Oakwood Court

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 inspection we rated this key question good. At this inspection 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 80 (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. Staff treated people with kindness and compassion. ‘Do not disturb’ signs were used when staff were supporting people with personal care, we saw staff knocking on people’s bedroom doors and obtaining permission before entering. A relative told us, “I am very happy [person] is there, I feel it’s genuine, staff are kind, smiling and patient. I have overheard them (staff) in the corridor and they are the same with the residents face to face.”

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. Staff received equality, diversity, and inclusion training and demonstrated their knowledge of this throughout the assessment process. People personalised their bedrooms and were involved in planning their care and support. Staff used people’s preferred way of communication and preferred names or nicknames. The registered manager told us about how they adapted and arranged activities to suit people. They gave an example and said, "[Person] is interested in DIY and so they have been helping our maintenance person with some minor maintenance. Person had a new bed and helped [staff member] to build it."

The service promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. There was a range of equipment to support people to move and position as well as various utensils for people to eat unaided; this equipment enabled people to retain autonomy when their needs fluctuated. People told us they had control over their lives. A relative said, “There is a respectful atmosphere, I've noticed they always say what they are doing and ask permission before, no shocks to anybody. Respect is totally given.”

The service listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff respond to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. Where people’s preferences had been expressed, staff had adhered to their wishes. For example, some people requested a specific gender of staff to support them, this was respected. A staff member told us about how they responded to people’s individual needs and said, “It’s about encouraging and not taking tasks away from them (people). A lot of residents are able but it may be their memories that are a problem. We encourage them to do as much as they can and help where they can’t.”

The service always cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff, and was exceptional supporting and enabling staff to always deliver person-centred care. The provider regularly undertook staff surveys which fed into improvements for people at the service and for staff working conditions. For example, an increase in night staff. Staff spoke about how they were supported both in work and in their personal lives. Work rotas took into consideration staff’s personal commitments and cultural needs. One staff member said, “They (management) don’t just support me in my job but my home life too, it makes it easier to feel like I can go to them.” The provider had systems in place to reward excellent performance. This included at provider wide celebrations, and nominations by other staff, people, relatives and managers to external body awards. The provider’s HR team won an award in relation to supporting staff well-being. Staff told us how the support they received increased morale. This was reflected in low staff turnover and supported people to develop consistent and meaningful relationships with their care givers.