Archived: Elton Hall Care Home

inspection in August 2011. We spoke with nineteen of the people who used the service and four relatives. People were very complimentary about the staff who provided their care service and said '' The staff are very respectful and get on well with us'', ''The staff are very caring, the food is good and people are very friendly'', and 'I visit my mother at different times of the day and on different days of the week and I find my mother is always clean and well presented'.

People told us that they were able to discuss anything with staff and when they wanted things improved or changed, the manager would always make sure this happened. The home is a very large old mansion and people told us that although there were different units, they could go anywhere around the home. People said they ''loved'' the main lounge and enjoyed spending time in this bit of the home. We observed that throughout the day, people went to different parts of the building and appeared to have formed good friendships with the various people living at the home. Four people told us that they regularly went into town and into the village.

A significant proportion of the people living at the home had marked problems with their

memory and found it difficult to think about recent events or at times to hold a conversation. Therefore we used a specific way of observing care to help to understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. This involved spending a substantial part of the visit observing a group of people to see how they occupied their time, appeared to feel and how staff engaged with them. From our observation, staff worked in ways that supported the people. When speaking with people staff made sure the person could follow what was being said, included people in conversations and approached people in a gentle and caring manner. If people were experiencing distress staff quickly went to the person and offered comfort.

We spoke to people about their meals, some of the comments made were, 'The meals are lovely. You choose what you want the day before. I was too thin before I came in here, but I have put on some weight since moving in'. 'They feed me enough, I don't feel hungry. Staff will check I have finished my meal before they take away the plates'.

People we spoke to said they felt safe at Elton Hall. One person said, 'Yes I feel very safe here. I would tell staff if I was worried about anything. I would tell staff or the boss if I had a complaint'. 'I feel safe here. If I was worried I would talk to any member of staff, they are all helpful. If I had a complaint, I would go and talk to the manager'.

In regard to staffing people said, 'There are enough staff around, I am drinking a lot of milk at the moment and staff will bring me a fresh glass whenever I ask. They help me into bed'. 'Staff are perfect, they look after you. I would say there are enough staff, although it would be good to have an activities co-ordinator with a car so we could go out'.