Care Solutions Direct Head Office

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• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

We reviewed all 5 quality statements under this key question. We found staff respected people’s privacy and dignity and encouraged people to remain independent where possible. People were supported by a caring staff team who respected their choices and preferences. Staff felt supported by the management team.

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.

Family members felt staff treated people with kindness, compassion and dignity in their day-to-day care and support. A family member told us, “[Family member] feels very comfortable with the staff, they are all very good and caring, they respond to her needs and treat her with dignity and respect.”

Care staff knew and understood people. They described how they treated people with kindness, consideration and dignity. One care staff member said, “We would engage them in a way they understand and work with the client. Involve them in their care and make sure we respect what they want. I support clients to do what they want to do and manage the risk of the activity.” The service manager described how they ensured staff were kind and caring. They said, they spoke regularly with people, family members and staff to gain feedback and monitored interactions between staff and people when undertaking reviews and unannounced visits to check on staff.

Feedback from an external professional confirmed they felt staff treated people with kindness and compassion. They told us “I do from the evidence I have for the 1 service user I have supported by them.”

Family members felt people were treated as individuals. One told us, “She always looks clean and smart.” Another family member said, “The staff all seem to know him well.”

The provider told us that before care staff commenced supporting a person they were always introduced to the person and a formal half day handover process was completed. This included information about the person's life history and preferences around food or drinks. This meant care staff would know important information about the person, such as any information about equality and diversity or protected characteristics and therefore were better able to meet people's individual needs. A care staff member told us, “I mostly ask them how they would like their care and give them a chance to choose what they want to wear.”

People’s individual needs were assessed and the information used to shape their own personalised care plans. Care plans reflected the person’s individuality and were respectful of people’s personal, cultural, social and religious needs, ensuring they were understood and met.

Family members confirmed people were supported to have choice and control over their own care and were encouraged to make decisions about their care and support.

Care staff spoke positively about their role and how they promoted people’s independence and choices. For example, one staff member said, “I have supported one person to plant flowers. I will support them to call family and will be around if they are having a gathering with family.” Another staff member told us, “Usually in the morning I give them the opportunity to choose what they would like to wear and their shoes and hair. I involve the person. I give them a choice of food and respect their choices. We do activities and assist them to do these. I make sure I involve them in these and respect what activities they choose.”

The provider had effective systems in place to ensure people received care which promoted their independence, choice and control. Care plans reflected what people were capable of doing themselves and what support they required in other areas of their care. For example, one person’s care plan directed care staff stating ‘Start with a flannel for me to wash my own face. Please support me to wash the areas I cannot reach.”

Family members told us they felt staff listen to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes, which were responded to promptly to minimise discomfort, concern or distress. One family member said, “He is well looked after, no problems with ethnicity and language understanding is good, caring is done well from all aspects, I never worry about his safety or care, staff are very rigorous with his medication and meals.”

Staff told us they had completed relevant training to enable them to understand and meet people’s needs. Where people had been assessed to need equipment, staff confirmed this was in place and that they reminded people to use it where needed. The service manager described how they had arranged short notice additional training for a staff member to enable a person to return from hospital for end of life care.

Care staff told us they felt supported by the management team. One told us, “Yes, I can raise concerns at any time. The manager supports wellbeing, I get breaks. Yes I can call my line manager for support.” Discussions with the provider showed they understood the pressures on care staff especially those providing a live in service. They described how they ensured staff had regular breaks and offered flexible working and break patterns to meet individual staff needs.

The provider contracted with a company that could offer staff a range of benefits including mental health support. Staff received regular individual supervision and there was always a member of the management team on call and available to support staff. The provider completed a staff survey in April 2024. This showed staff were happy with the support they received and would recommend working for Care Solutions Direct.