Enter and view: The Leys Residential Care Home

Healthwatch Derbyshire conducted an announced Enter and View visit to The Leys, a 35 bed Residential Care Home, on 14 February 2014. For the purpose of this visit, Healthwatch Derbyshire wanted to observe ‘What good looks like’ within a care home setting.

The Leys was randomly selected, alongside 9 other Care Homes who had been awarded the Derbyshire County Council Bronze Dignity Award.

The Authorised Representatives observed that residents appear to have choice and control over how they live and appeared to have good relationships with staff. They noted a lively and busy feel to the home which reflects the number of activities and community involvement there seems to be. Relatives and friends were positive about the care, the welcome they received and their involvement in the running of the home. Relations with local community resources appeared good and are made good use of although relations with hospitals were clearly time consuming and could be difficult to negotiate. Parts of the home, e.g. corridors, look tired and institutional and uncertainty about the future of the home is disturbing residents, relatives and staff.

The report made four recommendations, including the need to improve relationships and processes around Hospital discharges back to the Home, Healthwatch Derbyshire also offered to assist in its statutory capacity with this particular issue.

There was no response to the recommendations contained within the report.