Enter and view: New Park House

Healthwatch Stoke-on-Trent conducted an enter and view visit on New Park house, a privately run care home which provides care and accommodation for 72 residents, delivering both residential and nursing care.

Healthwatch Stoke-on-Trent, in partnership with the City Council, has introduced a 'Dignity and Respect Charter' which applies to every resident receiving care. The visit is to assess how this is perceived by both residents and staff.

Observations of the Enter and View representatives included:

- Members noted posters on notice boards that mentioned dignity and respect for which there is a member of staff who is champion.

- The standard of repair varies across the establishment. For example, while communal seating areas are clean and well kept, some places in corridors have carpets which need replacing and are held together with duct tape. There are older items and features deliberately kept to aid reminiscence. First floor nursing could do with some updating.

- Residents had photographs of themselves and something of their personality at the entrance to their rooms.

Healthwatch Stoke-on-Trent made 4 recommendations in the report:

- A suggestion would be to build upon the work already done through the residents meeting by tracking outcomes and promoting the success of this through ‘you said, we did’. As this appears to be the main means of patient feedback, it could be more widely promoted.

- Although there is a dignity and respect champion, there is no reference to the Stoke-on-Trent Dignity and Respect Charter. Healthwatch Stoke-on-Trent could supply literature to assist in this and could deliver a presentation describing it to residents or staff.

- There are some areas of the building that need updating and attention is brought to the condition of the carpets, particularly in the corridors which may cause problems.

- Healthwatch Stoke-on-Trent believes that New Park should be improved, regarding (perceived) staffing levels and state of repair of the

Home.

There is a proposal to re-visit New Park early in 2017 to see which, if any, recommendations have been implemented.

The report does not include a response from the provider.