Service address: Pennington Court Hunslett Hall Road, Beeston, Leeds, LS11 6TTService Provider: Westward CareDate and time: Tuesday 11th November 2014, 10am to 12pmAuthorised representatives: Stuart Morrison, Betty Smithson, Pam Hughes

Care Homes - Pennington Court Nursing Home

Enter & View Report

Acknowledgements Healthwatch Leeds would like to thank the residents, relatives, carers and staff at Pennington Court Nursing Home who gave us a warm welcome and spent time talking to us about their experiences of living at the centre or having relatives/friends staying at the centre.

Thank you also to the manager of the home for helping us to arrange the visit, showing us around on the day and providing relevant information about the centre that had been requested by Healthwatch Leeds. Please note that this report relates to findings observed on the specific date set out above. Our report is not a representative portrayal of the experiences of all service users and staff, only an account of what was observed and contributed at the time.The visit also takes into consideration the fact that many of the residents spoken to will have an illness and/or disability, which may have an impact on the information that is provided.

We recognise that providers are often able to respond to us about any issues raised and we will include all responses in the final report.

Table of Contents

Page

1: Contents

2-3: What is Enter & View? / Introduction & background

4: Purpose of visit

4-5: Method

5: Summary of findings

5-8: Results of visit

8-9: Recommendations / Service provider response

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What is Enter and View?Part of the Healthwatch Leeds work programme is to carry out Enter and View visits. Local Healthwatch representatives carry out these visits to health and social care services to find out how they are being run and make recommendations where there are areas for improvement. The Health and Social Care Act allows local Healthwatch authorised representatives to observe service delivery and talk to service users, their families and carers on premises such as hospitals, residential homes, GP practices, dental surgeries, optometrists and pharmacies. Enter and View visits can happen if people tell us there is a problem with a service but, equally, they can occur when services have a good reputation – so we can learn about and share examples of what they do well from the perspective of people who use the service first hand.

Healthwatch Enter and Views are not intended to specifically identify safeguarding issues. However, if safeguarding concerns arise during a visit, they are reported in accordance with Healthwatch safeguarding policies. If at any time authorised representatives observe anything that they feel uncomfortable about, they need to inform their lead who will then in turn inform the service manager, ending the visit. In addition, if any member of staff wishes to raise a safeguarding issue about their employer they will be directed to the Care Quality Commission where they are protected by legislation if they raise a concern.

Introduction and BackgroundHealthwatch Leeds made a decision to undertake a programme of enter and view visits, to care homes in Leeds, during October and November in order to get the views of residents and relatives about the care that they receive. These visits will be the first part of Healthwatch Leeds enter and view programme and aim to address some of the issues identified in the NICE quality standard 50 https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/QS50/chapter/introduction

There were two pilot visits that took place in September and following these, it was agreed to carry out a further 10 visits to care homes across the city. The care homes to be visited were selected based upon a number of factors which included:

• Having a good geographical spread across the city

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• Looking at any information already held by Healthwatch Leeds, raising concerns about specific care homes

• Ensuring visits did not conflict with other visits such as already planned CQC inspections and visits by the local authority

• Considering any information already contained in CQC reports

Following each visit a report will be produced and this will form part of the final report of the full programme of visits.

Pennington Court Nursing HomePennington Court provides Nursing, Residential and Intermediate Care (ICT) for up to 55 people in Beeston, South Leeds. There are 22 Nursing beds (20 occupied at the time of our visit), 23 Residential Beds (22 occupied at time of visit) and 10 ICT beds (all occupied). The home is arranged over 2 floors with communal lounges, dining areas, bathrooms and

single occupancy bedrooms, some with en-suite facilities.

Westward Care Limited is the registered provider and all beds are local authority funded.The home employs a total of 70 staff including Registered Nurses, Care Assistants, Catering staff, Domestics, Laundry and Admin Support. The Manager has provided Healthwatch with full staffing levels and ratios.

There was a range of leaflets and information on other services available in the entrance area. There was a signing in and out book and hand gel dispensers were visible throughout the building.

The flyer advertising our visit was on display but no relatives were present for us to talk with.

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Purpose of the visit

• Find out what daily life is like for the residents at the care home. • Observe the day to day functioning of the care home• Engage with residents and relatives and carers to get views concerning:• Day to day care and staff attitudes• Food and catering• Access to activities for residents at the home and in the community• Identify examples of good working practice.• Highlight any issues or concerns that were raised• Capture the experience of residents and relatives and highlight any ideas they

may have for change

Method of the visitThis was an announced Enter and View visit.

The visit was undertaken by a team of 3 authorised Enter and View representatives, including one Healthwatch staff member and two volunteers and lasted approximately 1½ hours.

Before the visit the centre was sent a visit plan sheet outlining the purpose of the visit, who would be attending and requesting further information. A poster giving details of the visit and Healthwatch contact information was also sent for the centre to display prior to the visit.

The visit was informal and involved a combination of observation and talking to residents, carers and relatives to gather information and views, with questions around care and help, food and activities. During the course of the visit the team spoke to 6 residents and 1 relative/carer and logged all findings on the questionnaire sheets.

A large proportion of the visit was observational, involving the authorised representatives walking around the public/communal areas and observing the surroundings to gain an understanding of how the home works and get a feel of the general environment. 4

Observation sheets were used to record this information.The Enter and View team also spoke at length with the Manager, who provided detailed information about the centre, the activities and menus, as requested, and answered any queries that were raised.

Further information was also given out about Healthwatch Leeds to residents and carers and relatives and the home was given leaflets about Healthwatch Leeds to display in the entrance.

Summary of findings

• At the time of our visit, the evidence is that the centre was operating to a very good standard of care with regard to daily life and care of residents

• The residents we spoke with appeared content and happy and we saw no evidence of lack of care.

• We saw evidence of staff interacting with residents in a positive, kind and caring manner.

• Residents told us that they were happy with the food.• We saw evidence that the residents had access to a range of activities in

the home and there was also activities provided in partnership with local organisation Holbeck Elderly Aid.

• The residents and relatives that we spoke with appeared on the whole to be content with the range of activities on offer.

• Our visit identified no material issues nor any points that could be classified as a cause for concern. The points arising from the visit as reported below are cited, as a general overview of the findings on the day of the visit.

Results of VisitAccommodation and Environment Pennington Court has two main communal areas, the main residential lounge/dining area and the ICT lounge/dining area.The residential lounge is adjoined open-plan to the dining area. The room is light and

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airy, with a large screen television at one end of the room. Both the lounge and the dining area were clean, with no distinct odour.

The décor in the residential lounge was slightly dated and worn. The Manager of the home assured us that they were pushing for funding to re-decorate.

The ICT lounge/dining area was very nice, tastefully decorated and felt homely. There are two TV areas and the lounge opened up to a well presented outside courtyard area.We observed good standards of cleanliness and hygiene throughout the home. The communal bathrooms, showers and toilets were clean and in good condition. The doors were easy to push/pull open which was pleasing to see.

Bedrooms are of a good size, clean, had natural light and in good condition. We were pleased that the rooms were personalised, had televisions and some even had personal phone lines installed on request.

The corridors were wide, well lit and the décor consisted of warm colours. There was pot pourri in some areas and the corridors were quiet (apart from very creaky flooring next to rooms 9 and 10).

ActivitiesActivities for residents are clearly highlighted on message boards throughout the home and in the lounge next to the television in large writing.

There isn’t a specific activities coordinator employed by the home, however, different staff are allocated to run activities on each day of the week. Healthwatch was given a two week list of activities and their co-ordinators. The activities on offer were varied and included reminiscence, dominos, sing-a-longs, bingo, gentle exercise and outside entertainment. On the day of our visit posters for an Elvis impersonator were displayed as he was coming in that afternoon.

The Manager told us that the home worked with Holbeck Elderly Aid and Sikh Elders, local older people’s organisations, to provide Bingo, Games and other activities. This

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highlighted a good relationship with the local community.We observed that there were a number of books and board games available for residents to use at their leisure. A hair dressing service and pedicures are also available.The residents we spoke with were happy with the activities on offer.

Some said that they would like more days out and that they would like to go for walks but have to wait for relatives as they know staff are busy.We spoke to the Manager about days out and he highlighted some of the trips they have been on this year (Bridlington, White Rose Shopping Centre, Crown Point) and the shopping trips that are planned before Christmas. The Manager explained that staff volunteer to do this in their own time.

The Manager also explained that they often use the courtyard area for summer barbeques and on bonfire night hosted a pie and peas night.

CateringThe menu on offer at the home provided a good range of dishes for breakfast/lunch and tea. It was pleasing to see the choice of both a hot and cold breakfast and a really varied menu for the week.Daily menu’s for all meals are displayed on each dining table as well as on the dining room wall.

Residents we spoke with were happy with the menu choice and quality of food (one said that it tasted “home made”), and could have seconds if requested.Residents also told us that they could eat in their rooms if they wanted and could get help with feeding if necessary.

We were told that the kitchen would cater for individual dietary and religious requirements.

Care and Help From our observations and speaking with residents we are pleased with the quality of care provided at Pennington Court.

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All of the residents that we spoke with said that the staff provide a caring service and are all friendly. Resident’s personal choice was met as they told us that they could get up and go to bed as they please, their privacy was respected and they were addressed how they wanted to be.

On the day of our visit we observed staff assisting residents upstairs and also helping a resident with their drink downstairs, both in a very caring manner. We visited on Remembrance Day and during our visit a minutes silence was held, one resident was visibly upset during the silence and was comforted by members of staff.

Staff attitudesThe attitude of staff at the home was praised by everyone that we spoke to on the day. Staff were observed to be kind, considerate and caring and took time out to talk to residents.

Residents spoke highly of staff and we observed the interaction between staff and residents to be good.The relative that we spoke with on the day highlighted the staff attitude as an area of praise.

Carers and RelativesWe only spoke with one relative on the day of our visit and they were pleased with the level of care provided to their relative and were especially impressed with the attitude of the staff.

RecommendationsThis report highlights the good practice that we observed and reflects the appreciation that residents and relatives felt about the care and support provided.

Based upon the key findings we do not have any recommendations to make to Pennington Court as it was operating in a professional and caring manner.

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Service Provider responseThe service provider had no comments to make about this report.

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Healthwatch Leeds,Ground Floor, Unit 8 Gemini Park Sheepscar Way,Leeds LS7 3JBTelephone: 0113 898 0035Textphone: 0113 237 4512Email: info@healthwatchleeds.co.uk www.healthwatchleeds.co.uk