The Belfry Residential Home

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• Overview
• Person-centred Care
• Care provision, Integration and continuity
• Providing Information
• Listening to and involving people
• Equity in access
• Equity in experiences and outcomes
• Planning for the future

We reviewed 4 quality statements under this key question: Person-centred care, listening to and involving people, Equity in experience and outcomes and Planning for the future. People and those important to them were supported to make decisions about their own care and support and staff treated people as individuals providing a person-centred approach. People and their relatives were supported with the transition to move into the home. There was regular communication with healthcare professionals to ensure people’s health needs were met. Relatives were involved in supporting people with their health needs, through regular communication with staff at the home and other external health care services. Discussions with people and relatives regarding end of life remained ongoing in order to update care plans.

This service scored 64 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Staff were committed to providing person-centred support to people. Staff told us, “We give person-centred care; People are all individuals and all like things done differently, and all have different interests. [Name] loves gardening and plants, and [Name] likes history.” Another member of staff told us, “We know people individually, for example, a person who is unable to come out of their room, we go in and play music to them, we use doll therapy, we hold the person’s hand, so they know we are there.”

People and their relatives spoke positively about the care provided. One relative told us, “They do try and encourage [family member] to do activities. The home has a social media page and shows some of the people at the home doing activities. [Family member] has a lot of pictures in their room and the staff use these as a topic of conversation.” A person told us, “They know how to look after me. They [staff] always talk to me, ask if everything is ok.”

People’s support was person-centred. The atmosphere in the home was calm and relaxing, people had the choice of listening to their favourite music choices via a media device. People’s bedrooms had their own personal belongings with photographs, pictures and objects of person’s choice. Staff interaction and engagement was positive. People were supported and encouraged to participate in activities. We observed a game of music bingo, people joined in and were shouting out the answers. People really enjoyed this activity, there were lots of laughter and fun.

We did not look at Care provision, Integration and continuity during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Providing Information during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

Staff supported people to give feedback. The registered manager told us, “People have the opportunity to provide feedback in our resident meetings and the surveys we give to them, we use this feedback to improve the quality of service we provide.”

We saw where resident meetings and feedback surveys had been carried out, the registered manager completed a basic action plan, although not in great detail it described the feedback received by people and action to be taken. For example, one person wanted the volume lowered on the television, another person asked for a day trip out and a summer bar-b-que for this year.

People and their relatives knew how to voice their concerns or raise a complaint if they needed to. One person told us, “No, I have not needed to. I can speak to any one of the girls if I need to or go to [Name of registered manager].” One relative told us, “There is a poster near where you sign in, the complaint forms or a QR code to a complaint form is on there for us if we need to raise anything, although the registered manager is always open to conversations and communication.”

We did not look at Equity in access during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

People’s care and treatment was tailored to meet their needs and wishes. Relatives spoke positively about being involved in their care. Comments included, “[Family member] has not experienced any discrimination or inequality, [family member] has access, to lots of services, like chiropodists, the local vicar and recently they had people to administer the flu jab.”

The registered manager told us, “I speak to residents and relatives on an informal basis all of the time, everyone is individual in their own right, we treat everyone equally and fairly, with no exception.”

Staff had received equality and diversity training. Care records we reviewed for people demonstrated they were able to access services, particularly a range of healthcare services and professionals.

Not all people were supported to express their wishes around their end-of-life care. Relatives we spoke to told us, “We are not in that situation, so no not yet.” Another relative told us, “We have not discussed this. It is open visiting so you can be there as much as possible, however I have not been approached for this conversation.” Engaging in conversations prior to end of life care commencing can reduce the burden on families and guide staff to provide the required care. More work was required to develop peoples end of life care plans. However the registered manager assured us they were engaging with people and their relatives when appropriate in order to complete the care plans.

Staff had undertaken training in relation to palliative care/ death dying and bereavement. Peoples care plans recorded if they had a ‘do not attempt resuscitation’ [DNAR] plan in place and who was involved in the decision making. People had an advance care planning section in their care plans; however, some were incomplete or were waiting on information to be provided from the persons relatives. The registered manager said not all people are willing to discuss or have thought about their end of life care as it is a sensitive subject but will continue to have those conversations when appropriate.

The registered manager told us, “Although no one is currently receiving end of life care, we are family led and resident led. We respect a person’s beliefs and would gain support from the local hospice, GP and district nurses’ services. We have in the past had relatives stay over to enable them to spend the remainder of the time they have with their loved ones. We also offer information in people’s welcome pack upon admission to the service.”