The examples below provide insight into how other Good or Outstanding rated services are succeeding in this area of inspection.
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Relating to the people you support
In this two-minute audio clip from the Care Exchange podcast, Aeon Anderson talks about how recruiting people from local communities can understand some of the challenges others from the community face.
You can listen to the full podcast here. Access our whole Care Exchange series here.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: African Caribbean Community Initiative
Date published: May 2023
Bespoke support models to meet religious beliefs
All support staff had equality and diversity training each year, to ensure they were regularly refreshed in this area. The service supported unaccompanied asylum seekers, so religious texts were provided, and bespoke support models were implemented to ensure religious beliefs and practices were supported and respected in-service, such as a signal from a service user to highlight that they were praying.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: Kingdom Youth Services
Date published: March 2023
Adapting people's homes to meet sensory needs
Staff were calm, focussed and attentive to people's emotions and support needs such as sensory sensitivities.
This attention to detail meant that people lived in homes that were adapted to meet their sensory needs. Where this was not possible staff, and senior managers, advocated robustly for people and this persistence and commitment to people had led to people securing housing that met their specific needs.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: Dimensions Dorset West
Date published: January 2023
A coordinated plan to develop a trusting relationship
Equality, diversity and a human rights approach to supporting people's privacy and dignity was well embedded in the service. For one person this involved a coordinated plan to support them to engage with the service. This involved meeting care staff in a safe space, developing trust and gradually increasing the care staff team.
The person was anxious about change and this included their personal appearance. Staff worked over an extended time period to develop a trusting relationship. This was based upon respecting the person's lifestyle choices, but through gentle support the agency kept the person safer than they would have been. This planned approach enabled the agency to succeed in in supporting the person where others had not.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: Primary Homecare Limited
Date published: December 2022
Supported to pursue and maintain personal relationships
People had been supported to pursue and maintain personal relationships. One person was supported to go clubbing with their friends and met a partner, who they go clubbing with. Another person had a 'boyfriend' from their day service: staff helped the person to understand relationships and boundaries.
Another person told their staff they wanted a partner and staff supported them to learn about sexual health. Staff developed a personalised support plan for the person to enable them to safely explore and learn about their sexual needs. This required staff to work in creative ways to overcome barriers associated with their autism.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: Avenues South East
Date published: November 2022
Hiking expeditions
This film features the people and staff from City Care Partnership, an outstanding rated service that supports people with learning disabilities. The organisation provides a wide range of different activities including hikes into the surrounding countryside.
The film showcases how the staff support people on this regular activity, providing the opportunity for both parties to get to know one another more and enjoy a healthy and happy time together.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: City Care Partnership
Date published: March 2022
Creating safe spaces to talk with staff about LGBTQ+
In this three-minute audio clip from the Care Exchange podcast, Sanjay Dhrona talks about his own experiences of coming out to the people and staff he supports, as well as how to create safe spaces for staff to learn about LGBTQ+ in the workplace.
You can listen to the full podcast here. Access our whole Care Exchange series here.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: The Close Care Home
Date published: January 2022
Involving family and carers to support people living with dementia
The service had embraced the national initiative called John's Campaign. This recognised the right of carers to stay with people with dementia at all times. We were given examples of this in practice, with relatives actively involved in caring for and supporting people living in the service.
A relative said: "The care given to my relative was always of a good to high standard. I was able to access senior personnel readily and give advice and support on the best day-to-day management of my relative’s difficulties."
Read more about the service here.
Care provider: Davers Court - Care UK Community Partnerships Ltd
Date published: March 2020
Tailoring activities to people's interests
People's life histories and interests were pro-actively gathered and collated by staff. Staff told us how they did this by engaging with the person and their family. This information was then used to tailor outings and activities to the person.
For example, there was a visit to Bressingham Steam Museum for a person who had an interest in trains and another who’d worked on a farm. The registered manager told us that these outings had encouraged people to come out of their rooms and engage more with other people, thus avoiding social isolation.
Read more about the service here.
Care provider: Davers Court - Care UK Community Partnerships Ltd
Date published: March 2020
Understanding people and adjusting approaches
One person with dementia was very resistant to baths and showers. After spending time sensitively exploring the issue with the person and their family, staff had identified a previous trauma they’d experienced as a child that had recently emerged in their memory as their dementia had progressed.
Staff had changed their approach and used aromatherapy and candles to give the person a 'spa' experience in the form of a 'bed bath' to reduce the stress of the experience.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: Landermeads Care Home
Date published: March 2020
Pride in Care
The service was working towards gaining accreditation from Pride in Care in order to avoid discrimination and recognise equality. After assessing staff knowledge staff received training to increase awareness of how to support people.
The management team highlighted awareness was significantly increased. A member of staff stated "It has been eye-opening for some of our junior members of staff who are used to openness about the subject, to learn how difficult life was for people some 60 years ago. It has taught staff to look at things differently and reflect on how we approach people."
Another member of staff stated, "It has made a difference to several people who now feel more relaxed to talk openly about their relationships, it has improved their wellbeing. All policies had been adapted to reflect the diversity of people's needs.
Read more about the service here.
Care provider: Landermeads Care Home
Date published: March 2020
Monthly training on equality and diversity to support and promote people's choice
The provider and staff embraced people's diversity and placed equal value on those with a protected characteristic as defined by the Equality Act 2010.
Monthly training covered multiple areas, such as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans human rights in care; dignity; challenging discrimination; and personalised care. One male at the service expressed a desire to wear female clothes. Staff supported him with his choice and accompanied him to shop and find his own unique style, something he had not been able to do freely at other placements.
Other people were not immediately accepting of the person's choices. Staff worked with people using easy read materials and house meetings to support them to better understand and respect other people's wishes. Staff told us this was a slow process but now the person can confidently be who they want to be.
Read more about the service here.
Care provider: Creative Support - Doncaster Personalised Services
Date published: February 2020
Introducing internal advocacy support
Since the last inspection, the provider had developed their internal advocacy service for people. There were now several people with lived experiences supporting people to speak up across the organisation. The person leading this was proud of what they’d achieved and welcomed the opportunity to share people's views and any concerns which had improved their experiences of the service.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: Consensus Community Support Limited
Date published: December 2019
Activities within a homecare setting
Arrangements for social activities were creative and innovative to meet people's individual needs and follow best practice guidance so people could lead as full a life as possible. Staff had intensive training in providing individual activities and reminiscence for people, and had access to a range of resources and guidance to enable them to do so.
The provider took a key role in the local community and was actively involved in building further links. They chaired and were members of local dementia groups and took part in dementia awareness week, which aims to increase people's understanding of dementia and provide support to anyone living with dementia or their families. The provider identified, through their knowledge of the local community, that more activities were needed for people living with dementia. They were involved in arranging a pilot music and movement workshop.
Read more about the service here.
Care provider: No Place Like Home
Date published: April 2019
Tiny noticeable things that make a difference
Part of the philosophy of the service was that it was the tiny noticeable things that made the difference to people's quality of life. Staff were encouraged to write down things that they’d done which had had a significant impact on people, and to reflect on how their actions had significantly impacted on people's quality of life.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: No Place Like Home
Date published: April 2019
Sexuality and relationships champion
The service had a sexuality and relationships champion who held a workshop that covered sex, relationships, friendships and LGBT to identify and break down barriers and ensure that staff know how to support people.
People celebrated events such as gay pride and had been to gay pride parades. Staff didn’t know people's sexual orientation and felt it was important to show people that whatever their sexual orientation, it’d be celebrated by them.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: SENSE - 89 Hastings Avenue
Date published: April 2019
A private car hire service to support independence
A homecare agency created their own private hire car service exclusively for people who need care and support, using fully wheelchair equipped vehicles staffed by carers who can provide support on trips if needed. This has improved the independence, life quality and safety of the people they support, and of people in the wider community.
Care provider: Anonymous
Date published: April 2018
Informing staff about needs and preferences
All staff members had access to a minority and ethnicity file which contained detailed information about a wide range of religious and cultural beliefs and traditions. It gave information about diet and food preparation, personal care needs, language and communication, death and dying. We saw people’s religious beliefs and practice was recorded and supported.
Care provider: Anonymous
Date published: April 2018
Observing personal preferences
One care worker observed a person enjoying holding and playing with car keys. It wasn’t possible for this person to safely be in possession of support worker car keys as there was a risk they’d be damaged.
The care worker spent time contacting local car dealerships to enquire if they had any spare key fobs they didn’t need, which they could provide to this person to enable them to seek enjoyment. One was sought and the person now could often be found carrying it around and playing with it in the home.
Care provider: Anonymous
Date published: April 2018
Working to create inclusive environments
A national care organisation and a university worked together on a project to create more LGBT inclusive environments in six care homes they ran in London. The provider arranged staff training, cultural safety and outreach support amongst other assistance. The success of the project contributed to the provider winning a community impact award.
Care provider: Anonymous
Date published: April 2018
Scheduling staff according to need
The homecare agency was caring for a man with dementia who had previously been held in a German prisoner of war camp. As the man’s condition regularly caused him to believe he was still in the camp, the service avoided providing care using their German member of staff.
Care provider: Anonymous
Date published: April 2018
Building knowledge to create an inclusive environment
We found our service users were often unaware of situations where they were being discriminated against.
By building knowledge and confidence, we’ve been able to build upon self-esteem, increase safety, promote social inclusion and encourage an environment where we are all equals who, despite differences, are all valued the same.
Care provider: Thistle Hill Hall (Debdale Specialist Care Ltd)
Date published: April 2018
Identifying where advocacy is needed
We work in partnership with care management to identify situations and scenarios which would benefit the person supported to receive an advocate.
Example 1 – A person supported had no known family members, so an advocate was requested to attend his reassessment/review meeting. Due to the person being deemed to lack capacity in most areas, the advocate has maintained contact and remained involved in the person’s life, providing an additional level of protection and support.
Example 2 – A person supported was estranged from his family at the time a decision regarding where he wanted to live was needed. Due to the importance and complexity of the decision, an advocate was requested to support the individual through the process, from the capacity assessment to moving home. The individual was supported to understand the legal process and his rights, as well as supporting his decision-making once it was determined that he had the capacity to choose where he wanted to live.
Read more about this provider here.
Care provider: City Care Partnership Ltd
Date published: April 2018
Developing guidance to support people with social engagements
Staff at a homecare agency supported people to access the community to achieve social and leisure goals, engaging in meaningful activity. The staff created effective 'social stories', providing staff with guidance on what worked with people and how to support them with social engagements.
Care provider: Anonymous
Date published: April 2018
Supporting identities and connecting to communities
The service has supported a man who wanted to explore his sexuality and being gay despite his family being opposed. The service helped connect the man to the local lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) community where he established good links and provided him with new opportunities into voluntary work.
Care provider: Creative Support Ltd
Date published: April 2018
Helping people feel normal when out in the community
Following feedback, we identified that the people we care for felt self-conscious when supported by staff in the community. We introduced a trial of non-uniform, which we’ve now fully adopted. The people we support provided feedback to us that this simple change helped them feel normal when out in their community. This in turn increased their community involvement, assisted in reducing stigma and labelling and gave people a new sense of self identity. Now, when people are out in public with staff, they merely look like two people out and about just as we all do.
Read more about the service here.
Care provider: Thistle Hill Hall (Debdale Specialist Care Ltd)
Date published: April 2018
Supporting people to develop relationships
The registered manager organised a 'dating night' where people could meet each other in the usual way, and start relationships if they wished and staff would support them with this. The agenda had identified actions needed for people's lives to improve in this way, such as supporting the safe use of social media, sexual awareness training, and networking with other organisations to seek advice and information.
Care provider: Anonymous
Date published: April 2018
Advocating advocacy
The service had invited Your Voice Advocacy to provide a weekly session where people who used the service could attend. This enabled people to gain independent advice and support if they required it, as well as encouraging people to speak out about things that matter to them.
Care provider: Anonymous
Date published: April 2018
Supporting people’s best interests
Each staff member is trained to support and review the best interests of each person supported. Being aware and open to issues relating to care and support enables us to actively participate in multidisciplinary meetings.
Should the person lack capacity, or where we feel additional support is required, we’ll request this from an advocacy service. We’ll gain this support via the local authority or a secondary source such as Age UK. Every person we support and care for has the right to make choices, and staff are trained to promote and evidence this throughout all aspects of daily living.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: Belong
Date published: April 2018
Why is supporting a personal relationship important for people living with dementia?
In this blog, Jacqui Ramus from St Monica Trust explains why it’s so important for people living with dementia to have meaningful personal relationships. She also talks about how adult social care workers and employers can support this.
“People who are living with dementia have the same basic, human need to have relationships with others. They can, however, have difficulty maintaining these relationships due to their memory loss.
“It’s important that staff support people living with dementia to build and maintain meaningful personal relationships. This can be as simple as hand holding or facilitating close relatives to play a part in the person’s care needs, if that’s what they wish to do.”
Click here to read the rest of the blog.
Read more about the service here.
Care provider: St Monica Trust
Date published: March 2018