Enter and View: Milton Court

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 Milton Court 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

Milton Court is registered to provide nursing or personal care for up to 148 residents over 4 floors. At the time of this visit, there were 94 residents living at the home over three floors as the top floor remains unused. The ground floor, named Sandringham is the residential floor with the first floor, named Memory, housing residents with dementia or cognitive impairment, and the third-floor houses those who require nursing care.

What we found

There was a new manager in place on this visit, the fourth manager over the period of our three most recent visits. We were pleased to observe, and to be told by residents and their families, that they feel this manager is very resident focussed and is well liked by the people who live in the home. There was a calm, quiet atmosphere throughout the care home, observed in the demeanour of staff and residents.

There were some comments where people felt staff could be a little rough when carrying out personal care, although people also told us that this could be more of a communication issue where residents were not clear what the care staff were saying so did not respond but staff continued with the care.

What people told us:

‘Love the company, music and singing’

‘Would like to go to the lower floors more often’

‘We like that there’s a chiropodist, dentists, hairdressers and regular GP visit all booked for Mum.’

Our recommendations include:

• Hydration is important for residents and regularly changed, fresh, cool jugs of water in rooms may encourage people to drink more. Adding date labels to the water jugs, as suggested by the Resident group, could be a positive step. 
• Consider ways of improving staffing levels during lunch service, particularly for those who require assistance or are bedbound. Staggering the start of lunch service across the floors may help.
• It could be beneficial to the residents to explore ways to increase their access to faith-based activities. This might include working more closely with local church groups to provide more tailored programs for residents. Reminders to residents about upcoming planned services may help, as would holding some services on the memory floor. 
• Using the Activity team’s one to one sessions with residents to explore old pastimes, passions, or hobbies may provide inspiration for activities that could happen in people’s rooms. It may even provide some motivation for people to leave their rooms to take part.