Enter and view: The Firs Nursing Home, Somerset
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This is an Enter and View report by Healthwatch Somerset to the Firs Nursing home on 24th March 2015 by 5 authorised representatives.
The Firs Nursing Home is owned by ‘Care West Country’. It can accommodate up to 40 residents and there were 38 residents living here at the time of visit. The Nursing Home is situated on the outskirts of Taunton. The Enter & View team spoke to staff and residents. No visitors were available to talk to at the time of visit. All residents the HWS team spoke with were happy with the service they received and several noted that the staff were kind and caring. Some of the residents said that they wished they could get out and about more often and several residents said that they enjoyed the activities. A number of good practices were noted. Recommendations were made to help the service make further improvements but on the whole, these are suggestions for consideration based on good practices noted at other homes. Staff that we spoke with said they were happy to be working there and received good training.
The Healthwatch Somerset team came to the following conclusions:
Conclusions
Residents we spoke with seemed happy with the care they received. Staff were observed to treat residents with dignity and respect and the staff we spoke with seemed happy working at the Firs. The environment appeared to meet the needs of the residents and the lack of ensuite facilities in some rooms was not raised as an issue. Improvements to the environment can be made by consulting with ‘Action on Hearing Loss’ as recommended. Some residents said they would like to be able to get out and about to go shopping or visit friends but were unable to do so as they had no family available to support them.
Overall the Enter and View team was impressed with the service offered at the Firs Nursing Home and grateful to the Manager for sharing the issues they experience in liaising with health services which has helped to inform Healthwatch Somerset of issues that exist for health and social care services in Somerset.