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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

At our last inspection this key question was rated requires improvement. At this assessment, the provider had improved, and this key question is now rated good. People were treated well by kind, caring and compassionate staff. People told us staff knew them well and treated them as individuals. We observed staff made sure people received support in a dignified way.

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.

People told us staff were kind and protected their privacy and dignity. A relative said staff often went “above and beyond” to do this. Comments from people and relatives included, “It's brilliant here. The carers are lovely” and “[Relative] is well looked after and what's important is the staff are kind to [my relative].”

Leaders worked hard to give people confidence to trust that information shared by them in confidence, would not be shared with their family members without their consent. Staff clearly knew people’s preferences and provided their care and support in line with this.

Partners told us they had recognised improvements in all areas of care.

Staff were caring and treated people with kindness. They made sure people’s privacy and dignity needs were met. We observed staff to be kind and friendly in their interactions with people. Communication between staff and people was easy and on an equal level. For example, when a person appeared uncertain, the registered manager approached them and gently asked if they could help. The person wasn’t able to give a response, so the registered manager guided them to a seat, made them a drink and sat with them for a while to provide reassurance.

People told us that staff knew them and their needs and preferences well. One person said, “The staff are brilliant, they know me, and I know them.” Another said, “[The staff] are brilliant. You want to be treated as an individual and they do that here. You can get up when you want, go to bed when you want, go out to places, they support you to do as much as you want to do.”

Leaders told us they shared an ethos of making sure the whole approach to people’s care and support was person centred. Staff told us care plans provided information on people’s individual needs and that positive relationships developed over time helped them ensure they treated people as individuals. Staff told us they knew people well and could recognise, for example, when people are having a good or bad day and what that might mean for their care.

Staff clearly knew people well and we observed easy and friendly conversations between people and staff.

Care planning was person centred and individualised. People’s interests, religious needs and social preferences were recorded in care planning documentation.

People were very well supported to maintain relationships, make choices about their lives, improve their independence and have control over their routines. For example, two people had been supported by the registered manager to have a ‘date night’, which was held privately in one of the lounge areas. People had also chosen a specific day of the week as the day for organised group trips, where people chose the destinations. People spoke positively of the support they received. Comments from people included, “[The staff] support me with all my personal care, and they do what I ask of them" and "We have our own showers and can manage independently. The staff give us our own space and we feel safe."

Leaders advocated for people living in the service, to make sure they were supported to have control over their lives. For example, people had been involved in choosing the pictures to be used for pictorial care plans and meeting minutes.

We observed staff follow people’s requests and instructions about how they wanted to receive their support. For example, staff gave people choices about where they wanted to be and what they wanted to do.

People were supported to have choice and control over their lives and to maintain their independence. People and their relatives were involved in making decisions about their care and daily lives and this was reflected in care records. We found person-centred life stories had been completed with people and their relatives reflecting their lives, relationships and interests.

People told us that staff were usually available if they needed help and that they didn’t have to wait long if they needed to call for support. One person told us that although their care plan detailed the precise support they needed, they had had an accident recently because it hadn’t been followed by a member of agency staff. The registered manager had promptly addressed this issue.

Leaders were looking at staffing arrangements, particularly during the evening, to make sure people had increased choice and support in how they spent their evenings.

We observed staff putting people first when they needed support. For example, we saw senior staff leaving a meeting to support a person in distress.

Leaders told us about some of the initiatives in place to support staff wellbeing. This included the development of a ‘staff snug’, a comfortable area for staff to take a break, carer of the month award scheme, celebration of staff birthdays, inclusion of staff in take-away nights and regular welfare checks with staff. Staff appreciated the support from management but felt the use of agency staff had affected their wellbeing. The management had listened to these concerns and had plans in place to address this. Staff told us that regular supervisions took place and that a one-to-one meeting could be requested with management if they needed to discuss anything more urgently. They told us they believed that management would listen to them and try to provide support.

Processes were in place to support staff. This included provision of a confidential telephone line to the providers HR department and regular supervisions for staff.