Heeley Bank 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

People and their relatives told us that staff were kind and caring. People felt they had control of what happened day to day and reported having a good relationship with staff. The organisation had activities in place for people and were in the process of improving their offering in this area. Staff at the service told us they felt supported by the management team on site, they felt managers were approachable and they could access additional training if they wished to do so. However, some unsafe practices were observed during the assessment which managers were asked to address.

This service scored 70 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

People and their relatives told us that staff were kind and caring. People told us ‘Staff are lovely, we have a good chat and a natter’ and ‘I've been here years and I'm very happy. I love it. They [staff] always do what I want them to do.’

Staff told us that they liked to spend time with the people they support, one staff member told us ‘I really enjoy working with the residents, we get on well and I come away feeling like I have achieved something in my work’. Some staff told us that there wasn’t always time to spend as much time as they would like to with people alongside other responsibilities in the working day.

Feedback from visiting professions was mixed. All professionals spoken to told us that they had witnessed positive interactions from staff who were caring and kind. Professionals also told us that they had witnessed people being supported in ways that were less caring, for example people not being spoken to when being supported to eat and drink. Visiting professionals we spoke to acknowledged that staff and managers were trying to improve the service.

Observations through the inspection found that staff worked in a way that was mainly task oriented, focusing on completing pieces of work as opposed to spending time with people. When asked, some staff were unable to tell us about the care needs of the people they were supporting and on occasion some staff were unable to tell us the name of people they were supporting. When staff were observed interacting with people, these interactions were kind and caring. It is noted that temporary staff from outside agencies were being used to fill gaps in staffing during the inspection.

We did not look at Treating people as individuals during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

People were happy with the care and support they received. People felt able to express their wishes and felt they had control in their day to day lives. People told us they enjoyed activities that were available to them, and would like to see more options available in this area. People told us ‘I would like to get out and about a bit. I've done a couple of activities, but it would be nice to do a bit more.’ And, ‘I can do what I want.’

Staff and managers told us that activities available to people were increasing, with a dedicated activities coordinator on site and an extra person being recruited to support this role. The management team outlined future plans for expanding the types of activity available including working with outside agencies and hiring a minibus to make going out for the day easier.

Throughout the home people had personalised their rooms in line with their preferences. Signage to support with orientation around the home had been selected by the people who live there, for example one person had a picture of Elvis next to their bedroom. There were several activity areas around the home offering a choice of things to do, people and staff had access to books, word searches and puzzles as required. Each floor of the service had a dedicated activities room for organised events. Visitors were welcomed within the home and were also invited to take part in events within the service.

Processes were in place to ensure that people understood what was available to them and who to speak to should they have concerns.

People told us they were happy with the support they received and felt that they were listened to by staff. A person told us ‘They [staff] will listen to me, and they know what I like.’

The management team told us that there were currently issues at the service in relation to care delivery not being in line with agreed plans in some instances. Managers told us that initiatives have been implemented at the service to improve this and additional clinical leadership was being recruited.

Unsafe care delivery was observed during the inspection. Examples of this include unsafe moving and handling, food and drink given to people that was not in line with peoples planned care and staff not proactive managing a person’s personal care needs. These issues were brought to management attention who took steps to rectify the issues. On a return visit further issues with care delivery were observed. Staff were observed to respond to call bells within the service quickly.

Staff told us they were happy with the support they received from the management team on site and felt able to raise concerns if these arose, staff felt that managers were approachable. Staff told us they felt confident in their roles and understood how to whistle blow should they need to. Staff told us they could pursue further training opportunities within the organisation if they wanted to. Managers told us that staff had reported feeling unappreciated and that initiatives had been implemented to improve this.

The service has proactively engaged with staff to understand any concerns they may have. The service has a speaking up guardian on site to allow staff to raise concerns, regular staff meetings are held, and staff have the opportunity to take part in staff surveys.