Enter and view: Victoria Mews Care Home

Healthwatch Coventry undertook an Enter and View visit to Victoria Mews care home on 2 February 2023 as part of a planned programme of work to assess how care homes meet the needs of their residents. They spoke to 3 staff, 8 residents and 3 family members.

Victoria Mews is a purpose-built home on one level and is part of the HC1 Organisation. There are plans for a refurbishment as the building needs updating. The environment and furnishings were of a mixed standard. The communal areas were clean and light. The temperature in some parts of the home was too hot. Healthwatch reported a couple of maintenance concerns during the visit.

The home environment followed dementia friendly design principles. They follow Professor Graham Stoke’s dementia model, whereby staff are specially trained to care and understand the individual living with dementia, their needs, and aspirations.

The residents the Healthwatch team spoke to were happy living at Victoria Mews. Healthwatch observed positive interaction between residents and care staff. The atmosphere was calm around the building.

There were person centred approaches to care. The management team have implemented a daily ‘flash meeting’ initiative with reps from all areas coming together enabling them to pick up on any concerns and deal directly with them. Also using this as a form of quality assurance.

There are a range of initiatives to support residents’ health. Staff use E-meds for administering medication, and the home uses the RESTORE2 tool1 to spot the early signs of deterioration in a resident. GP support to the home is described as working well. Staff receive training on oral health. Chiropodists visit regularly. The manager informed Healthwatch that all residents have recently had a hearing test - although some choose to not wear their hearing aids, and some residents have not seen a Dentist.

Healthwatch heard a positive example in the use of the ‘Docobo’ system2, which is a remote patient system, whereby staff complete daily observations on the residents. This meant a resident being treated and diagnosed with a health concern swiftly. Food quality was good, and residents have a menu choice. Activities were available with the implementation of wellbeing activity coordinators and a schedule of planned daily activities across seven days.

Staff were mainly happy and felt supported with many being a part of Victoria Mews for several years. A concern was highlighted about the ratio of staff at night, and this linked to some comments from residents about security at night.

The report contains four recommendations and a response from the provider to the report.