A national care watchdog has given a Quorn care home its seal of approval, with relatives and residents praising its caring, positive person-centred culture.
The Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) report gave Care UK’s Lonsdale Mews, on Farley Way, an overall ‘Good’ rating, following an unannounced inspection.
The home received ‘Good’ ratings in all five areas, including safe, effective, caring, responsive and being well-led.
Promoting a holistic approach, the Lonsdale Mews team impressed inspectors with its team’s dedication to providing tailored care to every resident. With an inclusive events and activities program created by the dedicated lifestyle team, residents’ individual interests and needs are put at the forefront. This allows the team to regularly arrange activities for residents to enjoy, from pop-up restaurants to booking entertainers and organising tea parties.
Inspectors noted the teams’ personable and compassionate approach to getting to know residents, and commitment to cater to every resident’s needs. Care plans included detailed life histories and a life story book for each resident that wished for one, with families being invited to provide photographs and information to bring their history, interests and experiences to life.
The team at Lonsdale Mews was praised for their efforts to forge strong relationships with the community. Using their contacts with several local primary schools and a childminding group, children come to the home to spend time with residents and take part in fun activities. These intergenerational relationships provide a key element of life at the home.
The report highlighted the proactive approach taken by the team to fulfil residents’ wishes. The activities co-ordinator invites residents to make a wish which is added to the home’s wishing tree, and documents anything they may have mentioned wanting to see, do or experience. The team then works hard to make residents’ wishes become a reality.
Residents are encouraged to try new things and pursue long-term hobbies by the team, to promote independence wherever possible and ensure they lead fulfilling lives. One resident commented: “I can be independent with the things I can be; staff help with the things I can’t”.
The environment at the home was praised by inspectors and relatives, who described the overall culture as positive and person-centred. The Home Manager, Toby Sturgess, has implemented a caring culture where people feel valued, an approach reflected in the quality of the care residents receive, with team members described as kind and caring. This is down to a commitment to training and recruiting team members effectively, involving a thorough two-week induction process for new members of the team.
Toby said: “Everyone at Lonsdale Mews works incredibly hard to provide the highest possible standards of care to all residents and their families in a friendly, comfortable environment, so I’m proud we received a ‘Good’ CQC rating.
“Every resident is unique – so why should their care plan be any different? We pride ourselves in the high-quality tailored care we provide, enabling residents to lead fulfilling lives in a warm, peaceful environment that has been designed to promote independence and support those who live at the home.
“I would like to say a big thank you to everyone at Lonsdale Mews for their dedication, which I know is also greatly appreciated by residents and their families. They are what makes our care home a home for so many residents, and I’m grateful for everything they do on a daily basis.”
To assess service standards at Lonsdale Mews, the CQC inspectors spoke with team members, residents, and their visiting relatives on the day of the inspection. They also reviewed the records and procedures already in place at the care home.
