s society, driving services and the Norfolk advocacy partnership.

We observed a home visit; the nurse demonstrated a good knowledge of the person’s individual needs and circumstances.

Staff told us there was a strong emphasis on collaborative decision making and involvement of people in treatment planning. The trust had several advocacy contacts who could provide advocacy services to people should they wish to have support to have an independent voice.

Managers told us they involved people and carers in service development, and they had a dedicated ‘working together’ group which actively contributed to service transformation.

The trust provided a range of accessible, person-centred and recovery-focused groups and support networks for older people and their carers across community and mental health memory services. Therapeutic, educational and peer support interventions, including memory groups, mindfulness programmes, dementia-specific support networks and carer groups, with the aim of promoting wellbeing, social inclusion, and to enable people to maintain and develop their independence, confidence and control over their lives.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. 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.

We observed staff actively listening to people and responding to their needs in a timely, compassionate and person-centred manner. Staff demonstrated the skills and flexibility required to adapt their approach to individual circumstances, helping to reduce distress and promote comfort and reassurance.

Staff told us they had safety huddles each day, where they discussed who was on duty for that morning and any individual concerns. Staff could offer appointments at home if this was the persons’ chosen option.

Staff identified and responded to changing risks to, or posed by, individuals. We observed a home visit where the staff member responded to a medical emergency during a routine home visit, the nurse demonstrated a responsive approach to people’s changing needs.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.

Staff felt respected, supported and valued. Staff felt positive and proud about working for the provider and their team. Staff told us there was a positive team culture and supportive leadership.

Staff were regularly supervised, received clinical supervision and supported each other.

There was a strong commitment to on-going learning, development and specialist training.