Enter and View: Gracefields Care Home

Healthwatch South Gloucestershire conducted an enter and view visit on Gracefields care home, a privately run care home in Bristol, which provides care and accommodation for 50 residents - 27 general nursing and 23 dementia residents.

Healthwatch South Gloucestershire undertook an enter and view revisit to Gracefields Care Home in March 2017, with the purpose of finding out if any changes have been made in light of the recommended findings from an enter and view visit in January 2015.

Observations of the Enter and View representatives included:

- The chef was very impressive with her knowledge and enthusiasm. Two menus are on offer every day with other items being available on request. All special dietary needs are catered for with a very thorough approach to keeping foods separate and avoiding allergy contamination

- Meetings with relatives are held every couple of months. Meetings with residents had been tried, but had not been well attended or seen as useful by the residents who felt free to talk to staff at any time and did not need a formal meeting.

- We were told that the home is currently fully staffed and that recruitment for replacements as necessary is carried out very promptly by

head office. The home does not use agency staff except as a last resort.

Healthwatch South Gloucestershire made no recommendations in the report:

They did however conclude that "Gracefields is an impressive and attractive home with excellent facilities. Most of the issues that Healthwatch raised before have been addressed and there was little to find fault with. Better intergenerational links with local schools or community groups would be the one area where they could do more."

The report does not include a response from the provider.