Kensington Community Care Shropshire

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

Caring – this means we looked for evidence that the service involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect. At our last inspection we rated this key question good. At this inspection the rating has remained good. This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their 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 always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. People and relatives, told us the staff treated them with kindness and respect. One relative said, “Staff are kind and talk to [relative] when they are assisting them. For example, with the bed having the rails, when they drop the rails, they are always reassuring them that they've got them and that they're not going to let them fall.” They went on to say this had reduced their relative’s anxiety which in tern eased their worries about the care provided.

The service treated people as individuals and made sure their care, support and treatment met their needs and preferences. They took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture, unique backgrounds and protected characteristics. people told us they were respected as individuals. People were encouraged to talk about the things which mattered to them including, but not limited to, their relationships, religion and preferred pronouns. Pronouns are words used in everyday language to refer to ourselves or others. They can be an important way to express gender identity. People had individual assessments which recorded their protected characteristics including age, disability and religion. One person was supported with a specific belief which was important to them. They told us this was understood by the staff supporting them which made them feel valued as an individual.

The service promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care and wellbeing. People were encouraged to maintain their existing skills to encourage their independence. One relative described how they feared their family member would never be able to return to their home following a recent period of illness. They said it was the staff who enabled and encouraged their family member. This supported their independence to be able to return to their home with minimal support, once more. They expressed how thankful they were of this type of support.

The service listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. People felt staff knew them well and anticipated their needs. One relative described how the staff member’s approach has helped their family member reduce their anxiety and distress. They went on to say this has enabled their relative to receive the assistance they needed in a way which is kind and supportive.

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. People received safe, effective and responsive care from a staff team who felt supported and valued by the service. Staff told us they felt listened to and had time between calls to meet people’s needs in an unrushed way. In one instance a staff member had to support a person for longer than expected owing to a medical emergency. This was supported by the management team who rearranged their calls to enable them to provide continued support for this person until other healthcare partners could attend. This staff member felt this was very supportive and enabled them to provide the best care they could.