Staff and residents at an Optalis care home in Wokingham have been celebrating with a tea party following a ‘good’ CQC inspection.
Suffolk Lodge, which provides a service for up to 40 older people living with dementia and/or a physical disability, was recognised for delivering personalised care and support to residents as well as treating them with care and kindness.
A celebratory afternoon was hosted at the home, where visitors enjoyed afternoon tea and hours of entertainment from ‘Tuneful’, Suffolk Lodge’s in-house choir, which was created and is populated by residents of the home.
Suffolk Lodge has worked hard to improve its activity programme and set up a ‘You Said…, We Did…’ programme, whereby residents are able to get their wishes granted wherever possible.
One relative told the inspector they were shown a video of their mother singing with staff and it brought a tear to their eye. The relative added: “This place runs on love and that’s unusual.”
Another person, who regularly visits her friend at the care home told the inspector that: "Suffolk Lodge is friendly, welcoming and homely. Some staff really do go the extra mile and this really helps to create a positive atmosphere. I admire their energy!”
The latest report noted that improvements had been made to some procedures since the previous inspection in August 2017. Registered manager, Wendy Luck, was very happy with the outcome.
She says: “We’re absolutely delighted with our inspection report. All of the staff work hard as a team to provide the best possible care for our residents so we are really pleased to see that this is reflected in such a positive report and overall rating.
“We’ve been working on making the home bright and homely and extensive work has
been carried out to make the home even more dementia friendly. We aren’t complacent though, we have more improvements planned throughout the year.”
All three of the Optalis services that were inspected by CQC teams during the summer moved from 'requiring improvement' to 'good', successfully delivering part of a strategy to improve the quality of care and support provided across the organisation.
