Dignity Direct Homecare Ltd - Sheffield

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. This is the first assessment for this newly registered service. This key question has been rated requires improvement. This meant people did not always feel well-supported, cared for or treated with dignity and respect.

This service scored 55 (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 did not always treat people with kindness, empathy and compassion, or respect their privacy and dignity. Staff monitoring was in place, to ensure staff treated people kindly and interacted positively with them. However, we received mixed feedback from people about how staff treated them. One person said, “They (staff) listen to me about my shower and do what I ask. They’re top tier for dignity and respect.” Another person said, “Staff sit and talk to me.” Whilst another person said, “I don’t think they’ve got the qualities to look after anybody.” Most staff told us staff were kind and there were no safety concerns, however some staff told us staff did not always treat people with kindness and respect. For example, one staff member said, “I would be comfortable with a family member receiving support here, as I believe the care is high-quality.” Whilst another staff member said, “I wouldn’t want my family member to use this service. I have heard concerns from other staff, I know the managers are aware of these.”

The provider did not always treat people as individuals or make sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. Care records required some improvements to ensure they were more person centred. One person said, “I would like female only staff, but I get males too.” Whilst another person said, “I only have female staff as I have requested this.” Some people told us staff did not know them well and there was sometimes a communication barrier between them.

The provider did not always promote people’s independence, so people did not always know their rights and have choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. Care records detailed how staff promote people’s independence. Staff told us how they promote choice for people, such as offering choices of meals and clothing, and explaining to people what they are doing before providing care. One staff member said, “I work with the individual to help them get the care they need/want and to help them to be able to maintain as much independence as possible.” We received mixed feedback from people about how staff promoted their choices. One relative said, “They (carers) explain everything to [name], is never forced to do anything that they don’t want to do. Choices are a very big thing for [name] – and that’s respected.” Another person said, ““No, they (don’t give choices) just come and do. One carer never gets the water hot enough for my wash and only half washes me. Just washed me under the arm and that was it.”

The provider did not always listen to and understand people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff did not always respond to people’s needs in the moment or act to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. We received mixed feedback from people and relatives about how staff responded to their needs. Some people told us they received their personal care and cleaning tasks were completed. Whilst others told us staff did not always carry out personal care correctly or in line with their preferences. Staff completed daily logs, to ensure they completed each daily care task. Tasks were assigned to staff and contained detail about what support people required each day. However, we could not be assured these tasks were completed in line with people's needs, due to the feedback we received from people.

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. Staff completed a robust training programme, which included online and face to face training. Professional development was discussed through training and development meetings and supervisions. Staff well-being was discussed at senior staff meetings and staff were encouraged to attend the office site. Well-being could further be explored with staff by providing feedback surveys and analysing the results of these. Most staff told us they were happy at work. One staff member said, “The staff morale is great, and the employees feel encouraged and supported.” Another staff member said, “Overall, staff morale is high, and there’s a strong sense of teamwork and camaraderie among colleagues.”