Enter and View: Wrottesley Park House Care Home

Healthwatch Wolverhampton report following a visit to the Wrottesley Park House Care Home, located on Wergs Road in Wolverhampton. It currently utilises the ground floor with 59 en-suite beds. The home provides both nursing and residential specialist care for young adults, including those challenging behaviour, physical and/or learning disabilities.

The visit was part of Healthwatch Wolverhampton’s quality monitoring. Wrottesley Park House was made aware that there would be a visit by Healthwatch, but no specific date was given.

Key findings

• Environment and atmosphere: The home felt welcoming, was bright and airy with pleasant communal areas designated for different purposes, however it did have a constant call bell (alarm) system going off which we all felt was excessively loud and intrusive. The temperature of the home was very warm. Some equipment was stored along corridors and in rooms, for example, hoists, but these were not in the way. There were no unpleasant odours.
• Clocks: Healthwatch noticed some clocks were hard to read due to the colours, small numbering, or due to the numbers being in Roman Numerals. One clock was not working.
• Visitors: Residents get visitors and know they can come at any time and have somewhere private to be with them.
• Activities: Healthwatch saw the residents engaged in a range of activities. Staff get involved in activities, outings and games.
• Dining: The Manager would like to get higher tables in the Diner to accommodate wheelchairs, so all residents can sit together there. We noticed residents who could not eat solid food, waited a while to be assisted. Healthwatch observed a lot of food was left unfinished; it looked overcooked and dry. Residents were encouraged to stay hydrated; Healthwatch saw squash at drinking stations available around the home to help themselves to.
• The garden: There is a garden area around the building, so every resident has access to outdoors off their room. Some had personalised the area with help from relatives. There was not a visible communal lawn for outdoor activities however Healthwatch told there is a space for this just out of sight and is currently being worked on.
• Challenging behaviour: Healthwatch were told some residents regularly have verbal altercations with each other and recently a fight broke out between residents which frightened other residents on the unit. Residents told Healthwatch that the Manager addressed the issue immediately and has since been managing the situation successfully.
• Staff: All the residents and staff that Healthwatch spoke to spoke highly of the Service Manager and reported that she is approachable, hands on and had made good improvements since joining the home. Overall feedback was that staff were fair, that they respect residents and were supportive and interested in residents. Residents can choose a male or female carer, if there are enough staff on. It was reported that night time staffing is often short staffed and this affects standard of care.
• Service user voice and engagement: Residents said they used to have a residents’ meeting and would like to reinstate them. Healthwatch noticed a ‘You Say We Did’ record on the wall that showed how they have been listening to resident views. The Manager likes to speak to residents as she goes round and would like to have resident’s ambassadors.