It's my home

Healthwatch South Tyneside reflect on the overall findings from their most recent set of enter and view visits of care homes.  They spoke to 51 people.

As the eight individual reports demonstrate, the vast majority of residents and relatives/friends who spoke to Healthwatch Enter and View team and/or completed the questionnaire were very happy with the care they received. 

Staff clearly work hard and demonstrate a caring attitude towards the residents they support, who have a wide range of needs. The efforts made to ensure the people in their care had as fulfilling a life as possible ranged from a holiday to Egypt to a chef described as a ‘lovely man’ who always tried to accommodate residents’ personal preferences at mealtimes. 

Healthwatch saw various examples of good practice which we felt could be shared with other specialist care homes in the borough – nice touches such as photos of current and past residents on display at North View and Wallace Mews taking residents out to hairdressers rather than having them come to the home.

In addition, Healthwatch felt some homes achieved a particularly good rapport between staff and residents as detailed in the individual reports. There were one or two issues with pre-arranged visits where either key staff or residents were not available, which necessitated return visits.

 Recommendations in individual reports include improved communication with residents, a little more warmth in the décor and ensuring where possible residents have a full understanding of their care plan.