Enter and view: Care Homes scheme

NHS Sussex Integrated Care Board (ICB) commissioned Healthwatch East Sussex  to carry out a pilot project to obtain feedback from residents in care homes about their access to healthcare and support services.

This is a pilot project, to test out how feedback can be effectively obtained from residents of care homes. The intention is for the project to be rolled out over a wider area and involving more care homes. The aim was to carry out Enter and View visits to ten care homes across East Sussex. However, one visit had to be cancelled due to a COVID outbreak in the care home.

The conclusions of the feedback from residents included:

Residents felt that they were at the centre of their care and support. There was a mixed response to whether they had a care plan, with many being unsure of this, whereas others were very aware and had been involved in it. For the vast majority of residents, the issue of having a care plan was not significant to them.

Residents felt they could meet with healthcare professionals in private and that confidentiality would be maintained. Most residents said they had met with a healthcare professional and that this had been helpful. Apart from those few residents who needed regular nursing input, the healthcare professional most often named as seen by residents was the paramedic practitioner.

The response about the involvement of healthcare professionals was more positive when the person visited the care home and carried out face o face meetings. The healthcare professional in those establishments was known by residents, often by their first name.

Linked with the above, where feedback was obtained from care home staff, this was more positive when the healthcare professional was a regular visitor to the care home rather than weekly meetings being by phone.

Residents were confident that relevant people knew about their wishes, should their health deteriorate.

 Residents stated that they had not used technical devices (e.g. iPad, mobiles etc.) to access healthcare, with the exception of one resident who had regular video calls with her psychiatrist.

It was unclear whether residents’ medication had been regularly reviewed in a formal sense. Residents feedback was that their medication had changed, but it was unclear whether this was due to an annual review or just that their health had changed and medication had been reviewed accordingly. Few residents were aware of a weekly meeting between healthcare professionals. Those residents who were aware, knew this because someone visited the care home on a weekly basis.

Residents were positive about their care at the care home. Residents knew what to do if they needed assistance.

Any future survey for residents needs to refer to wider health issues such as dentists, audiology, chiropodist and podiatrists so that a more holistic assessment of whether health and care needs are being met can be determined.

Eight recommendations were made, mostly related to suggestions for any future rollout of the project.