Willoughby House

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

Staff were kind and caring, however at times they failed to have the skills needed to support and encourage people’s chosen method of communications. People were not encouraged to strive for goals or to increase their skills to become more independent.

This service scored 60 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

One person in the home was using a sign language to communicate with staff and others. Staff had not received any training in this sign language and so had not realised he was communicating with them consistently in this way. This meant the person’s wishes may not be fully understood. Staff interacted with people with kindness. They spoke to people with respect and took action when people raised a concern. For example, one person indicated they were cold and a member of staff fetched them a cardigan. People’s dignity was supported. For example, staff understood personal looks were important to people and they ensured people were always well dressed. However, at times people’s property was not always respected. For example, one person, who required staff support with personal care had used an expensive bottle of fragrance in 3 weeks. Staff meeting minutes showed the registered manager has reminded staff to take care with people’s personal belongings.

Staff told us about an occasion when it had been arranged for a person to go out. The arrangements had been made the previous day. The person was upset on the day of the outing and had expressed their upset by becoming distressed. A member of staff told us, “I did warn them about being nice and then we can go out and it didn't happen as they had not been good.” Although there was no malice in the way the staff member described the incident it showed staff at times became paternalistic with people, instead of supporting them. Staff spoke with warmth and respect about the people they supported. A member of staff told us, “We do learn and look at what people need like [Name] they need their space.” Staff told us they knew what was important to people, for example, the security and safety of their belongings.

Partners had no specific feedback on this area.

We saw at times staff forgot to engage with people while completing tasks. For example, we saw a member of staff supporting a person to take their medicines. While they were getting the medicines ready they were talking to the person. The person reminded them would be better if the member of staff looked at them while speaking. In addition, the systems in place to support people with medication were task focused and not person-centered. People were waiting in the corridor to have their medicines. This did not support people’s dignity. People’s bedrooms supported their independence and dignity. Bedrooms had been decorated to reflect people’s personalities and choices.

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’s relatives told us people were always offered choices. One relative said, “He can do what he wants like get a drink and go in the kitchen or outside.” Staff understood people’s needs and responded to them promptly to support people’s dignity. They encouraged people to be independent. For example, with their post by asking if they wanted staff to open it for them and sitting with the person to ensure they had understood the contents of any letters. While people were happy with the care they received there were no care plans in place about supporting people to grow and increase their independence and have more choices in their lives.

Staff told us about times when people’s choices were not respected, for example a person had been told they could walk around the town, however when the time came for them to go out, they were unable to go as the senior on shift failed to recognise a commitment had been made. Records showed at times people’s choices had not been supported. For example, staff completing care plans had labelled people as stubborn when they were upset and did not want to engage with staff. This lacked understanding for the staff that the person had the right to choose who they engaged with. Staff knew the level of support people needed and encouraged them to maintain their independence. One member of staff told us, “If people can do certain things, I get them to help themselves as much as possible.” Staff explained how they supported people to maintain relationships with family members if they chose to.

Staff asked people about the support they needed. For example, staff asked people what they would like to do for the day or what they wanted to drink. However, staff did not always encourage people’s independence by ensuring everyone spent time in the kitchen and laundry to improve their daily living skills.

Care plans and information about medicines were not available in easy to access formats. This meant some people were reliant on staff to explain what was written about their needs in their care plans and could not access them independently. Care plans did not support people to increase their independence, there were no areas for improvement identified and no plans on how to support people to increase their daily living skills. For example, by learning to cook or bathe independently. Care plans reflected people’s needs and wishes regarding their independence and how they wished to be supported to make choices. Family and friends were encouraged to visit the home without limitations and engage in group activities.

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.