Palliative care home praised for being 'inspirational' and 'making every day matter'

A Sutton nursing home has been named Care Home of the Year 2019 by the National Gold Standards Framework Centre for End of Life Care, with the home's manager saying: "From the moment someone walks through our door, we want them to live well until they die".

Chegworth Nursing Home was described by the Gold Standards Framework (GSF) judging panel as ‘inspirational’ in recognition of the “deeply impressive, systematic, individual, and movingly compassionate care it provides all its residents”.

’We want them to live well until they die’

Rekha Govindan, the home's manager said: “Winning the GSF care home of the year award is a fantastic reward for all of the staff who have been working so hard to do that for almost 15 years.

“GSF has opened our eyes and those of healthcare practitioners generally to exactly what we should be doing and when providing a simple step-by-step guide ensuring no one falls through the cracks. It has helped us look at the patient as a whole and assess all of their needs and wishes."

She added: “From the moment someone walks through our door, we want them to live well until they die. And from the very first day, we will work to collaborate with them and their relatives so that we can help them achieve their goals.

“We have very few hospital admissions as we are so good at assessing symptoms, planning care and can do most clinical things in the home. We also have an excellent relationship with our local GP and pharmacy. The GP will prescribe on request and the pharmacy is available 24/7."

Ms Govindan previously worked as a cardiac nurse and developed a passion for palliative care when the home began the GSF training in 2005. The palliative care at Chegworth is now so well-respected in the local health community that palliative care patients from the nearby St Hellier and St George’s Hospitals are discharged to Chegworth on a regular basis.

As a measure of the home’s success in meeting the wishes of its residents, all but two of the 37 who died in the last 12 months, did so in the home, in line with their preferences.

When Chegworth residents do need to access healthcare from other providers, in hospital, for example, the transition is all the smoother since it became the first London nursing home to access 'coordinate my care', an NHS service designed to build patients’ care around the wishes they express and then ensure those wishes are shared amongst all relevant health and social care providers.

'With understanding and compassionate care they die a dignified death'

Earlier this year, Chegworth Nursing Home was inspected by the Care Quality Commission, with inspectors saying: ‘The service was exceptionally responsive and proactive in responding to the clinical issues people presented with during their end of life care. For example, one person was admitted to the service from hospital with a large unclosed surgical wound. 'The person was bed-bound, had lost significant weight and was not expected to live very long. The registered manager and nursing team proactively addressed the persons nutritional intake and wound care.

'This resulted in the person gaining three stone in weight and their open wound reducing in size by 80 per cent. At the time of our inspection the person had regained their mobility and was no longer identified as being at end of life.’

Chegworth Nursing Home has been reaccredited three times demonstrating its long-term commitment to quality care as well as the sustainability of GSF.

The GSF judging panel said: “Chegworth Nursing Home is inspirational, demonstrating an excellent level of dedication to make every day matter so that those they care for live well until they die, their needs and wishes respected fully and they with understanding and compassionate care they die a dignified death.

“The home offers deeply impressive, systematic, individual, and movingly compassionate end of life care.”

More than three thousand care homes have completed the GSF Care Homes programme since it was launched in 2004 and more than 750 have gone on to become accredited.

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