Innovative Start Ltd

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

Staff responded promptly to signs of discomfort, pain or distress. We found staff engaged people in discussions about their needs, to understand people’s routines, preferences and wishes. Staff promoted people’s privacy and dignity during personal care tasks. Some people and their families perceived a language barrier impacted their ability to communicate with some staff, however others told us staff communicated effectively, including where people were unable to communicate verbally and required their needs to be anticipated.

This service scored 30 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Staff described establishing caring and positive relationships with people. This was strengthened by consistent deployment, meaning staff could learn people’s wishes, preferences and communication styles. Staff spoke with respect and care about people they supported, and could give practical examples of how privacy and dignity were upheld, such as using towels to provide dignity during personal care. Some staff were awaiting training in Makaton, which is a type of sign language, to support a person who used this form of communication. Staff awaiting training told us they had learnt some common signs and had learnt the person’s routine to enable them to communicate pending formal learning. Staff could describe people’s usual presentation and how they would identify signs of discomfort or distress. Staff understood the importance of respecting confidentiality, for example, advising they did not share their logins to the service’s electronic care system with anyone else.

People were supported by staff who promoted their privacy and dignity during personal care tasks. Most people and their relatives spoke consistently and positively about the caring approach of staff. Some of the many comments from people included, “I have a very good relationship with them. They make me laugh”, “They are the nicest carers I have had”, “Very gentle, very kind and very understanding” and “I am very pleased with how caring and sympathetic they are with [person].” A smaller number of relatives expressed more variable views about their observations of staff conduct, with comments including, “70% of the care [person] gets is of good standard, it just depends on who [person] gets…they don’t seem to have a lot of compassion for people with dementia” and “One [staff] does chat to [person] and enjoys being [there] but one obviously doesn’t want to be there…there is little to no interaction.” Some people and relatives also felt their ability to communicate with staff was impacted by a language barrier, with comments such as, “Sometimes they can speak really well but not understand everything so it might take a while” and “Language is difficult and communication is difficult.”

Professional feedback confirmed staff demonstrated a caring approach. One professional told us, "[Staff] demonstrated that they are kind and compassionate and they treat services users with dignity." Another professional added, "The [service] is willing to work with [people] often labelled as ‘too difficult’ or ‘too challenging’ by other similar agencies, and treat [people] with dignity and respect, regardless of their presentation or background...through their kind and professional staff."

We did not look at Treating people as individuals during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

We did not look at Independence, choice and control during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

People’s needs were met by staff who responded promptly to signs of discomfort, pain or distress. People told us, “They will help me quickly” and “They are quick to respond…if I am uncomfortable they help to ease things”. Staff took time to engage people in discussions about their needs and to understand people’s routines and preferences. One person told us, “They do care and they do listen and I feel well looked after.” Whilst some people and relatives perceived there was a language barrier when communicating with some staff, feedback indicated staff sought to observe and engage with people to understand their needs, including where people were unable to communicate verbally. Relatives advised, “[Staff] manage to know what [person] likes and how [person] likes things done even though [person] is unable to speak and tell them”, “They know her well and make sure they gauge her moods accordingly” and “They are fantastic at understanding all of her needs and are most caring and gentle with her.”

Staff spoke about people with genuine care, and their feedback demonstrated they made people’s wellbeing and comfort a priority. Continuity of staff deployment meant staff could describe people’s usual baselines in areas such as health, mobility, pain levels, communication, and support needs. This meant staff were able to observe changes and through building a rapport, engage with people about any signs of concern. For example, staff described using their first daily interactions with people to observe for any discomfort or distress, with staff comments including, “My first point of call is to greet [person]…majority can talk back, during exchange of greetings can get into small chat, ask how they slept, how feeling this morning…can tell if [person] is alright and can observe expressions on face.” Staff were aware of their responsibility to act on and report any concerns. Leaders explained they used values based recruitment practices to select staff with caring and empathetic skills to provide a caring and responsive service to people's needs.

We did not look at Workforce wellbeing and enablement during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.