The Willows Dementia Hub Rochdale Enter and View Report
called “Comfort Days”.
The Woodlands Centre also has a café which is open to the public and residents can go there for meals friends or family. In addition, other community services are offered at the Willows Hub e.g. domiciliary phlebotomy, ultrasound, with visiting patients waiting in the main reception area.
Healthwatch Rochdale visited The Willows Residential Care Home on Tuesday 10th September 2024 as part of a programme of announced Enter and View visits to care homes in the Rochdale borough. The home was notified of our visit in advance by letter and by email. The manager was given a two-week time frame and informed that the visit could take place at any time within that time frame.
Recommendations
The findings in this report are based on nine care quality indicators. The Enter and View visit identified the following areas of improvement and recommended:
1. Activities programme: On our visit there were no activities observed and no dedicated activities’ co-ordinator. Activities are important to help support residents living with dementia to retain the abilities they still have as well as improve the quality of their daily lives. We recommend that activities for residents are reviewed to ensure there are increased activities for residents each day in the home and these are advertised better (both in the home and with relatives).
2. Improved Room Number Signage. Make room numbers clearly visible with consistent signage. Ensure that all staff are aware of the room numbering system, especially in case of emergencies.
3. Upgrade Signage for Visitors and Staff: While fire exits were clearly marked, other key areas need clearer signage for the benefit of new staff, visitors, and temporary workers. In addition to fire exit signs, consider adding directional signs for key areas (like comfort day services) without making the space feel overly institutionalised.
4. Secure High-Risk Areas and Key Management: Ensure that all high-risk areas, such as the meter room, are locked when not in use with a regular check to ensure they remain locked. Implement a more secure key management system, such as a locked, tamper-proof key cabinet with restricted access, ensuring that keys are only accessible to authorised staff members.
5. Improve the Staff Induction Process: Conduct a review of the current induction programme, including shadowing, and gather feedback from staff to identify any gaps in training to coproduce an updated Induction.
6. Privacy for Monitoring Systems: Review the live monitoring system with a view to relocating or obscuring live monitoring screens from communal areas to protect residents' privacy.