Balmoral Court

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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

The service was caring. We observed positive interactions between staff and people. We observed staff treating people with kindness and compassion. Staff we spoke with were knowledgeable about people's care and support needs.

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.

We did not look at Kindness, compassion and dignity during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

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 told us that they could access to the community and attended planned outings such as, Beamish, Tynemouth and Newcastle arena. People told us there was choice in relation to the food menus and if people did not like what was on the menu they could request alternatives. People were encouraged to be independent by remaining in charge of the keys to their bedrooms as well making their own drinks when they wanted. People we spoke to explained that they were supported in making visiting arrangements and to see their relatives and friends as well as in access to making telephone calls. Relatives we spoke to provided mixed feedback on the interactions between staff and people within the home. Whilst relatives did explain that staff were friendly, sometimes there could be a language barrier for some staff when communicating. Relatives also explained that people's personal clothing were sometimes missing but that this was resolved by staff when it was reported to them.

The registered manager told us visitors can come "anytime they want" and care staff told us that people were also supported in using the telephone to keep in contact with friends and family outside the home. Staff supported people in accessing the community with visits to shops, the cinema, and a local farm. People who were not able to access the community were offered in-house activities such as board games, bingo and karaoke. The registered manager spoke positively about people's faith needs being supported and about promoting people's choice on their lifestyle, "It's all about their lifestyle. This is their home. We give them the options on where they want to go, it's when the person wants to wake up, not when their relative wants them to."

Staff were observed supporting people to make choices around their meals and aiding independence by supporting with tasks rather than doing them for people. During an activity quiz session, some quiz questions were quite complex , but staff helped to break down questions in a way that people understood so they could take part with others. Staff interactions were positive and friendly during the two Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI) observations we carried out. SOFI is a framework for directly observing and reporting on the quality of care experienced by people who may not be able to describe this themselves.

There was evidence of daily activities ranging from arts and crafts, access to the community / shopping, cooking groups, sight seeing including goat walking and visits to local landmarks such as Tynemouth Priory and Jesmond Dene petting zoo. People also had 1:1 times included as well as group dining such as pub lunches and the chef's "around the world in 80 dishes" initiative every Monday whereby people were invited to try a different meal from a different country. The servcie e also made use of its in-house cinema room for movie days. A memory map outside one person's room also gave staff and visitors information to help them maintain their identity in the home with their likes/dislikes and personal history. Whilst not all people had these in place, there was evidence of this for multiple people within the service.

One person told us, "Staff took the time to get to know me when I first moved to the home, found my likes and dislikes and also that when new staff are on the unit I feel they get to know me." People who used call bells told us that staff usually respond quickly to their immediate care needs. We observed that call bells were in easy reach for people who needed to use them. People told us, "When I need to use it, the staff come straight away" and, "I use the call bell when I need help and staff always respond quickly." However, feedback from relatives was more mixed regarding staff response times.

Staff showed consideration of peoples differing communication needs. A staff member told us, "During personal care we have a person who has challenging behaviour, I am able to communicate with them better using song or dance to minimise their stress. We also consider that too many people can be a stress factor for some people in communicating."

Staff were attentive to those people they provided care to and we observed good interactions between staff and people. Staff were understanding of people's varying communication needs and gave assistance where required to allow them to take part fully in activities that were taking place. We saw staff members giving emotional reassurance to people during a mealtime. One person we spoke with said staff were, "Kind, helpful and nice." We were speaking with a person whilst accompanied by a manager and the person stated their wish to move out of Balmoral Court to a flat. The service's business manager acknowledged the person's wishes and was in no way dismissive, nor did they make any promises but agreed to discuss and listen. They were kind and professional in their approach.

We did not look at Workforce wellbeing and enablement during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.