Care home of the Year is no 'last chance' hotel

Happy staff have helped Silloth Nursing Home become Care Home of the Year for end-of-life care.

The Cumbrian nursing home's senior nurse Linda Faulder said of residents, when she received the award from end-of-life training specialist Gold Standards Framework Centre (GSF),: “This is their home not a last chance hotel and we want all of our residents to have a good life right up until the end of their life".

But to achieve this, care manager Ann Blair says a happy workforce is key and has led to a low staff turnover (with many of the staff having worked at the setting for more than 10 years.)

Ann Blair said: "Staff are only as good as the training. And everyone from the cleaner and handyman to the care worker gets the same training whether it be dementia care or safe handling." Linda Fauldner, who is among the 70 members of staff at the home, said the setting’s 38 residents really run the home because staff talk to them about their wishes. This includes everything right down to family visiting times.

“Care is delivered how they want it, where they want it. We have given them control of their care and they own it. We sometimes joke about how we just work in their home. But it’s true.”

Every resident at Silloth has expressed their preferences about how they want to be cared for, in the form of an advance care plan. Based on their wishes, all but two of the residents who died in the last year, did so at the care home.

To achieve great care, three GPs at a local surgery take turns to visit the nursing home every Tuesday to help assess the health of residents.

The GSF Centre provides training in end of life care for staff across the country and to be GSF accredited, care homes have to achieve 20 quality standards (ranging from leadership and support to dignity and respect) to give residents the best care right up until they die.

The Silloth Nursing Home not only achieved GSF accreditation four times, it received its highest possible award - ‘Beacon status’ four times.

All of the care homes shortlisted for GSF's Care Home of the Year award had achieved Beacon status at GSF reaccreditation.

Award judges from the care homes sector assessed seven finalists against 20 standards, such as leadership and dignity and respect, and Silloth scored full marks in all of the categories.

The other six shortlisted homes are:

Chestnut House Nursing Home, Dorchester

Churchill House, Ludlow

Wren Hall Nursing Home, Nottinghamshire

The Grange Residential Home, Southampton

Birds Hill Nursing Home, Poole

Camelot House, Wellington

The judges said: “It is clear that they have something significant and significantly different to offer as best practice to the field, addressing all aspects of end of life care and demonstrating a commitment to person-centred care for residents and their families in innovative and compassionate ways.

"It was uplifting to see such dedication to high-quality end of life care.”

The care homes that receive the GSF Quality Hallmark Award have halved crisis hospital admissions of residents at the end of life. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) recognises the achievements of GSF accredited care homes and the awards are endorsed by Skills Academy for Social Care.

Annabel Foulger, GSF social care programmes manager, said: “As people approach the end of their lives they want to be cared for in familiar surroundings, by people who know and understand their wishes.

"By engaging all of their residents and their families in detailed conversations about these wishes, allied with a passion for fulfilling them, Silloth is an exemplar for care homes across the UK.”

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