231 Brook Lane

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

Improvements had been made following our previous rated inspection and our rating for this key question had improved to good. People were supported with kindness, compassion and dignity. Care plans were personalised and detailed people’s preferences. Staff were able to describe how they support people in an individualised way. The provider had systems in place to ensure people had independence, choice, and control over their lives. Staff knew people well and this helped to ensure they were able to anticipate their needs and seek appropriate support or guidance.

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.

People’s relatives told us, staff supporting their relatives, were kind and treated people with dignity and respect. One relative told us, “The staff who know my relative anticipate their needs and respond to them. My relative looks happy, and I see staff acting kindly. Another relative told us, “I do feel that there is dignity and kindness. There are some lovely carers for my relative and they’re very responsive. They all do a good job on the whole.”

Staff promoted dignity, respect and privacy when supporting people. Staff were able to provide us with examples of how they ensured they promoted dignity, respect, and privacy, which included an example of respecting a person’s preference for female staff only to support them with personal care. Staff told us they would be happy for their relative to be supported by the service. Staff understood the need to maintain confidentiality. The manager shared with us the processes in place for ensuring staff were treating people with kindness compassion and dignity. They told us it is important the expectation of this is set at the start during the recruitment and induction process. We were assured people were treated with kindness, compassion, and dignity.

One professional told us, “From my visit I observed staff treating people with kindness, compassion, and dignity.” We undertook several observations throughout our on-site assessment visits and observed staff to be communicating well with people and treating them with kindness, dignity, and compassion. We observed 2 people who became anxious during our visit, staff were patient and calm with the people which helped their anxiety reduce quickly.

We undertook several observations throughout our on-site assessment visits and observed staff to be communicating well with people and treating them with kindness, dignity, and compassion. We observed 2 people who became anxious during our visit, staff were patient and calm with the people which helped their anxiety reduce quickly.

Relatives told us people were supported by staff who knew them well. They told us staff provided consistency for their relative when they became anxious, and this was related to staff having a good rapport with people.

Staff treated people as individuals. Staff were communicating with people in their preferred method and had the relevant training to support them with this. One staff member told us, “We use Makaton and are sufficiently trained, refresher training is also given.” They told us how they ensure people’s care planning documentation was person centred and includes information about their needs, wishes, preferences, which included using a person centred approach.

People were supported by staff who knew them well and were able to redirect and support them, so their anxieties did not escalate. During our on-site assessment visit, we observed staff supporting people on a one to one basis. We observed a staff member supporting a person to get ready to go out for a meal in a restaurant with the staff member. The person was excited about this. The person was repetitive in their questions, the staff member was able to sensitively support the person ensuring they did not become anxious. We observed another member of staff supporting a person on a one to one basis, they were supporting the person to communicate with staff about the outing they had been on. The staff member was able to confidently redirect the person, when the person was attempting to engage in risk based behaviours.

The provider had an Equality and Diversity policy in place. The policy detailed the providers commitment to equality and diversity which reflected their core values. The manager undertook daily observations to ensure good quality interactions took place between staff and people. The provider encouraged flexible visiting by relatives and friends.

Relatives told us, people had independence, choice, and control over their lives. One relative told us, “My relative is capable of expressing what they want. For example, if they want to eat or not. My relative is expressive and doesn’t communicate verbally. Staff know if my relative wants the noise turned down or more food.”

People were supported to be independent, to make choices and have control over their lives. We were assured the staff team understood the importance of this. Staff were able to describe activities they supported people with, and this was reflected when we reviewed people’s daily notes. One staff member told us, “Activities have improved there is an active drive to get people out and have as much independence as they can.”

We observed people being communicated with using their preferred methods and given choices throughout their day. We observed in addition to the lounge, kitchen and dining room, there was a quiet room, sensory room, and a garden which contained lots of activity apparatus. We observed people being supported in these rooms, along with them also spending time in their bedrooms. We noted people’s photographs on the walls in various rooms. We noted a family member visited their relative during our on-site assessment visit.

People were supported to maintain relationships with those they were close to. Improvements had been made following our previous rated inspection and the provider ensured people were provided with enjoyable activities and meaningful engagement. We reviewed 2 people’s daily notes and found they took part in a vast selection of outside activities almost daily, sometimes going out multiple times in a day. There were also activities people engaged in at home and in their garden. We were assured people were engaged in meaningful activities for most of their days. The manager detailed plans to ensure people would be supported to set goals and have long term aspirations. We observed evidence of a person meeting their long term aspiration. Improvements had been made following our previous rated inspection and the provider ensured people were provided with the appropriate opportunities to maximise their choices. The provider had processes in place to ensure people’s independence, choice and control was promoted throughout their days and to ensure their views were regularly collected and acted upon. People’s records reflected people’s preferences and choices throughout. We reviewed evidence of people’s likes and dislikes. The manager told us, people’s choices and preferences were observed and documented daily to inform the care plans and ensure people had choice and control over their lives. People’s daily notes were detailed and evidenced how a person had spent their day and what frame of mind they were in. The daily notes evidenced people were given choices and listened to throughout their day. We also noted evidence of people being supported to maintain their independence, this included during personal care, household tasks and activities. The manager told us daily notes were reviewed by them to ensure people were given choice, control, and independence over their lives. The provider had good oversight in this area.

We did not receive any concerns in relation to people's experience of this quality statement.

Staff told us they had enough staff and were able to respond to people’s needs. Staff told us handover meetings took place daily to ensure all staff were up to date and could monitor and respond to people’s needs appropriately. The manager understood their responsibilities in ensuring people’s immediate needs were responded to. They had systems and process in place to support this and had good oversight of people’s needs. The manager told us, “We ensure people’s health needs are met through annual health reviews, visiting their GP’s, dentist, neurologists, and involvement from community learning disability team (CLDT), speech and language therapist (SALT), psychiatry. We also contact 111 and facilitate hospital visits when needed.”

We undertook several observations throughout our on-site assessment visits and observed staff responding to people’s needs in a timely manner and redirecting and reassuring them to manage their anxieties.

Feedback from staff relating to workforce wellbeing and enablement was mixed. Staff told us the home was a good place to work, however, some felt staff morale could be improved. Staff told us they could raise suggestions and were listened too but were unsure if there were opportunities for personal or career developments. Therefore, we could not be assured all staff felt workforce wellbeing and enablement was always prioritised. The manager had a clear understanding of their role in relation to workforce wellbeing and enablement. They were able to detail the processes in place to ensure staff were being supported and had opportunities for personal and career development and they gave us examples of this.

The provider had structures and policies in place to support workforce well-being and enablement. We reviewed staff survey results for December 2023, the feedback from staff was mostly positive. We reviewed staff survey results for June 2024. There was positive feedback, however, the provider also highlighted area’s where they could grow and improve and were working on an action plan to implement this. Policies were in place relating to Initial and ongoing development, Whistleblowing and Equality and Diversity. We reviewed staff supervisions sessions and team meeting minutes and could see these were taking place and gave staff the opportunity to speak up. We reviewed debriefs following incidents which provided feedback to staff.