Enter and view: Agnes and Arthur Care Home

Healthwatch Stoke-on-Trent conducted an enter and view visit on Agnes and Arthur Care Home, a privately run care home in Bradeley, which provides care and accommodation for up to 44 residents, specialising in dementia (diagnosed before entry), mental health and short stay residents.

Healthwatch Stoke-on-Trent, in partnership with the City Council, has introduced a 'Dignity and Respect Charter' which applies to every resident receiving care. The visit is to assess how this is perceived by both residents and staff.

Observations of the Enter and View representatives included:

- The Care Home appears to comply with the Respect and Dignity Charter although there was little evidence of the charter being on view for residents and staff. The home does use the ‘This is me’ leaflet.

- Staff also expressed that they too are treated with respect and dignity from management. And some said that they felt supported by managers and the care assistants felt supported by the seniors.

- Residents have activities such as a weekly karaoke session, bingo, visiting entertainers (according to budget), occasional visits from a ‘therapy’ dog and a monthly Service from Swan Bank Methodist Church

Healthwatch Stoke-on-Trent made 2 recommendations in the report:

 Healthwatch appreciates the significant difficulties surrounding trying to obtain a ‘retained’ GP to undertake regular fortnightly visits, but feels the Home must continue in its’ efforts to achieve this. Consistency would be of considerable benefit to the wellbeing of residents.

 We feel the Home should allocate a realistic budget to allow the Activities coordinator to continue to provide a range of activities.

The budget need not be large, but activities should not be only achievable via funding from fundraising activities. This was an area

we felt required resolving for the home management and owner as the activity coordinator currently has no budget.

The report does not include a response from the provider.