The Vale Residential 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 a staffing team that knew them well and who treated them with kindness respect, and dignity. People’s independence was promoted safely. Staff encouraged people to achieve tasks themselves where possible and offered support when needed. Staff supported people in ways that promoted their choice, and control over their care. Staff understood the importance of gaining consent from people and used their skills and knowledge of people to help communicate with them. People were given choices each day and told us they felt in control of their lives. A staff member told us, “We encourage people to self-care as much as possible and give people choices, for example by asking them what they want to wear.” We observed staff offering people choices and respecting their wishes during our visit. The manager had underlined this support through the regular auditing of care plans and risk assessments.

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.

We did not look at Kindness, compassion and dignity during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

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.

Staff understood people’s ability to make choices for themselves and encouraged them to make decisions throughout the day by offering people options. For example, people chose where and with whom they wanted to eat their meals, which activities they were interested in and in which lounge or area of the home they wished to be. Staff told us, “[Person] likes a quieter place to sit so we make sure [person] sits in the smaller lounge where it’s more peaceful.” Another said, “We work together with the residents. It is important to feel like you have choice and control because we are all human.” Staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act. Where people were unable to make decisions for themselves staff worked with appropriate others to support people in their best interest and in the least restrictive ways possible. The manager shared examples of how they supported people in line with the principles of the Mental Capacity Act.

Care plans and risk assessments promoted people’s independence. Care plans we reviewed reflected what people could do for themselves to enable staff to promote their independence as far as possible. For example, one person’s care plan contained guidance on how food should be served to enable the person to eat independently. The care plans also included people’s social care needs, their likes and dislikes, and their preferences to guide staff to respect people’s personal choices. Care records reflected people had control over their care. One person’s care plan stated the person would let staff know when they wanted to go to bed but noted their usual preferred time. Some people who were unable to make certain decisions for themselves had decision specific mental capacity assessments completed in relation to various aspects of their care. There was then guidance about how staff should care for the person in their best interest and the least restrictive way. Where necessary people had Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards in place, and these were regularly monitored. There were visiting policies in place that underpinned individual choice and control to maintain relationships.

People were supported by staff to maintain their independence as much as possible. Feedback from a relative during a relative meeting was, ‘[Loved one] was a very independent and proud [person] and we felt [staff] always respected that’. People were supported to continue to have choice and control over their care and how they spent their time. People were able to undertake activities and access the community. One resident told us, “I have a good time here and we go out too. But if I want to be on my own, I can have peace and quiet anytime.” A relative told us, “We can visit anytime and there are lots of activities going on. My [loved one] loved the magician.”

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.