The Willows

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 received care and support from staff who knew them well and had a kind, caring and respectful approach which maintained people’s dignity and independence.

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 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.

Processes were in place to ensure care plans included information to promote people’s independence, choice and control in a safe manner and people told us they were involved in decision making. However, there was limited evidence of people’s involvement in care planning. Their agreement to the plan of care was not always documented, nor was it consistently evident that people had been involved in reviews of their care.

People were supported by staff who were kind, caring and respectful. People told us they could make everyday decisions, including when they got up and when they went to bed. They said they felt empowered, their independence was supported, and they had choice in relation to their care and support. Comments included, “I have choice and independence, I am quite content” and, “Oh yes, I'm empowered, I do pretty well. I've got a phone and I call the family when I want to."

Whilst we observed positive interactions between staff and people not everyone was afforded this opportunity due to staff deployment, however this was resolved for our next visit. Not everyone had the chance to choose the meals they may have preferred. People who lacked capacity were not always asked for a preference and staff appeared to choose for them. No plated meals or pictorial menu was shown to people to support decision making. The registered manager told us they planned to produce pictures of the meals on offer and show plated food to people, but this had not been implemented yet.

Staff encouraged, and supported people’s independence and gave examples of how they did this on a daily basis. Where it had been identified that people may be at particular risk of isolation they were fully supported to integrate into the local community. People had friends and relatives visit them at any time and those who were able, could choose to go out to visit people important to them themselves or enjoy other pursuits important to them, including shopping. However, some people had little stimulation and meaningful activity as staff did not have time to spend one to one with them, although conversations did take place, this was generally in passing. This was shared with the registered manager who took steps to improve this, and pampering sessions and games were taking place on the second day of inspection . The registered manager agreed this was an area which needed further work. Staff told us they received suitable training to help them better support people with independence and choice, which included dementia and cognitive issues and person-centred care.

We did not look at Responding to people’s immediate needs during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

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.