Sevenoaks care home makes the finals in national awards

A care home in Sevenoaks is celebrating after being named as a finalist for a national care award.

Care UK’s Weald Heights, on Bourchier Close, has made it to the final stage in the category for ‘Best for Nursing Care’ in the 2023 Care Home Awards. 

The Care Home Awards recognise and reward excellence and innovation in UK care home management, operation and delivery. The winners will be announced at the annual awards ceremony in June.

Unlike other care homes, every member of the senior leadership team at Weald Heights is a qualified nurse. As a result, outstanding nursing and the values that accompany it are at the forefront of every aspect of life at Weald Heights. Since opening in 2017, three team leaders have qualified as nurses, with a further three working at the home who are currently in their second year of university as nursing students. 

This level of nursing expertise and experience in a range of specialisms, including catheterisation, tissue viability, dementia care, and end-of-life care, means the majority of a residents’ care can take place within the home where residents feel most comfortable. This reduces the need for residents to attend hospital and in many cases means they can receive end-of-life care in the home rather than the local hospice.

The judges praised how this strong nursing team has built excellent partnerships with other local healthcare professionals, including physiotherapists, GPs, district nurses, speech and language specialists, dieticians and the local hospice. Judges highlighted how these relationships have led to additional training opportunities for the team at Weald Heights to better their caring practice. 

Key to the Weald Heights approach to resident care is that each resident lives a full and meaningful life where residents are encouraged to continue pursuing their hobbies and interests. Working with lifestyle team members, the nursing team help to make residents’ wishes come true as part of Care UK’s wishing tree initiative. 

Recent wishing tree initiatives at Weald Heights has included a trip to the opera, a visit to an Aston Martin dealership for a former motor racing fan, and a visit from a granddaughter and her new husband in full wedding attire for a resident who was unable to attend the wedding herself due to pandemic restrictions. 

Maria Coington, Home Manager at Invicta Court, said: “We are thrilled to have been named as a finalist in the ‘Best for Nursing Care’ category at this year’s Care Home Awards.

“Here at Weald Heights, we work incredibly hard to support residents with compassionate, person-centred care, and this shortlisting shows just how dedicated the team is at looking after every individual’s needs. I would like to say thank you for their hard work and dedication, which I know is also greatly appreciated by residents and their families.

“We’d like to wish good luck to everyone who has made the finals, we’re looking forward to the awards ceremony in June and have our fingers crossed for a win!”

Weald Heights is a purpose-built care home designed to deliver luxury hotel-style comfort for residents, complete with a café, hair and beauty salon, cinema and beautiful gardens. The home is divided into separate residential, nursing and dementia care suites, encouraging close-knit communities where residents can get to know each other, and where people with similar needs can be cared for together.

For more information on Weald Heights, please call Customer Relations Manager, Amelia Moore, on 01732 809 189, or email amelia.moore2@careuk.com

For more general information, please visit: careuk.com/weald-heights