Holmwood Care Centre

On this page

• Overview
• Person-centred Care
• Care provision, Integration and continuity
• Providing Information
• Listening to and involving people
• Equity in access
• Equity in experiences and outcomes
• Planning for the future

Responsive – this means we looked for evidence that the service met people's needs.

At our last inspection we rated this key question good. At this assessment we assessed a total of 7 quality statements from this key question, the rating has remained good. This meant people’s needs were met through good organisation and delivery.

This service scored 68 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

People gave us mixed feedback about how their care was tailored to their needs. Some people felt there were not have enough activities which suited their tastes. One person said, “Haven’t got enough to keep us occupied, watch TV in lounge, quiz occasionally, nothing that appeals to me, don’t like the activities like throwing a ball, would like a quiz every day.” While a relative felt their family member would enjoy flower arranging and chatting with others which they advised did not happen. However, others were pleased with the activities they took part in. One person told us how they were encouraged by staff to take up painting since they had moved in and shared some of their impressive artwork with us. While another person told us they enjoyed attending the church service and singing.

We saw care staff were busy providing care related tasks to people and did not have time to sit and talk. On the first day of our visit the activities co-ordinator spent their day putting away Christmas decorations. On the second day of our visit some people were supported to the ground floor for the singing activity however staff told us they did not have time to mobilise all people who would enjoy this activity to the ground floor, while some people would arrive late for the activity. We saw most people on the middle and top floor spent the majority of their time in their bedrooms. People and relatives told us that the planned one-to-one sessions, rarely happened.

The provider had a dependency tool which was used to determine staffing levels based on peoples physical dependency requirements. However, staffing levels had not been reviewed against people’s cognitive and emotional support needs.

People had access to receive joined up and flexible care with local facilities.

Staff contacted external health and social care professionals, where it was identified this was required.

People's communication needs had been explored with them, recorded, and shared with staff to promote effective communication. Staff knew how to support people with visual and hearing impairments to communicate effectively with people, however we found communication aids to support conversations with one person was not accessible to staff. We also read in the minutes of a staff meetings where staff reported they struggled with communicating with this person.

The provider was able to provide information in various formats dependant on people’s communication needs. The provider had processes in place for people, relatives, and staff to communicate with each other. However, the provider should ensure these aids were consistently available to staff and people who use them.

Meetings were held for people who lived in the home, along with their relatives. Some people told us they did not always receive the minutes of these. People felt that some suggestions raised had brought about changes, such as improvement of the appearance of texture modified meals. All people we spoke with told us they knew how to raise a concern and felt confident this would be addressed. Most people told us they had never needed to raise any concerns. Where a relative had, they felt this had been resolved to their satisfaction.

Staff told us they had regular meetings and had the opportunity to feedback any concerns or queries at any time. Staff we spoke with felt the manager and deputy manager were approachable, listened and mostly acted upon their concerns, however the concerns around some agency staff and staffing levels they felt had not been addressed.

Systems were in place to gain feedback from people, relatives and staff, however the 6 monthly review of outcomes of this had not taken place.

There was a complaints policy in place, where complaints had been received these were reviewed and responded to in line with the providers policy.

All people had access the care, support and treatment they needed. We saw good examples where the staff had ensured a person with a disability had the access they required to their specific care and support in a way that worked for them. This promoted equality and removed any potential barriers.

People told us they felt supported and treated equally and fairly.

Staff confirmed they had completed training in equality and diversity. Staff were aware of the protected characteristics under the Equality Act. Acknowledging diversity and valuing differences. Staff told us they felt well supported by their colleagues and management. Staff spoken with confirmed they had not witnessed or experienced any occasions whereby they had felt any of the people using the service were discriminated against, nor they had witnessed people not having their basic human rights met.

Care plans did not provide sufficient information required to demonstrate people’s individual wishes had been considered. This meant staff did not always have the guidance they needed to promote good, person centred care for people at this key stage of their lives. We also found that it could not always be demonstrated that conversations had taken place with people, where appropriate relatives, and the persons doctor around their wishes for resuscitation.

Staff had received end of life care training. They also confirmed they had good and timely support from external health care professionals when this was needed.

The provider had identified this as an area for improvement during their checks and audits.