Member Article

Marchwood care home manager praised for creating an ‘empowering and inclusive culture’ in CQC report.

A Marchwood care home has been praised for creating an ‘empowering and inclusive culture’ following a recent visit by healthcare inspectors.

Oaklands Rest Home on Veal’s Lane, a 29-bed home providing specialist dementia care, was rated ‘good’ following an inspection by Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Inspectors highlighted the ‘friendly atmosphere’ and found residents and their families were included in making decisions on their care.

One relative told inspectors : “In my experience, the staff know the residents individually, they are caring and sensitive and they take the time to talk to my mum. They know her well and this includes her likes and dislikes.”

Other relatives commented they felt the service was constantly striving for improvement and they would recommend the home to others. “Home from home,” one said, “I couldn’t recommend it higher”.

Resident care was described as promoting ‘privacy, dignity and independence’, with preferred daily routines and individual requirements forming a central part of care plans.

Inspectors also highlighted residents were ‘supported to have maximum choice and control’ of their lives and staff supported them in the ‘least restrictive way possible and in their best interests’.

The home were also visited by Sir Julian Lewis, Conservative MP for New Forest East, after the publication of the report.

Care home manager Nicola Ray, who was praised for promoting an ‘open, empowering and inclusive culture’ at the home, was delighted with the findings of the inspection.

“It has been a tough few years for everyone working in the care sector and I am immensely proud of the hard work and effort of our whole team to achieve this rating,” she said.

“This report shows how compassionate and dedicated they are to providing the best quality of personalised care for all of our residents and we are all committed to continuing improving and enhancing our service for our residents.”

When the inspectors from the CQC visited the home, they found staff were supported in gaining relevant knowledge and skills through an on-going programme of training, supervision and appraisal.

Matilda Cranston’s great-grandmother, Beryl, was a former resident at Oaklands and the care she received there was part of the reason Matilda took on a volunteer role at the home.

She said: “The staff at Oaklands treated her and our family with care and compassion and were dedicated to giving her quality of life and dignity.”

Inspectors also sought the views of the staff during their visit. The report details how staff spoke positively about the ‘supportive leadership and culture within the service’, and noted that a member of the team commented they’d “never been so happy in a job”.

The home is graded ‘good’ in all five inspections categories: safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.

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