Enter and view: Gwendoline House Care Home, South Gloucestershire

This is an Enter and view report from Healthwatch South Gloucestershire following visit to the residential care home Gwendoline House on Thursday 10th November 2015. The three authorised representatives made the following conclusions and recommendations:

This E&V visit found a warm, friendly home with a very strong family atmosphere. There was much to commend. All comments from residents were positive and staff were friendly and very professional in their manner. Residents appeared relaxed and happy. There appeared to be a lot of mutual respect between staff and residents. The home is flexible in tailoring its care to suit each resident’s needs and offers residents choice around what and where they eat, where they spend their time, what activities they take part in, when they get up and go to bed, and whether they have a bath or a shower. Staff expressed pride in the care they were able to give. Long term staffing meant that the residents knew the staff well. The use of volunteers to support residents’ activities was commendable. The deputy manager has close links with other registered care home managers and networks closely with other care homes to keep Gwendoline House’s care up to date, and bring in fresh ideas.

Authorised enter and view representatives identified a few ways that Gwendoline House Care Home could improve the lived experience of care for its residents. We recommend that:

• staff wear different colour aprons when serving food to prevent accidentally wearing the same apron as when providing personal care to residents;

• staff wear disposable gloves when serving food;

• management continues to network and maintain links with other care homes to keep ideas fresh;

• management arranges the cleaning of communal carpets;

• management consider introducing some meaningful activities for men, like a newspaper group or gardening club.