Care home life: what it's really like! Ashlea Lodge Care Home

The ‘Care home life – What it’s really like!’ visit took place on the 15th January 2019 and was carried out by Healthwatch Sunderland staff who are trained so that they can effectively capture the resident’s experience.

At the time of our visit there were 27 residents living in the home. Due to the capacity of the majority of the residents, the Healthwatch team were only able to support 2 residents to fully complete the survey. The team received 6 staff and 4 relative surveys back.

The main findings were:

The manager was visible within the care home, provided good leadership to staff and had the right experience for the job.

There was both positive and negative feedback about the training, motivation and resources of staff.

Staff were familiar with resident’s histories and preferences and had processes in place for how to monitor changes in health and wellbeing.

The home didn’t provide a wide range of activities for in the home and didn’t support residents in taking part in activities outside the home.

Residents were offered a good range of meal choices and those that might struggle to eat and drink including between mealtimes were given adequate support to do this.

Residents were as able to promptly see a health professional as they would have when living in their own home.

There was both positive and negative feedback about the home’s ability to meet residents cultural, religious and lifestyle needs as well as their care needs.

The home had adequate systems for residents and relatives to influence what happens in the home and had a clear complaints procedure.

It was clear that the care home was suitable for their resident’s needs.