Enter and view: Summary report of 2017/18 Care Home Enter and View visits

In March 2018, Healthwatch Salford published a summary report that pulled together the findings of the 16 Enter and view visits made between June 2017 and March 2018.

Across 16 visits there were 87 recommendations made, with corresponding responses from the home. The themes from these recommendations were:

• Care plans

• Staffing levels

• Staff training and support

• Environment

• Information and accessibility

• Food

• Activities

• Procedure

• Maintenance

Healthwatch Salford found that practice and standards varied and were often inconsistent across the different homes, but this was not surprising when factoring in staffing issues and turnover of managers, with at least 7 out of the 16 homes having different managers from the time Healthwatch Salford started the project to the time the visits were conducted.

The report makes some further recommendations drawn from the common themes but focusses on the areas of good practice that residents, their families and carers, and staff said had, or would, make a difference to their experience of their Care Home.

The report illustrates that effective, caring and responsive managers make all the difference, whether new or in post for many years, and often expect, manage and support care home staff to demonstrate these qualities too, with positive impacts on quality of care. The further recommendations also suggest ways to improve on things that may already be being done well, such as: invite and involve other activity professionals and entertainers to organise activities within the home, bringing the community to the home, which encourages residents to get involved in activities and interests that they used to do before they came to the home.

The report also reflects on Healthwatch Salford's own practice and provides a summary of their own learning in relation to this programme of work.