Forster House

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

The service was caring, and staff provided care in a respectful and dignified way. People were involved in choices. The provider looked after staff welfare and staff were supported to use wellbeing services for advice or support.

This service scored 15 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

We observed people were treated with respect, dignity and kindness. People we observed were visibly comfortable and showed emotions of being happy. For example, lots of smiles, putting thumbs up when asked if they enjoyed living at the home.

The registered manager told us how they promoted and embedded the values into the service provided. Staff told us they felt fully supported by the management team and understood the visions and values of the service. Staff told us they felt they were treated fairly and where they needed further support, management were available to speak to and would show compassion to the situation.

We observed staff being respectful and caring to people. Staff were approachable and friendly. Consistently staff respected people’s privacy and dignity. For example, people were asked if they would like the door closed whilst they watched their television programme and full choices were offered throughout our onsite visit.

People were observed to be treated as individuals and staff provided care that matched the persons agreed care plan. Relatives told us there were no concerns around how people were treated in the service.

People had in place person-centred care plans and risk assessments. Care plan guidelines were matched to people’s individual needs. Care plans had personal characteristics of people to ensure they were person-centred.

We observed people were mainly offered choices. However, we raised concerns around food options and meals offered to people. For example, we observed a person choosing 2 pizzas and they were not offered a different meal option or encouraged to choose a healthier option. This raised a concern as the person’s care plan guidance was to be on a healthy meal plan.

We observed staff would offer people choices throughout their day. This included decisions about what they wished to do during the day. We raised a concern during our site vit around placing unnecessary restrictions on people. For example, one person had a 2-1 support need for going out into community and at the time there was only one staff present, which restricted the person to the home. The registered manager told us the provider’s office was in the same area as the home and, where additional staff were needed, the staff member providing care in the house would call the office and one of the senior members of management would attend. This was not reliable as management may not be available which then meant the person could not go out.

People had care plan guidance to meet their needs to minimise distress and discomfort. We saw behaviour care plan guidance was present in care plans and staff were aware of how to provide this support to people.

Staff were aware of care plans. 1 person had a structured behavioural plan which provided information on triggers and techniques to help reduce distress. Staff received training for additional needs and told us training they received was good quality and supported them to complete their role and support people well.

The registered manager told us about staff incentives which included annual leave and awards to recognise achievements. The registered manger told us they provided regular feedback to staff on their performance and development. The provider had services available to staff where they could gain personal advice or seek help around their wellbeing. Staff felt the team had a good morale and supported each other effectively. Staff told us they felt very supported in their roles.

The provider had regular staff supervisions and annual appraisals. We saw posters and leaflets were placed around the service for staff to gain easy access to support and advice numbers. Regular team meetings took place, and we saw evidence there was an opportunity for staff to speak openly in confidence and discuss together any concerns they had.