Healthwatch Kensington and Chelsea Enter & View Visit - Ellesmere House

Healthwatch Central West London (formerly Central West London) champions better standards of care in health and social care services. Their Dignity Champions are volunteers recruited from the local community who work to improve standards of dignity in health and social care services. This report presents the findings of the Dignity Champions’ visit to Ellesmere House. The House is situated in the royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea and is run by Care UK Community Partnerships Ltd. Healthwatch CWL last visited Ellesmere House in February 2020. The Enter and View visit to Ellesmere House was conducted as part of Healthwatch Kensington & Chelsea’s ongoing work on access to, and provision of, health and social care services in Kensington & Chelsea.

The Dignity Champions concluded that Ellesmere House works smoothly and does things well. Management is strong, visible and supportive to staff. There is a generally a good standard of care by staff. Residents have good access to health care and the use of a regular Multi-Disciplinary-Team meeting greatly adds to this. The environment is clean. The food is good, and suited to resident’s needs, and Ellesmere House should be commended for preparing the food on-site.

However, the report also details a few areas in which Ellesmere does not meet the Independent Age eight Care Home Quality Indicators of a good care home, and there were some issues relating to the environment of the care home. The report provides recommendations on each of these points.