Enter and view: Elm Park Lodge

Healthwatch Barnet’s team of volunteers conducted an announced Enter and View (E&V) visit, on 19th September, 2016 to Elm Park Lodge as part of their planned strategy to look at the quality of care in the local nursing homes.

Overall the team found Elm Park Lodge to have a good standard of care, with staff and residents having a good relationship but was let down by the poor decorative and unkept state in some parts of the home. According to the report, there were 27 people that were either experiencing or recovering from mental health conditions, residing in Elm Park Lodge. The report highlights poor hygiene where some rooms were in a tired and worn state, especially one room had a dirty floor and unpleasant smell and was in need of redecorating. The E&V team noted an open dustbin in the kitchen and an almost empty fridge which they were told was because most of the food supplies are kept locked in the basement.

However, residents thought of staff as ‘friendly’ or ‘good’. They described the food as ‘ok’ or ‘not bad’. Personalised activities were regularly arranged for residents including religious and spiritual ones.

The manager informed the team that most of the staff find working there enjoyable as it is a “homely atmosphere”. However, the Healthwatch team felt there was a shortage of staff on weekends especially for cleaning purposes.

The report makes the following recommendations: redecoration around the home to improve it’s standards, more regular and better cleaning to be done, rooms to look more homely, review the timings of the Service User Survey, the care plan should be better explained to the residents and make sure there is enough physical activities and a good standard of catering to be available on weekends.

The Manager responded that they have already refurbished several bedrooms and bathrooms. They also plan to put in place a more robust cleaning schedule.

Though some issues, such as the unpleasant smell coming from the bedroom, can be a result of poor hygiene habits of some of the service users who suffer from mental health problems and may not always be cooperative in cleaning. The Manager also clarified that in some cases the residents don’t sign their care plans, but the care home tries it’s best to keep them involved in their care planning. The Manager also commented on how the activities are organised and the hot meals are provided daily for the residents.

At the second visit, carried out on 24th November, 2016, the team found some of the rooms freshly painted with improved decor and plans for the communal areas to be redecorated and improved.

According to the Manager, the open bin in the kitchen, does have a lid, but as the bin was in use at that time, the lid wasn't on. The Manager expressed her desire to make Elm Park Lodge the best that it can be with the help of Healthwatch Barnet.