The examples below provide insight into how other Good or Outstanding rated services are succeeding in this area of inspection.
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Supporting people to regain their independence
The service worked closely with people to achieve the goals that mattered most to them, supporting recovery through personalised, strengths-based care. One person, who was very frail when they moved into the home, described how staff listened to their wishes, explained their care and patiently encouraged them to regain their independence at their own pace. With consistent support, they successfully gained weight, no longer needed prompts to eat and drink, and achieved their personal goal of walking independently without the use of a walking aid. Reflecting on their journey, they said, “I am a [person] who has regained their strength, mobility and connection to the people I love.” This demonstrated the positive impact of person-centred care focused on individual outcomes.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: Eastside Gardens
Date published: June 2026
Creating a ‘Have your say’ day
The service planned a “Have your say” day to give people a greater voice in how the service was run and developed. Rather than relying on formal meetings, the event was designed as an informal, welcoming occasion with games, food, drinks and accessible information to help people feel relaxed and comfortable sharing their views. People would have the opportunity to spend time with other people using the service, managers and directors, encouraging open conversations about their experiences and ideas for improvement. This inclusive approach aimed to remove barriers to participation and ensure people could influence the future development of the service in a way that suited their communication needs and preferences.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: ASD Support LTD
Date published: June 2026
Inclusive, celebratory, feedback-responsive care
The provider was exceptional at enabling people to share feedback and ideas, or raise complaints about their care, treatment and support. Staff always involved people in decisions about their care and told them what had changed as a result. People felt listened to. Some people had expressed a preference for larger baths in their apartments to better support their comfort, dignity, and relaxation. The provider listened and responded promptly, ensuring these adaptations were made. This demonstrated a clear commitment to personalised care and to enhancing people’s daily experiences. People received regular feedback surveys, to give feedback about their care. People also received monthly reviews with their key workers and people were involved in activity planning. People had recently celebrated autism week and had been involved with formulating information for people, this celebrated people’s diverse needs and gave people information which helped others understand them. This was shared with people using and visiting the service. People had also celebrated key dates throughout the year, such as VE day, Chinese New Year, learning disability week and mental health day. A staff member said, “People that live here are all different, if anyone is in crisis, we do different things to keep people safe. We talk to them, the main thing is to talk to people, if people are low we try and cheer them up. I know different people’s likes and dislikes.”
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: Woodways
Date published: July 2025
Compassionate, responsive, feedback-driven care
The provider was exceptional at enabling people to share feedback and ideas, or raise complaints about their care, treatment and support. Staff always involved people in decisions about their care and told them what had changed as a result. People felt listened to, by staff who were compassionate and knew them well. A staff member said, “Person centred care means we adapt care to meet each person’s specific needs and preferences.” People had opportunities to feedback about their care, and changes were made in response to this. For example, 1 person was concerned about their garden and keeping the garden tidy, staff sourced a gardener for this person to support them. Another person's relatives told us staff assisted their loved one with their household bills and this had helped them. Complaints and concerns were effectively recorded, actioned and responded to. A professional told us, “I have observed staff giving options and choices, effective listening skills, adaptable approach to help service users and their families to express their views, wishes. Service users and family members acknowledged their good service.”
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: First Support Care
Date published: May 2025
Individualised, goal-oriented, accessible information
The provider were exceptional at developing appropriate, accurate and up-to-date information in formats that were tailored to individual needs. The provider ensured people were supported to access the services they required in a timely way and worked with professionals to reach their optimum goals. People had easy to read hospital passports which gave information that was important for hospital staff to know about them. This included religious needs, what people's preferred name was, gender, important people, pets, and important things such as, 1 person has a distinct laugh and may bite their wrist when in pain. Leaders and staff assisted people to access communication aids as required. For example, 1 person was referred to a company who specialised in information technology. The purpose of this was to complete an assessment of the person’s needs to support their access to education, communication and leisure.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: Resurgence Case Management Limited
Date published: April 2025
Engaged, transparent, relationship-centred communication
The provider made it easy for people to share feedback and ideas, or raise complaints about their care, treatment and support. Staff involved people in decisions about their care and told them what had changed as a result. The home held regular resident and relative meetings and always took time to listen and talk to people, feedback was important. Staff knew people well by listening to them and getting to know them, staff had excellent repour with people and this was observed when we visited the home. One staff member told us, “We get to know people’s families well too. That’s often the best way to learn about the people living here.” Another staff member told us: “I’d help someone complain if they wanted to, it’s their right to complain.” People and relatives told us how impressed they were with the communication, updates and feedback. They always felt heard, involved and included in daily decisions.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: Fairdene Lodge
Date published: March 2025
Family matters group drawing on ideas from relatives
In this one-minute audio clip from the Care Exchange podcast, Hayley Taylor talks about how their transparent and person-centred approach to listening involves a family matters group with relatives.
You can listen to the full podcast here. Access our whole Care Exchange series here.
Read more about this service here
Care provider: Avenues South East
Date published: January 2023
Using chatterboxes to build meaningful relationships and interactions
The provider was always striving to improve through ongoing evaluation of care. They identified that sometimes staff were not fully interacting with people and discovered that most staff simply didn't have the confidence or skill to start conversations about simple day to day things or if they did, the conversations soon ran dry.
The concept of 'Chatterbox' was born, a bright, colourful box full of simple questions, put together by people that supported the team to start easy and meaningful conversations. During staff handover, staff took a card, read their question and committed to ask every person they care for that day the question.
Staff and relatives were asked to sign to pledge to 'build meaningful relationships' with people to break down barriers and they received a badge and certificate in recognition of their commitment. The cards were refreshed regularly to ensure the conversations kept flowing. People, staff and relatives embraced the concept and they had meaningful interactions.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: Byron House Care Home
Date published: January 2023
Supporting people around their loss of communication fears
The service had taken innovative steps to support people to be able to express their needs, views and wishes. For example, a staff member worked closely with a person and identified the person was particularly fearful of losing their ability to verbally communicate due to a health condition.
This staff member went above and beyond to find ways the person could continue to express themselves and communicate. The staff member researched facial exercises and these exercises became a part of the persons everyday routine The staff member and person successfully learned some basic sign language together and looked at ways to communicate through the written word, poetry and art.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: Right at Home - Isle of Wight
Date published: November 2022
Treating all concerns and complaints seriously
Complaints and concerns are a part of life and should be embraced. If presented constructively, these issues can really help you to make the service better. The best way to grow is to learn from critical feedback.
We have to accept that nothing will ever be perfect; what works for one person and makes them happy and content could cause another person upset. There are so many problems that can arise from ignoring or not dealing with complaints in the hope that the person goes away.
These matters can be a big deal to the person who raised the complaint. That’s why it’s so important to take things seriously and make the appropriate adjustments.
If you want to be a good and outstanding manager, you should be willing to seek criticism and feedback.
It should be important that you know what you’re doing wrong or where your service can be improved. This will help the manager to develop their own skills in managing concerns and complaints effectively, which will often mean drawing on the wider staff team.
Working together with the people who raised the complaint and others in your organisation dedicated to improvements can help you to strengthen the quality of care provided.
Finding an acceptable resolution will often not just benefit the person who raised the original complaint, but often many other people you support.
Read more about this service here.
Care provider: Castleford House Nursing Home
Date published: October 2021