Byron Court 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 staff who understood their needs. Staff were kind, caring and were passionate about the care they gave. We observed several kind interactions between staff and people during the assessment. People told us they had choice and control over their care and their independence was promoted. However, care planning records did not always reflect this. We found improvements were needed to ensure records better reflected what people were able to do for themselves and show people's involvement in the planning of their care. Our observations found minimal stimulation and meaningful activity was offered to people. The registered manager had already identified the improvements needed and had taken action to recruit a new activities coordinator and introduce a new activity schedule.

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.

Staff were able to describe the everyday action they took to ensure people were well cared for in a dignified way. This included knocking on people's doors, asking for people's consent prior to undertaking care and not moving any of their possessions without their permission. A staff member told us, "I think it's important to treat everyone with respect". Staff had received training in privacy and dignity to equip them with the necessary skills and knowledge.

Staff were observed speaking respectfully to people and their relatives. For example, staff offered reassurance to a person during a coughing episode and assisted them to their bedroom to make them more comfortable. We observed doors to occupied bathrooms were kept closed to maintain people's dignity and staff respected people's privacvy and knocked on bedroom doors before entering.

A visiting health professional provided positive feedback about people's care and treatment. They told us staff excelled at providing compassionate and dignified care to people, particularly when providing care and support to people at the end of their lives.

People told us they were well treated by staff. Comments included, " [Staff] treat us like they have known us for years. Total respect. I was worried coming into a care home for the first time but I can honestly say it’s marvellous, they are tremendous all of them" and "they are all kind, very kind. You only have to ask and they’d do anything for you". People described how staff maintained their dignity and treated them with compassion. For example, a person described how staff shut their bedroom door when assisting them with personal care and knocked on their door before entering the room. There was a process in place to gather people's views about the care provided. All people who completed the survey said they were treated kindly and with dignity and respect.

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 had choice and control and their independence was promoted. People were encouraged to stay in touch with their loved ones and relatives told us there were no restrictions on visiting. Comments included, "I visit every day and there’s never been a problem, they don’t stop any visitors from coming in" and "I visit regularly and spend as much time as I want with [Person]". The provider had a process in place to gather people's views about the social activities provided. The most recent survey found 57 per cent of people people who completed the survey said they enjoyed the social activities available. People we spoke with did not express an interest in partaking in social activities and preferred to make their own arrangements. A person told us, "I stick to the routine I’m used to and do pretty much what I did at home".

Staff provided examples of how they maintained people's independence and ensured they were in full control of their care. The registered manager explained how the long term absence of the activities coordinator had impacted the social activities programme. They described the recent work they had undertaken to recruit a new activities co-ordinator and make the necessary improvements to the schedule of social events available to people. They committed to gathering people's views on the activities available to them to ensure they were relevant and meaningful.

Our observations found staff generally communicated with people effectively and when required, communication aids were used to ensure people could communicate their needs and wishes. For example, a person used a book that contained pictures, symbols and photographs to aid their communication with staff. We found the communal dining room was being used as a storage area. This restricted people's choice on where they would like to eat and reduced the positive impact of a more social dining experience. We shared our observations with the manager and following the assessment, they confirmed the dining area had been cleared and available to people. Our observations found staff engaged in conversation with people. However, we found minimal stimulation and lack of meaningful activity was offered to people. The registered manager had already identified the improvements needed and had taken action to recruit a new activities coordinator and introduce a new activity schedule.

Care plans did not always reflect what people were able to do for themselves and did not always reflect people’s choices or demonstrate people, their relatives or advocates were involved in planning of their care.

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.