Kings Court care home wins seal of approval from national care watchdog

Home news

Feb 15, 2016

Care UK’s Kings Court care home in Barnard Castle, County Durham has been given the seal of approval by a national care watchdog.

At a visit by the Care Quality Commission in November, examining the home against a number of key areas such as safe, caring, responsive, well-led, inspectors were happy to award the home an overall good rating.

During their visit to the home, which provides specialist care for older people, some of whom have dementia, the inspectors talked informally to the team and examined the home’s administrative systems and processes.

Home Manager Michele Lloyd said: “I am delighted that we reached the high standard set out by the Government and CQC and I was even more delighted that the inspectors highlighted how the team works to respect people's dignity and independence.”

The staff the inspectors spoke with demonstrated an in-depth knowledge and understanding of people’s care, support needs and routines and could describe care needs provided for each person. One staff member told them; “We speak to the family as we like them to be involved, you can get a lot of information from care plans but the best thing to do is ask questions and talk to people over a cuppa.”

The inspectors asked people if they were happy with the care they received at the service. They told us; “I can’t fault the care here, I am very content” and “I like living here, the girls are lovely.” One person said to us; “The staff are always there for you.” A staff member told us; “I like to sit and talk with people and complete their “This is me” document and their life story, it’s amazing what some people have done and lived through.” These documents described people’s likes, dislikes, routines and methods of communication in a condensed format.

Michele said: “Everyone at Kings Court, including the domestic, catering and maintenance teams, strives to ensure that we create genuinely individual care for each resident.

“To do that, we ensure we get to know each person, their history and their interests, so that we can tailor each care plan to maintain their independence, life skills and sense of wellbeing.”