Our report following a visit to Newholme, a residential care home in the village of Ruishton near Taunton, which provides accommodation for people with a learning disability.
This is a small home with six residents.
Key findings
There is a real sense that this is the residents’ home, and staff appear to be like family within the home. The Manager and deputy appear very caring and committed to ensuring each resident is happy and healthy.
The environment felt homely and welcoming, calm, and organised.
Interactions between residents and staff were very personalised; staff know residents well.
It was apparent the home sought to get the right staff to fit the ethos and culture of the home.
Residents are able to move around the home easily from their rooms to the communal areas as all rooms are on one level.
Residents are able (within reason) to choose when they eat and what they do throughout the day. We were told the ethos is to manage risk but to allow as much freedom and choice within the constraints of those risks.
Residents have regular contact with family members, often facilitated by the home.
The home has good relationships with the GP and also the local community.
Recommendations
We would like the home to consider the following recommendations based on our observations and findings from the visit.
We particularly liked the noticeboard with staff pictures, what the weather would be like, and what activities were taking place that week. We would recommend this to other homes.
We liked that the home had made links with the local community, including someone coming in to read to residents, and would encourage them to continue to build on this.
The inclusion of a resident when interviewing prospective new staff felt very inclusive and we would recommend this as good practice.
Read our report
If you need this report in a different format, please email info@healthwatchsomerset.co.uk or call 0800 999 1286.