Laural 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

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

At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained good. This meant people felt well-supported, cared for or treated with dignity and respect.

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 service always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. We observed staff to be kind and caring and always treated people with empathy and compassion. One relative told us, “The ones that we see are amazing, they are very calm, never cross and take it all in their stride. We have nothing but praise for them.” One professional told us, “Staff are extremely caring, kind and compassionate. They have a brilliant working relationship with my client and it’s evident how much they care.”

The provider treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. They took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics. Throughout our visit we saw people being treated as individuals. People’s care plans included goals. This included goals for people to have control over their lives, to encourage independent living skills and to support decision making. One person was supported to attend church to meet their cultural needs. One professional told us, “The placement makes my client feel like they are in their own home, the approach by staff is friendly and warm which makes a big difference to the client.”

The service promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. Support plans set out current needs, and contained a ‘My independent living skills’ section. This promoted strategies to enhance independence. Throughout the visit we observed people being offered choices and peoples independence being promoted, for example being supported in the kitchen to cook. Staff told us they encouraged people to complete things for themselves. One relative told us, “They involve [relative], in the cooking, in the housework, [relative] goes out, meets friends, [relative] is well looked after.”

The service 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. Staff knew people well and were able to respond to their needs in a personalised way. During our visits staff were observed to be responding to people's immediate needs. Interactions between staff and people were caring and compassionate, enabling staff to anticipate and meet people’s needs quickly and in ways that reduced and mitigated people’s discomfort and distress. One staff member explained how they support a person who maybe upset in a compassionate and kind way, offering support and reassurance.

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff, and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. Systems and processes were in place to support workforce wellbeing and enablement. Staff felt supported by both the registered manager and provider, and felt able to talk to both should they have concerns. There was a process in place to ensure staff had information available regarding wellbeing. This included access to counselling and therapy.