Sahara Lodge

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

This service is caring. The care delivered promoted people’s dignity and their right to privacy. The care supported people to be independent and to participate in a range of community activities. Families were closely involved and were consulted about all aspects of their family member’s care.

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.

People were encouraged to make choices about their care. As part of our assessment process, we saw records of meetings for people who used the service. In one meeting, staff had discussed with them the importance of taking in fluids and staying hydrated in hot weather. We saw evidence of conversations about this subject and how staff were attempting to give people the information they needed to feel in control. People were involved in making decisions about the service. We saw evidence of discussions about developing the gardens of the home and the things people would like in them. People were encouraged to maintain independence. For example, 1 person told us about how they were going to visit their mum for her birthday. They told us about their train journey with staff. One family member told us how their family member is supported to maintain their independence and be able to access community facilities to participate in things such as doing their own shopping.

The staff we spoke to talked about the things people did to keep them involved and in control of their lives. Staff told us how people were involved in aspects of food shopping for the home and where people were supported to buy their clothes. We heard how people used the local area and were very much part of their communities as well as holidays around the UK and further afield. Staff spoke positively about how well people were encouraged to do lots of different things.

We saw people offered choices during our visit. During lunch people were offered a choice about how and when they were supported with their food. For example, at times people wanted a break from eating and to stand and move around the room. People were given time to decide for themselves to return to the table and finish when they were ready to, with staff showing patience. We saw evidence of people choosing what they wanted in their home and in particular their rooms. One person showed us their room. They had a particular interest in superheroes with a huge poster on the wall and other superhero figures around the room. The room was tastefully decorated. We saw a great deal of accessible information describing forthcoming activities within the month. These were aimed at giving people a choice of different things such as a ‘dress up disco’, a quiz night and a visit to a place where crepes are made.

During our visit we saw all aspects of people’s care was regularly assessed. We saw many examples of documents that were reviewed, most of which were on a monthly basis. We heard about the communication tools that people used to express their wishes and needs. Staff told us about social stories used to help prepare people they supported for events and appointments. Staff used picture cards to involve people in decision making. When it was difficult to ascertain a person’s wishes staff told us how they might support people to a place in order for them to make choices. Staff told us they would have discussions with families to gain their viewpoint.

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.