Enter and View: Neath House

The purpose of this Enter and View programme was to engage with residents, their relatives, or carers, to explore their overall experience of living in Neath House care home. As well as building a picture of their general experience, we asked about experiences in relation to social isolation and physical activity.

Summary

Neath House is a purpose-built care home close to Milton Keynes City Centre and is registered to provide accommodation for up to 47 residents who need personal or nursing care. There were 46 people in residence at Neath House when we visited. The home is set out over two floors and with the majority of residents living with dementia, Parkinsons or other neurological conditions, many have additional physical needs which cause them to be bedbound.

All residents were female with ages ranging from 72 to 86 with average age of 81 years. The average length of stay in the home is two years of those residents spoken, to but the length of stay varied from 3 months to 5 years.

Our findings

"Staff were observed to be caring and well-liked by residents...When asked if there was anything they would change about living at Neath House, most residents said they wouldn’t change anything...Overall, the residents at Neath House told us they felt cared for and content."

What residents told us: 

“It’s a nice place, staff are lovely, get to take Mum out and about.”

“Mum is happy and content, what else can we ask for?”

Recommendations included:

• Explore ways of improving the lighting in the corridors on the ground floor, this could have a positive effect on both staff and residents if lighting levels were able to be improved.
• Consider ways of alleviating isolation for those residents that have difficulty leaving their rooms, perhaps more one to one time with care staff, more time in group situations, enlist the help of volunteer groups such as befriending services to sit and talk with residents.