Swan House

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 treated with kindness, dignity and respect. Privacy was maintained and people’s individual communication and cultural needs were met. People received support to maintain their independence. Staff were supported to maintain their wellbeing.

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 described the staff as kind and caring and they felt their privacy was respected. One person told us, "I feel like we are one family."

Staff spoke positively about people and were able to describe people’s individual preferences, likes and dislikes. Staff understood people’s individual communication needs and told us how they took time to get to know people well and used this information to give people their care. The registered manager told us how they checked the standard of care. They told us, "I often watch the staff when they are not looking, I listen to them, I also obtain feedback from residents as I speak with them daily, that is how I know the staff are kind and caring."

Partner agencies told us the provider had made improvements to care plans to ensure they were personalised and contained information on the peoples likes, dislikes and preferences in much more detail. They confirmed staff used this information to provide compassionate and dignified care.

Our observations showed staff supported people with kindness, compassion. For example, when supporting people with meals, they were patient and encouraging in how they spoke to people. People were seen to be comfortable with staff, smiling and chatting with them.

People described being treated as individuals and by staff who understood their individual needs and preferences. One relative told us, "The staff know [my relative], and his preferences. He can be awkward, but they understand and know this is part of his illness."

Staff described peoples individual needs and gave examples of how they supported people. The registered manager told us through care plans and assessments staff had guidance on how to support people as individuals.

Our observations confirmed what people and staff told us. We saw people were supported by staff to have their individual needs met. For example, where had meal choices offered, and their individual meal preferences were met.

Effective systems ensured that care plans gave guidance to staff on people's individual preferences. This included information about people's likes, dislikes and their cultural needs.

People made choices about their care and support. One person told us, "I choose where I spend my time, when I get up, go to bed and if I decide to join them for meals." A relative also commented, "[Person's name] is able to say what they want and will say if they don’t want things, they have a choice, they are very vocal and alert." People had support to maintain important relationships. One person told us, "My son comes every day, he is made welcome, he takes me out regularly."

Staff described how they supported people to have a choice about how they spent their time. One person was described as liking to go out shopping, another loved reading and church was important to them. Staff demonstrated they understood how to communicate with people and described how they did this, for example 1 person used cards to help as they could not communicate verbally.

Our observations confirmed what people and staff told us. We saw staff asked people about using protectors for their clothing at mealtimes. A choice of drinks and meals were also offered with staff using photographs of meals to help people who preferred to eat in their bedrooms make choices.

Care plans gave staff guidance on how to support people to maintain their independence. People were involved in their care plans and had exercised choice and control over their care.

People and their relatives described staff as being responsive. One relative told us, "[Person's name] never has to wait for support from staff they are always on hand." Another relative commented, "Staff though [person's name] had a water infection, they checked immediately, they didn’t, but they encouraged them to have more drinks just in case."

Staff described the systems that alerted them that people required timely support. For example, call bells and sensors were used to alert them when people needed their help. Staff confirmed there was always a staff presence in the communal areas to ensure people had access to support when they needed it. The registered manager described how they monitored call bell responses to ensure staff were responding promptly when people called for help. They also ensured there were enough staff to have someone available to support people in the communal lounge area.

Our observations confirmed what people and staff told us. We saw staff responded quickly to people's needs. For example, staff were quick to respond when someone was not ready for their meal to take them to another communal area and out of the dining room.

Staff described how the provider supported them to work through making reasonable adjustments. They gave examples of how they were supported in their role. The registered manager gave examples of how they made reasonable adjustments to training and development for staff and how they promoted staff wellbeing. For example, they had spent time drawing resources together for staff on mental health wellbeing and made this available.

The provider had systems in place to support staff wellbeing. For example, they had a staff member of the month process which offered rewards to staff members for outstanding work. The process was supported by a getting to know you process in place for staff. This enabled staff to share information about their interests and preferences which were then used to provide the reward making it more personal.