Millbrow Care Home - January 2024

Summary

During our visit, residents at Millbrow gave positive feedback on the care provided by staff at the home. Many family members praised the care provided by staff and felt the staff at the home were friendly and the home had a nice atmosphere. 

There are though areas for improvement, such as the general environment, staffing levels, activities, and communication. We heard from staff and resident’s families that the home was in ‘desperate need’ of redecoration. We also noted during our visit that the home is looking tired and in need of a refresh. 

Concerns were also raised by staff, residents, and family members, over the lack of activities. We are aware that the home is looking to recruit a new activities coordinator. 

Staff told us of short staffing issues and concerns over agency staff. 

There were also comments received from residents’ families, through the online questionnaire, regarding a lack of communication, which we hope the home will address. 

We hope the home’s management will pass on the many positive comments to staff at the home while also taking into consideration the areas highlighted for improvement. 

Recommendations

We provided the following recommendations as suggestions towards providing what we feel would be best practice. 

1. Activities: Several residents and family members expressed a desire for more activities at the home. It is recommended that the home ensures there is adequate staff cover for the role of activities co-ordinator. 
2. Dementia friendly: During any planned redecoration or renovations ensure dementia friendly changes to the environment are included. 
3. Communication and Information: We heard from some families who felt there was a lack of communication with them from the home. Effective communication is essential in building trust and keeping families informed and involved in the care of their loved ones. We suggest providing regular updates, scheduling face-to-face meetings, and encouraging family involvement in the home. We recommend the introduction of a ‘You said, we did’ board for all residents, and regular updates for relatives that would include any changes that have been made from comments, complaints etc. 
4. Involvement: Review the way Residents and Family meetings are held. While we were told that regular meetings are held, it seems that attendance is often low, while some residents told us they have not had an opportunity to be involved in these meetings. We suggest reviewing the way Residents’ meetings are promoted to try to encourage more involvement. 

Provider Response - 29 April 2024

1. There is now a member of staff employed as the activities co-ordinator. They spend time with each resident either on a 1-1 basis or group sessions. We also have entertainers and singers that are regularly coming into the home. We also have adapted sports sessions and musical moment’s which the residents, relatives and staff all enjoy. We have had some positive feedback from residents and relatives regarding the activities and entertainment within the home. 
2. As the home is being redecorated, works will be ongoing to ensure some the home is more dementia friendly. We are completing dementia friendly audits which identify areas of improvement that we can also action. 
3. We do have a ‘you said we did’ notice up on the relatives board. This is updated following any feedback we receive from relatives. We also have a suggestion box near where relatives/visitors sign in to enable them to leave any feedback either identifying who they are, or they can leave feedback anonymously. There is also an open-door policy in Millbrow where relatives and other visitors are able to come and speak to the manager when they are visiting. The mangers email is also on display to enable relatives to email any concerns or suggestions also. In relation to informing relatives of their loved ones care we must ensure confidentiality is maintained. Whilst I appreciate this may cause some upset and frustration to some relatives, we can only give information out to people identified as next of kin or first point of contact or those with power of attorney over health and welfare.  If the resident agrees we can give information to other realtives but the residents would need to agree to this.
4. In relation to residents, their feedback is sought regularly. This is usually done during the managers walk around and resident of the day. We have updated our feedback forms specifically for the residents and the activities coordinator now completes these as part of her role as well. Since covid we have tried various times / days / methods to try and encourage relatives to attend meetings however, despite these efforts attendance to the meetings have been low. Details of the meetings are put up on the relatives notice board and small notice board near the main entrance. However, due to Millbrow having an open-door policy a lot of relatives and residents raise concerns or suggestions when they arise either when the manager walks around the home or when the relative is visiting. When asked, they say they find it is better and easier to raise it that way rather than waiting to attend a meeting. We will continue to review the process.