Care home gets ‘good’ mark for its recovery
STAFF and managers who have worked tirelessly through the pandemic are celebrating after inspectors recognised key improvements at a care home.
The Hollies Nursing and Residential Home in Clayton-le-Moors, has been awarded a ‘Good’ rating by the Care Quality Commission, after inspectors acknowledged a new management team had helped deliver important changes.
The previous rating for the service, published in May 2019, was ‘Requires improvement’.
The Church Street home, which has not seen any Covid-19 cases, was inspected on September 3, when there were 28 residents.
Its overall rating of Good is comprised of five different categories. However, the latest report was focused on whether the provider had followed their action plan and to confirm if they now met legal requirements in the key questions of how safe and well-led the home was. Both of these have now been rated as Good, leading to the upgraded overall score.
Manager Charlotte Pardon took over as manager during lockdown and is delighted with the turnaround, particularly improving the leadership rating in spite of challenges posed by the pandemic. She saluted the efforts of her staff, including the senior team Glen Britton, Marie Bewley, Lesley Wilkinson, and Abbie Arnfield, as well as deputy manager Natalie Walsh.
Charlotte said: “We have changed the rating around in the middle of a pandemic. It’s been very difficult for me because I’ve not been able to meet relatives and residents because of this. Natalie is a very strong character in that home. We have put a lot of effort into turning around the rating.”
Care home staff have had to adapt and take on a bit of a counselling role during the pandemic, to explain the reasons behind extra restrictions and precautions, as well as meeting the wellbeing of residents and keeping them active and entertained.
“It’s obviously been very hard for everybody - for the staff, the relatives and the residents,” she said.
“We have been very fortunate to have no cases [of Covid-19]. It’s just following the basic infection control protocols and the information that we get from the government. We did start visiting about three weeks ago and then Lancashire went [back] into lockdown. It’s hard for the relatives because it’s their loved ones that they’re concentrating on, but we have got a bigger picture to look at.”
The inspector’s report said: “People were supported by staff who had been recruited safely and were trained to support people to manage risks. Medicines management had improved, and records were maintained accurately. The provider’s infection control policies had been updated to reflect the additional risks posed by the Covid 19 pandemic. Staff understood and followed the procedures. The home ensured extra vigilance when accepting admissions from hospital which helped maintain people’s safety.
“Management oversight of the quality of care and care records had improved. Relatives of people living in the home told us they were confident in the new manager and identified recent improvements.”