Enter and View Report: Arnold House
The purpose of our visit
We’re carrying out a series of visits to learning disability care homes, supported living, and respite facilities in Greenwich to understand the quality of life, and views of those using the service and the experience and perceptions of relatives and carers.
The Health and Social Care Act 2012 allows local Healthwatch authorised representatives to observe service delivery at providers across a range of health and social care services such as hospitals, GPs, and care homes.
Enter and View visits can happen if people tell us there is a problem with a service. They can also occur when services have a good reputation, so we can learn about and share examples of good practice from the perspective of people who experience the service first hand.
Through the programme we help providers to identify what is working well with services and where they could be improved.
How does it work?
Our trained staff and volunteers visit a Greenwich health and social care service. We then spend time at the location, talking both to people receiving care and those providing it.
After our visit, we analyse all the feedback that we have collected and write a report which is published on our website. We share our reports with the organisations involved, the local commissioner, the CQC, and with Healthwatch England.
To protect the safety of service users and staff, we conduct risk assessments and DBS check all our staff and volunteers.
Executive summary
Arnold House is a two-storey, purpose-built care home located in a busy area of Greenwich. It is close to Queen Elizabeth Hospital and is near public transport, shops, and other amenities. The home can accommodate 20 residents and is divided into four interconnected flats. Residents enjoy a large garden, and the home frequently hosts barbeques and parties. Arnold House offers a variety of activities, and during our visit, we observed warm and caring relationships between staff and residents, a feeling echoed by the family members we interviewed. The care home keeps families updated through phone calls and emails, and they are welcome to visit at any time. While most feedback on communication was positive, some family members wanted more personalised updates about their loved one’s wellbeing. Overall, families and residents appear happy, and the care home has a homely atmosphere.
Recommendations
- Share more personalised communication and updates with families about their loved one’s wellbeing.
- Ensure the complaints procedure for the home is prominently displayed in all units and includes information on how to lodge a complaint directly with the Care Quality Commission or the council.
