Sandwood Care Home

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

People were supported by kind and caring staff in a warm and friendly environment. People were supported to have choice and control and make decisions about the support they received. They were encouraged and helped by staff to do as much as they could for themselves, to maintain their independence. People were encouraged to take part in 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.

People and their relatives told us all staff treated them with kindness and dignity. A relative we spoke with said, “I have always felt the staff are kind.”

The registered manager ensured the culture and environment at Sandwood was kind and caring, staff displayed a compassionate approach to care. Staff we spoke with said, “We always treat and talk to people with respect and always aim to protect their privacy and dignity at all times.” The deputy manager completed daily walk rounds to ensure all staff worked in line with Sandwood’s values. Any concerns were addressed immediately.

The professionals we spoke with did not raise any concerns about people’s dignity or privacy being compromised.

We observed all staff to treat people with kindness and compassion. The dedicated activity staff encouraged people with kindness and warmth to take part in a game being played. People were engaged and staff displayed a genuine affection towards the people they were supporting. Staff treated people with respect when supporting with their personal care needs and responded immediately to any periods of distress.

People told us they were happy living at Sandwood. People said staff knew their needs well and respected their choices. A relative we spoke with said, “All staff know my [relative] well and they respond to their daily needs very well despite it sometimes being challenging.”

Staff and managers knew people well and used a personalised approach. The registered manager had taken time to get know people and their needs. All staff spoke with ease about people’s needs, likes and dislikes. Staff were confident in their approach telling us, “People we support are at the centre of everything we do, they and their families are involved in everything.”

People’s individual needs were respected. We observed staff to treat people as individuals using their preferred name and title. Where bedroom doors were open staff knocked and waited for a reply before entering and greeting people. We observed staff to support a person living with dementia and who had become distressed to use a personalised approach.

Processes in place meant individual preferences were documented within care and support plans. For example, a life story was completed and detailed a persons likes and dislikes, one person living with a cognitive impairment had their love for country and western films documented. This gave staff a topic of conversation in order to engage with the person.

People told us that they were able to live their lives as they wanted. One person explained staff supported them to go to church. Another person told us how they were supported to attend the intergenerational playgroup at the home and the positive impact this had on their well-being. People told us they were offered a choice in who they wanted to support them.

Staff understood the importance of supporting people to make decisions and told us they would always encourage people to make their own choices. One staff member said, “We encourage and support people daily to make decisions in their care and daily life.” Staff supported people to undertake activities they enjoyed; the registered manager told us of the activities on offer. They told us, they gained feedback on what worked well and what didn’t from people at residents’ meetings.

We observed staff respecting people’s wishes. For example, we observed staff asking people where they would like to spend their time. We observed staff to encourage a person to walk slowly using their walking frame rather than getting a wheelchair. This promoted people’s independence.

Staff had clear guidance on how to support people to be as independent as possible. Care plans were reviewed regularly to ensure people’s goals and preferences were reviewed. Where there had been a change in need, care plans had been updated. The introduction of the new electronic care planning system allowed for changes to be made easily. There were regular meetings for people and staff to feedback. During one meeting, people fed back about going shopping, we found they had been subsequently supported by staff to go shopping.

We did not look at Responding to people’s immediate needs during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

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.