41 West Hill

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 to allow people to have a choice about what they wanted to eat and drink. Some improvements were made to ensuring people were encouraged and helped by staff to do as much as they could for themselves, to maintain their independence. People’s families were free to visit them with no restrictions. Improvements had been made to encourage people to take part in a range of activities both at the service and in the community which helped support their independence, health, and well-being.

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.

A person told us staff were kind. Relatives told us they felt staff treated their loved ones with kindness and had no concerns. One relative told us, “They do now (treat their loved one with kindness). [person] had a football birthday party this year and the staff member that accompanied him joined in and was very kind and [person] enjoyed his company. He (staff) played football and had a meal and drinks with us, they seem to have fun with [person] now. Before the new manager, [person] would go to an activity like bowling and staff would not play bowling with him, he did it on his own. Now he goes bowling and plays pool with staff who take part.”

Staff told us they had completed training in Dignity and Respect. Staff told us how they had applied this training to improve people’s experiences. A staff member told us, “I ensure people are treated with kindness and dignity by respecting their choices. It’s my responsibility to ensure they feel respected within their own home.” Another staff member told us, “The residents have a lot more choice now, in what they want eat and they are out doing more such as swimming.”

We contacted partners for their views, and they had no specific feedback on this area.

We observed staff supporting people in a kind way, they were compassionate towards people and ensured people’s dignity was maintained.

Relatives felt improvements had been made since the last CQC visit and people were being treating as individuals and encouraged more. One relative told us, “Person had a birthday afternoon tea in the home, we went, others in the home came and it’s how it should be. Staff are now encouraged to take part. [person] enjoys staff company, and they enjoy doing things. Before staff knew how to get [person] in a behaviour and say it’s not safe for him to come out of his bedroom.” Another relative told us, “Huge improvements have been made, especially with communication. Staff are much better at understating [person].”

People were supported by a staff team who knew them well. Staff told us they had made improvement to ensure that they were more knowledgeable on people’s early warning signs of becoming distressed to ensure they could use positive strategies and re-direction. One staff member told us, “We used to take [person] with [person] to play bowling, but [person] doesn’t like bowling, so we respect that.”

Were observed staff treating people as individuals.

The provider had made some improvements to ensure people were treated as individuals. People’s individual needs and preferences were being explored and people had participated in more meaningful activities since our last visit. However, the provider could not demonstrate a plan on how they were meeting people’s goals and aspirations.

Relatives told us their loved ones were supported to have more choice and control since our last CQC visit. Relatives spoke positively of the changes that had been made for people to be working towards a meaningful life.

Staff understood people’s ability to make choices and told us they would always encourage people to make their own choices. One staff member said, “We always offer two food choices. When it comes to activities, we ensure they pick their own activities. One person loves swimming we make sure they go minimum twice a week. CQC last visit has really helped the residents, they are getting a lot better choices and better activities.” The management team told us they have put systems in place to allow people to make food and drink choices. People are doing more activities, and they are having better outcomes. The deputy manager told us, “We are getting staff to explore other activities for people to participate in, like the other day we went to Twycross zoo, some people went to the cinema and now people are going to the trampoline park.”

We saw staff promoting people’s independence and choice. For example, people were encouraged to clean their own bedrooms. A visual board was used for people to make food and drinks choices. However, we observed people were not given alternative choices when planned activities could not go ahead due to weather conditions.

Improvements had been made by implementing a process to allow people to choose their food, drink, and activities. However, the snack cupboard had a lock on and there were no records in place to demonstrate the reason for this blanket restriction. The provider has told us they have reviewed this restriction and removed the lock since our visit. Improvements had been made in ensuring people were more involved in some daily living tasks and accessing the community more meaningfully. However, care plans did not demonstrate if people were given the opportunity to continuously learn new skills and improve their independence. Staff were not able to explain what plans were in place to support people to develop further. The new registered manager was aware and understood more work was needed and had a vision of how they wanted to develop the service better.

People’s immediate needs were responded to. Relatives told us staff had taken immediate action when people have not been well and contacted the relevant health professionals immediately. However, we were not assured people had always received their daily commissioned support hours to meet their assessed needs.

People were commissioned to have 1 to 1 staffing or/and 2 to 1 staffing during the day. This meant staff could quickly recognise when people needed immediate help or support.

We observed staff responding immediately to peoples needs. For example, one person showed signs of distress, a senior staff member responded immediately and asked if the person was in pain or discomfort.

The new manager recognised changes needed to be made for the well-being of staff. The rota used to be shared with staff weekly, however this had been changed and staff were given a 6-week rota. Staff told us this had made huge improvements to their well-being. One staff member told us, “Since the new manager has started she has worked really hard on our well-being. One of the best things is the rota, before we used to only get a rota each week, now we get a 6-week rota which means we can plan to do things outside of work and this has been really appreciated.” The new manager understood the staff culture needed to change and staff needed to have the opportunity to be listened to and feel included. The new manager told us, “I start early so I get the opportunity to see night staff before they finish work, this gives them an opportunity to speak to me if need but for me to check on their well-being at work.” The new manager has also ensured that staff toilet is stocked with personal hygiene items for staff to use during work if needed. Staff felt valued by the new registered manager and told us the staff culture had changed and now staff worked as a team and helped each other. This meant there was a better culture for staff to do their job well and to be well.

A code of conduct policy had been co-designed with staff and implemented. This policy was to work alongside the providers code of conduct policy. This meant staff were supported to be part of the culture change at work and had the opportunity to contribute to the changes. The provider had a more active role within the service. This meant the provider had opportunities to check staff well-being and staff had the opportunities to raise concerns or suggest ways to improve the service.