Home is rated ‘Good’ in recent inspection

CROFT House in Gawthorpe, West Yorkshire has been rated ‘Good’ in all areas following a recent Care Quality Commission inspection.

The 66-bedded care home, which specialises in the provision of nursing, residential dementia and dementia nursing care and is part of the nationwide Maria Mallaband Care Group, was found to offer safe, effective, caring, responsive and wellled care with a ‘Good’ rating across all inspected areas of provision.

The newly published report, which follows an unannounced visit from two CQC inspectors in May, reflects a positive picture of life in the home.

The inspectors sought feedback from those living in the home and their families, who “felt safe and staff were caring and supportive.”

Inspectors also found that “care was person-centred” and “people were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives.”

The management team were praised as “approachable, supportive and informative” and having “created a culture of effective teamwork.”

Croft House manager Rob Ashton said: “I am delighted with this hugely positive CQC report which rightly highlights our person-centred approach, and the way in which our strong caring team work so brilliantly together to deliver a high quality of

Children’s care village art installation unveiled

YEAR Two children from Belgrave Primary School were special guests at the Belong Chester dementia care village to see the unveiling of a marine-themed art installation, made from ceramics created by them.

Belgrave School was invited to create the colourful clay fish for the artwork in the village garden after pupil Naomi Shetty won a competition to design a card to welcome the residents of Belong Chester when it opened last year. The competition prize was for Naomi’s class to take part in a ceramics workshop with acclaimed sculptor Brigitte Jurack, organised by Belong and charity Ready Generations, which runs the Nursery in Belong, located at Belong Chester. There was more art created on the day as the children made a ‘wishing wall’ with messages of kindness for residents. care.

The idea was inspired by the centuries-old Japanese tradition of writing prayers or wishes on small wooden ‘ema’ plaques, which are often decorated with pictures and then hung at shrines.

The most common wishes revolve around love, relationships, career success, academic achievement, health and prosperity.

Children and residents added colourful pictures to their plaques before attaching them to the installation at the village. Afterwards, the children and residents enjoyed a delicious picnic in the village and nursery’s shared garden.

“We consistently focus on embedding a culture of treating everyone with respect and supporting their independence, individuality and choices – so it is particularly pleasing to see that reflected in the inspectors’ findings.”

The report also noted that those at the home felt that there was “enough staff on duty”, that they “had been recruited through a robust process.”

And that the care environment was “warm and welcoming” and “clean”, and rooms were “personalised.”

The four units at the home were fully refurbished in April 2021, and Croft House benefits from a number of communal areas including spacious lounge and dining areas, quiet lounges, sensory room, garden room, hairdressing salon and beautiful gardens.

The majority of bedrooms have en-suite facilities.

Rob added: “I am so proud of this report, especially some of the lovely comments from those living with us.

“Their wellbeing is at the heart of everything we do here, so to know we’re doing a good job, and that those in our care feel safe and happy is the best result we could achieve.

“We will keep on working and giving our best to ensure that is sustained and built on.”