Enter and View: Westport Care Centre, Tower Hamlets
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Healthwatch Tower Hamlets conducted an announced Enter and View visit to Westport Care Centre on the recommendation of LBTH Adult Social Care Commissioning Team, on 21st September, 2016.
Westport Care Centre is a 44-bed purpose built home for people living with dementia or needing personal care. It had 41 residents at the time of the visit, (26 out of the 41 had Dementia or early onset).
Healthwatch team found Westport to be well managed, with a hands-on manager that seemed to have the resident’s best interest at heart. The residents seemed happy in the care home environment and well cared for.
HW team collected feedback from 3 residents and 2 carers.
It was generally very difficult to gather residents’ feedback on the care they receive as majority of the residents are dementia sufferers. Representatives observed that residents looked happy, appeared clean, well dressed and seemed to be engaged well by staff on a one to one basis as well as in a group
The residents commented that they liked living at Westport as they got everything done for them and felt that the environment is sociable plus the staff are nice, caring and take time to talk to them.
Carers feedback was also very positive, the two carers spoke glowingly about the Home Manager. They also commented positively on the overall care home, and they felt that Westport is staffed well and feels homely (family atmosphere). They did mention that the staff could organise more activities for residents.
Recommendations made by HW staff were:
- To develop a ‘structured activities’ programme/timetable that will ensure staff are actively thinking about how to keep residents engaged which will help tackle loneliness and isolation.
- The garden area should have a ‘designated smoking area’, which is away from the central areas of the garden.
- To improve the image/appearance of the outside of the building (front and back), that the owners should repaint and restore the wood cladding areas.
The provider responded to these recommendations saying a ‘structured program’ is too restrictive and said the care home is not a prison and they would like the residents to feel free to come and go as they please.