Enter and view: Princess Louise

Healthwatch Central West London conducted an enter and view visit to Princess Louise Nursing home, providing care to frail elderly people and people living with dementia, on 17th March and 14th June 2017, as part of their ‘Dignity Champions’ visits with the aim to improve people’s experiences of health and social care.

Princess Louise which was run by Sanctuary Care Homes, had received a CQC report of ‘requires attention’ in January 2017. An introductory meeting with the Manager and a Healthwatch member of staff was conducted in January 2017 prior to the Dignity Champion visits.

During both visits HW found the staff to be caring and respectful of the residents. There was huge range in the level of care required by residents from those who required one to one care to those who were still able to maintain a much greater degree of independence. Most feedback that was received was around the food and lack of on-site kitchen. The home is well supported with a twice weekly routine visit from a GP. The environment was clean and tidy with clear accessible signage. The Dignity Champions were also pleased to see Memory Lane and ‘booths’ dedicated to various moments in time on the floor occupied by residents living with dementia.

The Dignity Champions found that the vast majority of residents at Princess Louise were happy with their care. The attitude of the staff was caring and the residents were treated with dignity and respect but the range in the level of care required meant that staff were not always able to spend one to one time with residents whose needs were not as acute as other residents (eg finding time to take them outside). The home was led by an enthusiastic Manager who was keen to build a cohesive and responsive team. She recognised benefits that an on-site kitchen would bring to the home and will be working with Sanctuary Care around this. The Manager is keen to work with the local community (including Voluntary Organisations) to ensure that they know about the home. She asked HW to publicise open days in the future and the offer of the use of a room for local community groups. She welcomed the opportunity of working more closely with Healthwatch over the coming months and invited Healthwatch and Dignity Champions to attend meetings with staff and residents.

Recommendations made by HW included using volunteers to supplement the staff, reassess the time scales and feasibility of an onsite kitchen, support residents with no families, continue to build links with local community and work towards supporting the needs of all the residents to ensure personal choice is maintained.