Enter and View: The Willows care home

The purpose of this Enter and View programme was to engage with residents, their relatives, or carers, to explore their overall experience of living in The Willows care home. As well as building a picture of their general experience, we asked about experiences in relation to social isolation and physical activity.

Summary

The Willows care home is a purpose-built care home on a residential housing estate. It is registered to provide personal, nursing and dementia care for a maximum of 130 residents. At the time of our visit there were 112 residents at the home. Refurbishment of the main 130-bedroom home is almost complete.

What we found

Family members told us they felt that their loved ones were well cared for, safe, and were treated with dignity and respect by staff. Residents accepted the routines that are set by the Willows however, it would appear there is not a lot of flexibility, or discussion, with residents about what they would prefer.

Residents who needed assistance with mobility, and their families, told us that their requests for help to move from their bed to a chair were often met with a dismissive ‘I’ll be back in a minute’ or ‘you’ll have to wait’ from staff.

We have observed this across a number of care settings and take this opportunity to remind care home staff that most of their residents would only have been around 10 years old at the end of WWII, so this music is not going to be the music of their youth. Another theme that we are seeing more of, as more men enter care homes, is that the male residents tell us they don’t feel particularly included in the activities and that the type of activity offered is aimed more at the women in the home.

What people told us:

“Staff are great, they really help us to join in and encourage us.”

"Good [food] choices, well prepared and always nice and hot."

Our recommendations include:

• Providing a fuller description of the activities, especially on the timetables delivered to bedrooms, would give residents more certainty and may encourage them to take part.
• We heard that some residents feel staff can be a little abrupt in the way they respond to requests. While this maybe related to residents not understanding the regulations that staff must adhere to, it is up to the care home to find a solution to this delicate situation, as discussed with the Management Team

We found these examples of best practice:

• The care home has an oral hygiene program as part of its regular care plan for each resident.
• This programme includes hydration, food and, if required, finding a dentist that will make visits to the care home. Staff were observed to take the time to have one to one interactions with residents, and to remember people’s names

Response

We would like to thank the staff at The Willows for their detailed and well-considered response to our recommendations.