Staff at outstanding care home take 'a walk through dementia'

A care home in Peterborough that gives staff an insight into what life is like for their dementia residents has been rated ‘outstanding’.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) praised The Tudors Care Home for its ‘walk through dementia’ training, which gives staff a virtual experience of how residents carry out day-to-day living tasks.

Ravi Gidar, managing director at Gold Care Homes said: “This rating is testament to the hard work and drive shown by our staff in delivering our corporate goal of providing outstanding care to all our residents.

“We have worked hard to create a dementia friendly environment from our own observations, listening to what our residents want and working hard with them and other organisations. Our activities are also very unique, offering virtual reality not only for training but also for residents to enjoy the visuals and interact with the virtual world around them."

Using interactive equipment, staff at the 44-bed care home get to experience first-hand what living with dementia is like.

According to the CQC report, the feedback from staff has been ‘very positive’. They found the training thought-provoking and said it “has changed the way in which they will care for dementia patients in the future.”

One staff member told the inspectors: "It's hard to explain but it gives you a sense of what a person with dementia experiences, including the day-to-day obstacles. Understanding another person’s point of view is a lot easier when you’ve walked in their shoes.”

Another staff member said the training made them more compassionate and understanding of resident’s needs and behaviours, adding: "It brings it home how severe the emotions are when you are trying to complete day-to-day tasks and how debilitating this can be.”

'If this service had star ratings like a hotel it would be five stars'

Inspectors also praised the home for introducing a Wishing Tree. Last year, one of the home’s residents wanted to see Wimbledon and this was made possible through fundraising and family contributions.

Similarly, the home was rated outstanding for actively encouraging residents to maintain and promote their daily living skills, including gardening, laundry and DIY.

One resident, who had recently moved into the service, needed a shelf to display their belongings on. They were able to work alongside the maintenance person in the on-site workshop to create what was needed. This had given the resident a real sense of achievement.

According to Jemima Burnage, CQC’s head of inspection for adult social care in the central region, the inspection team were "extremely impressed" by the level of care and support offered to people at the care home.

She said: “Staff were highly motivated to treat the people they assisted with kindness and respect and people were supported to be involved in making decisions about their care and support needs.

“One relative said, 'If this service had star ratings like a hotel it would be five stars, it is much better than we ever could have expected."

Andrea Sutcliffe, chief inspector of adult social care, added: “The quality of care which our inspectors found here was exceptional and I am very pleased that we can celebrate the service’s achievements. “An outstanding service is the result of a tremendous amount of hard work and commitment. I would like to thank and congratulate everyone involved.”

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