Seagrave House Care Home

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture. At our last assessment we rated this key question requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to good. This meant the service was consistently managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality, person-centred 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.

The service had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities. The registered manager and staff understood the provider’s vision and values to provide good quality care, with supporting policies and procedures. The registered manager demonstrated a positive approach to continuously develop the home and was aware of the challenges to improving the staff culture to ensure people remained at the heart. We observed people and staff were treated with dignity and respect. Management had daily updates from heads of departments and key information was communicated with the staff team.

The service had inclusive leaders at all levels who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. They did so with integrity, openness and honesty. The registered manager was committed and understood their legal responsibilities. There was a clear management structure that ensured staff had effective support and guidance at all times. The provider maintained oversight of the care home with regular visits, audits and accessing the electronic system remotely. People and relatives told us they felt the service was run by capable leaders and they were visible and responsive. Relatives thought highly of the management and staff and found they were approachable which made conversations easy. A visiting healthcare professional described the management as “very approachable and know their residents.”

The service fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. People, staff and their relatives were provided suitable opportunity to speak up during care reviews, phone calls, supervisions, meetings and use the whistle-blowing procedure. We observed staff discussing people's changing needs with senior staff and were comfortable doing so. A staff member said, “[Registered manager] has listened to concerns and is changing things.” The registered manager carried out daily walk-around to observe and sought feedback from people and staff, and addressed any concerns raised. Lessons learnt were shared with all staff.

The service valued diversity in their workforce. They worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them. The registered manager ensured equality of opportunity and experience for the workforce, for example, recognised when staff needed additional support and responded appropriately. Staff felt valued, supported and described being treated fairly and equally with regards to their protected characteristics. Staff wellbeing was promoted, for instance flexible working patterns and privacy to observe their faith.

The service had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. They used these to manage and deliver good quality, sustainable care, treatment and support. They acted on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, and shared this securely with others when appropriate. The provider had improved oversight systems and used a range of audits to monitor all aspects of safety and quality, and identify areas that could be improved. The electronic systems used meant the provider could access reports on the safety and quality of people’s care to maintain effective oversight, for instance, care plan reviews and analysis of accidents and incidents. The provider had a contingency plan in the event of an emergency and for evacuation of the home.

The service understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services worked seamlessly for people. They shared information and learning with partners and collaborated for improvement. People were supported by a variety of health and social care professionals to ensure their needs were met. For example, one person had been referred to the falls team for advice to mitigate the risk of further falls furthers and the speech and language therapy team had undertaken an assessment when staff reported a person was having difficulty with swallowing or eating.

The service focused on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. They actively contributed to safe, effective practice and research. A relative said, “The new residents' meetings are proving popular, and I would encourage anyone to join in. We learn such a lot from each other and enjoy the shared agenda and company.” The provider sought to continuously improve the service by learning from incidents, audits and feedback. The provider and registered manager were responsive to feedback. For example, following a discussion about safety where oxygen concentrators were used, the provider representative sought advice from the contracted supplier and they introduced a cleaning schedule for oxygen concentrators. This learning has been shared between all the providers homes to ensure a strong culture of continuous improvement.