Blackpool care home joins Outstanding club

The Willows Care Home in Blackpool has made it into the top one per cent of care homes rated Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

CQC inspectors visited the nursing home last March and found its care of 16 residents to be Outstanding, in a report published on 16 July.

Inspectors said: ‘There was an open and relaxed atmosphere at the home.

'The registered manager actively sought and acted upon the views of others. There was a strong emphasis on continually striving to improve. Without exception, people and their representatives could not praise The Willows Care Home enough.’

Since launching its revised inspection method in 2014, the CQC has published ratings for more than 11,421 care homes. Of those, less than one per cent have been rated Outstanding. Willows Care Home, which opened in 2009, is located near the city in Marton Moss.

The CQC said its owner Paul Swithenbank and registered manager Tracey Otterman completed an assessment of people's support needs before they move into the home. Prior to a resident moving in, families are asked to put together a history of the person including siblings, children, time they like to get up and go to bed etc to inform staff.

Before working at the home Tracey Otterman was a medical negligence lawyer and Mr Swithenbank spent 15 years as a supplier of care services to care homes; a job he says prompted him to believe that he could deliver care better than them.

Staff are given time to sit and chat to residents because he says this is the essence of what good care is all about.

Commenting on how there was sufficient staff to meet residents’ needs, inspectors said: “We observed staff could undertake tasks supporting people on a one to one basis in a timely manner.”

Monitoring care

Inspectors said the management team 'used a variety of methods to assess and monitor the quality of the service.'

Paul Swithenbank has told carehome.co.uk he believes CCTV is not the solution to preventing abuse in care homes.

“Keeping residents safe is about having strong management. I can walk into any care home and see straight away how strong the management is.

"You don’t deal with abuse by putting CCTV in. You have to get your recruitment policy right and your management structure right.”

Recruitment and training

Mr Swithenbank oversees all staff recruitment, arguing staff who are not motivated and do not passionately care about the work they do shouldn’t be recruited in the first place.

He ensures staff, described by inspectors as ‘knowledgeable about their roles and responsibilities’, get lots of training and recalls how one new staff member admitted she had received more training in her first two months with Willows than during her nine year career as a care worker.

End-of-life care

The Willows Care Home has also achieved the highest award from the National Gold Standards Framework (GSF) for excellent end of life care. The home shows evidence every year that the home is delivering good end of life care to achieve accreditation every three years.

Pet-friendly home

The care home also has a five star rating from The Cinnamon Trust which assesses a care home's 'pet friendliness'. All rooms have their own external door leading to the homes large garden. Pets are allowed in the residents' rooms only, not the communal areas of the care home.

A visit from the Cinnamon Trust's assessor revealed: "This is a lovely home with a friendly atmosphere and I feel animals would be well cared for and staff go above and beyond their call of duty”.

In the care home's CQC report, inspectors stated: ‘People who lived at the home were the centre of everything the staff did. Nothing was too much trouble. Staff always stopped what they were doing to take time out if a person wanted them to spend some time with them.’

'Not depressing' says relative

A relative said: “My mother spent her final few months in The Willows Care Home. She was treated with care, compassion, and most importantly dignity. They all have a great sense of humour and a smile. This is a care home which is not depressing, it is cheerful, bright and pleasant and often filled with laughter. I cannot recommend the management and staff highly enough.”

Debbie Westhead, deputy chief inspector for adult social care in the north said: “This is a fantastic care home and there are many examples of outstanding practice that are clearly helping in delivering an excellent person-centred service.

She described Willows as: “A great example of what Outstanding care should look like.”

To read the CQC report visit: www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-124365108