Heather Holmes 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 were kind, caring and polite. People were treated with dignity and respect. Staff responded to their immediate needs and were attentive. People took part in a range of different social activities which reflected their interests and choices. People were encouraged to make their own decisions and choices with support if needed. We observed people being offered choices in their daily lives. Staff communicated well with people and promoted an inclusive, supportive environment. People are offered support to keep in touch with their relatives and people who are important to them, including end of life events.

This service scored 70 (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 Treating people as individuals during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

People told us they “enjoyed doing things here”. Relatives told us people were supported to make choices and staff respected these. We observed a relaxed atmosphere in the home. Staff supported people in a timely manner and encouraged them to be independent and make choices around their day. For example, one person told us about the disco they went to and how they liked to choose their clothes. Records showed staff involved people in decisions about their activities, daily living tasks and care, with support from families or advocacy. Two people have been supported to say their goodbyes to somebody who was important to them, which required high levels of care and compassion from the staff.

We saw the care and support people received reflected their personal needs and wishes. Staff we spoke with could tell us about those they supported and what was important to them. This included people's individual preferences, any health and welfare issues and promoting their independence. A member of staff told us, "We offer choices around everything, and will help with long-term planning around relationship choices when needed.”

We saw staff offering choice to people in all aspects of their daily life including food and drink, activities and where they wished to spend their day. People were seen to be telling staff their choices around food, where they wished to sit and made their own decisions when to go to their rooms. Systems of communication, such as picture cards were used to assist people to make choices around food and drink and menu options.

People’s support plans reflected their choices and decisions and informed staff how their care and support should be provided. There was information about their likes and dislikes, communication needs, environmental needs, what was important to them, activities, personal care, and relationships. However, we saw limited information rated to long terms wishes and end of life planning. The provider has acknowledged this is an area for them to improve on and they are currently reviewing how to approach these subjects appropriately with their wider organisational teams.

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.