Swarthdale Nursing 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

Caring – this means we looked for evidence that the provider involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

At our last assessment we rated this key question as requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to good. This meant people felt well-supported, cared for and treated with dignity and respect. The culture in the home was seen to be very caring.

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.

The staff always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. People told us staff were always polite and respectful, and they felt listened to. Feedback from relatives was positive about how staff treated people. One relative told us, “I have observed kindness and care being given to other residents as well as my relative.” Another relative said, “I have seen nothing, but kindness shown to my relative. The job is difficult, and the staff here are kind, caring and show my relative respect.”

The staff treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met their needs and preferences. They took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics. Staff treated people as individuals and were considerate of their personal, cultural, social and religious needs. Ministers from the local community visited regularly and people could choose to be involved.

The staff promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. People were supported to maintain relationships and we saw that visitors came and went as they chose to. Meaningful and varied activities and social engagements were available to people every day. One person told us, “I occasionally join in the activities because we have people coming into the home and that’s enjoyable.” Where people were cared for in their rooms they were also included if they wished in suitable activities. Independence was actively promoted. One person said, “I manage very well on my own, but staff do help me if I need them.”

The provider listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. People’s urgent needs were appropriately recognised and dealt with. Where people could not communicate well staff demonstrated they knew them well. A relative told us, “My relative can be very difficult at times but the staff are kind and are very patient with them.” Call bell response times were consistently monitored to ensure people were not left waiting for attention from staff.

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. Feedback from staff was very positive. Staff told us they felt very supported by the new management team. They all commented about improvements in the home since the new manager was appointed. A member of staff said, “Things have changed for the better, we have more staff and can do our job properly.” Staff were given opportunities to raise any concerns. All staff we spoke with told us they felt supported and told us they enjoyed working at Swarthdale. The management were providing regular support via formal supervisions and team meetings. Where relevant staff had been supported with reasonable adjustments in the workplace.