Scholars Mews 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

Staff treated people with kindness and compassion and people spoke positively about the care they received in their day to day interactions with staff. Staff knew people well and treated them as individuals. People appeared comfortable and relaxed in the presence of staff. People generally felt they were able to continue living their life as they wished to. Staff recognised the importance of people having choice and control over their lives. Staff understood the value of encouraging people to maintain their independence. However, people's dignity was not always considered when taking clinical photographs of wounds. Staff told us they told us they were supported in their role and felt valued. Staff had regular opportunities through team meetings to raise any concerns they had and felt listened to by senior managers.

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 spoke positively about the caring and supportive nature of the staff team. Comments included, “They treat us very well indeed, quite happy with everything here”, “I don’t have any problems, the staff are always nice to me” and, “They [staff] are kind and caring generally.” Relatives also commented on the caring nature of staff. One relative told us, “Staff treat [person] kindly; I am sure they would let me know if they were not happy. I am happy, and [person] is happy. They are well looked after.” Another relative told us, “I think the care is better.”

Staff spoke of a delivering care in a kind and supportive environment. Comments included, “You have to study the residents, know what they like and what they don’t like and you have to be very patient and compassionate and you have to be honest with them” and, "It is very important not to rush the patients because the patients are elderly. You need to pamper them and care for them.” Another staff member told us, “The best gift I can gift is my time. I treat people how I would want my family to be treated.” The Regional Director explained that one of the first changes made following our last inspection was direct observations of staff practice. They told us they ensured staff competency was regularly assessed by monitoring staff interactions with people to ensure they treated people with dignity, respect and kindness. They explained, “We do competency observations on staff day to day practice too. As part of this we are looking at how staff interact with people to ensure they are treated with dignity, respect and kindness.”

Healthcare professionals told us when they visited the home, they observed people being treated with kindness and compassion. Comments included, “I have always been treated with kindness and respect when I have visited the home and I feel the residents there are treated well too. I have never witnessed anything to suggest otherwise” and, “I haven't seen anyone treated badly. No concerns overall. Patients are doing really well.” Another healthcare professional told us, “I would say since our visit in January, there has been a marked difference to approach within the home, particularly now [Regional Director] is involved. The area worked hardest on is the relationship with people, relatives and friends. I spoke to a friend of a person who told us, it feels completely different now. People are smiling."

Staff took an interest in people and treated them with kindness and compassion. People appeared comfortable and relaxed in the presence of staff. We saw people smiling and laughing with the staff. We saw some thoughtful interactions between people and staff. For example,1 staff member hugged a person when they greeted them. Another staff member knelt next to a person and stroked their arm for reassurance. At lunch time, 1 staff member was singing with a person as they guided them to the table. Another staff member was talking to a person, explaining where they are going and gently guided with their hand on the person's back without rushing them. However, we saw that people's dignity had not always been considered when staff took clinical photographs of people's injuries. For example, a photograph of a bruise on a person’s upper arm included their breast. Staff had not considered how these photographs could be taken in a more respectful way.

People felt staff knew them well. One person told us, “Staff seem knowledgeable, and the new ones are mentored. I think they know me and my likes.” Another person said, “Every conversation with staff is a laugh, they know what I like.” Relatives also commented, “They have a document of [person’s] life history and staff seem aware of it” and, “Staff know what is important to [person].”

Staff spoke of people as individuals with their own preferences and routines. One staff member told us, “If a person likes to have a cup of tea in the middle of the night, they have to have it. It is our duty to take care of them. Once you get used to people, you know what they want. [Name] has a cup of tea at 8.30am every morning in bed, before breakfast. Everyone knows their routine and they are comfortable with us."

Our observations showed staff understood people's individual needs. Photographs showed people celebrating important events such as birthdays and St Patrick's Day. Throughout our assessment relatives and friends were visiting the home freely.

Records encouraged staff to treat people as unique individuals and detailed people’s individual care preferences. For example, care plans detailed people’s sleep preferences or preferences around how they like their personal care to be delivered. Care plans also detailed people’s social, cultural and religious needs. Staff received training on equality and diversity in the workplace so they are equipped with the right knowledge and understanding of how to treat people equally.

People generally felt they were able to continue living their life as they wished to. One person told us, “I can spend my day how I like.” Another person said, “I can choose when I get up. I can do as I want here.” Another person reflected on their own independence and told us, “It is hard for me to be independent. They (staff) help me when I need it.”

Staff recognised the importance of people having choice and control over their lives. One staff member told us, “Their opinions matter. What they want and what they don’t want. If they don’t want something, you don’t have to force it. It is our duty to take care of them." Staff understood the value of encouraging people to maintain their independence. One staff member told us, “I always encourage people to do things for themselves by saying things like, can you wash you face or your hands. I then might help by putting toothpaste on the toothbrush and encourage them to do brush their teeth. I always give praise and encouragement like ‘you can do it, nicely, nicely." Staff told us 1 person self-administered their medicines.

We saw staff respected people's choices throughout our assessment. People were asked how they wanted to spend their time. Some people chose to engage in the activities where they chose not to and this was respected. People were encouraged to choose what they wanted to eat. One staff member supported a person by reading the menu out loud to enable the person to make an informed meal choice. Our observations showed staff encouraged people to be as independent as possible by encouraging them to do things within their capabilities for themselves.

Records encouraged staff to seek consent before providing care and treatment. For example, 1 person’s care plan detailed that staff should always encourage the person to make a particular decision for themselves. Care plans detailed information about what people can and can’t do for themselves and were written in a way that promoted people's independence.

We received positive feedback about how well staff responded to people’s immediate needs. One person told us, “I have my bell, they don’t delay in answering. I need 2 people to go to the toilet, I don’t wait long.” Another person told us, “I had a fall a while ago, I was able to call out to them and they came quite quick.” Another person talked about a significant life event where staff they needed some additional emotional support. The person commented, “They (staff) all made a fuss of me.”

Staff told us how they recognised and responded to people's immediate needs. One staff member told us, “You get to know people and can see if there is a change. They might be in pain, hungry, lonely. We just know when something isnt quite right. We try and then fulfil that need.” Another staff member told us, “We know if [person] is feeling unsettled as they will go in and out of his bedroom. We will sit with them and talk. We have asked for a review of their medicines too.”

We saw staff responded to people’s immediate needs. Call bells were activated at various times of the day and night and staff responded to these promptly. People were regularly offered drinks. One person started to become upset as they did not know why a special item of theirs was in the home. Staff immediately reassured them that that this item had been brought into the home by their relative. The person looked notably relieved and commented, “You have saved me a lot of worry.”

Staff told us they told us they were supported in their role and felt valued. Staff told us had regular opportunities through team meetings to raise any concerns they had and felt listened to by senior managers. Staff reflected on the journey the home had been on and felt the culture had improved. One staff member commented, “Everyone is a team now. That was missing before. We all help each other. I have never experienced any discrimination against me. Here we are all from different cultures, but we are treated equally by [regional director].” Staff told us they did not feel pressured to work extra-long hours. One staff member told us they liked to regularly pick up an extra shift, but this was their choice, and they did not feel they had to. Another staff member told us, “I love the home. The people I am working with, the deputy manager, the seniors, the carers, everyone has been so good and nice. When you work in an environment where you feel loved, you feel safe." The deputy manager told us they were flexible with shifts an tried to accommodate staff's personal commitments and hobbies.

A recent external staff well-being survey indicated that most staff felt supported by their leaders. For example, for the question of ‘The business cares about my wellbeing and supports me so I can do my job well,’ 87% agreed. Staff had regular opportunities to raise concerns. Record showed regular team meetings and staff supervisions occurred to enable them to provide feedback. Records showed people were valued via the homes 'Employee of The Month' scheme.