Northlands Care Home (Northumberland)

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 Inadequate. At this assessment the rating has changed to good. This meant the service management and leadership were consistent. Leaders and the culture they created supported the delivery of 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. New staff received support and training which helped them to demonstrate the provider’s values in their daily work with people. Staff comments when asked about working at the service included, “I love coming to work now”, “There is better support, the positivity is unbelievable,” and “Management listen and act.”

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. People and staff were very complimentary about the current manager and quality manager. Their comments included, “There is a good atmosphere now”, “I feel trusted to do my job”, “I am delighted with the care”, “Since the new manager started there is a more relaxed atmosphere”, and “The new manager has a very different approach, more hands on.”

The service fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. The provider had a clear whistle blowing policy. Staff could raise concerns, and written information was available of how to do this. Staff meetings took place, and staff had the opportunity to share comments and give feedback. People were informed of the complaints procedure when they started to use the service and at meetings. A person commented, “I have nothing to complain about, I am happy with the care. If needed I would go straight to the manager and explain the problem.”

The service valued diversity in their workforce. They work towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who work for them. Staff told us they were able to ask for reasonable adjustments to be made to their working patterns for specific needs, for example to incorporate family commitments.

Improvements had been made by the manager and quality manager to ensure governance was more effective and robust, including the monitoring of the quality of service provision. The service now 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. Regular audits and checks were carried out in the main areas of the service, such as, around care records, health and safety and staff practice. A staff member commented, “Care has improved, staff take more time to give care, they communicate better with people and listen to them more.” Duty of Candour incidents were followed up and apologies made appropriately, there had been 1 such incident since the last assessment.

The service understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services work seamlessly for people. They shared information and learning with partners and collaborate for improvement. A professional commented, “Any advice we have recommended has been acted upon and staff have been helpful and accommodating on our visits.”

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 contribute to safe, effective practice and research. There was evidence of several changes that had been made to the service to make improvements and to address checks and audits outcomes and in response to people and staff feedback. External quality assurance arrangements were in place to monitor the internal governance systems.