Veronica House 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 requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to good. This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care.

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 provider treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. People spoke positively about the staff team, particularly those staff who knew them well. One person told us, “The staff are all kind.” During our visit we observed staff interacting with people in a relaxed way. People confidently approached staff for assistance and staff responded with kindness and patience.

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. People told us staff understood their individual preferences and they were able to spend their time as they wished. One relative said, “There’s staff around and the staff know [person] well. Even the new staff are caring.” Staff we spoke with were able to share with us details of people’s life histories and interests. The registered manager told us people’s hobbies, or previous employment had been used to inspire themed decoration in parts of the home which staff used to prompt conversations with people or reminisce.

The provider promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. People told us their independence was supported by staff. One person told us, “I make all my own decisions about my care. I go to bed and get up when I want. I do feel safe here. The people who care for me make me feel safe.” Staff told us how they supported people’s individual routines including physiotherapy support and voluntary employment. One staff member told us, “It’s important to get to know people, so we know what they like to do.” Records we reviewed contained information about how staff should promote and support people’s independence. This included their preferred way of communicating as well as their physical and health needs.

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. We saw staff responded to people who were in distress and pre-empted situations which may cause people to become anxious or upset. Staff were available to support people’s planned care, as well as respond if people needed them. One staff member said, “Staffing has really improved, 100%, and we are able to be responsive to people.” There were systems in place to keep the staff team updated on people’s changing needs which enabled them to respond to any changes in people’s health or wellbeing.

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. Staff shared examples with us of how they had been supported to progress both personally and professionally. This included specific support to progress in their careers which included funded time for them to study. The registered manager told us they took the wellbeing of their staff seriously and work to improve the way in which staff wellbeing was promoted was constantly evolving. The operations director told us they had recently re-introduced an extra mile award for staff to improve the recognition the staff team received. The management team told us they tried to offer staff a variety of different ways to feedback to them to support communication and encourage staff to contribute ideas for development.