Cherry Holt Care Home in Retford, Nottinghamshire, a residential care home providing nursing and personal care to older people has been rated outstanding for being effective, caring, responsive and well-led following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), 28 January 2020.
The safe element of the report scored Good.
The CQC report highlighted that the service's approach to skin integrity awareness was original, inclusive, effective and innovative. They produced an informative video featuring staff, people and their relatives and screened this to increase awareness. This was then used as a focus to invite members of the community in to watch the video and discuss it. The video had been nominated for an award. Staff also used photographs and visual boards in the home to remind people and staff about the importance of positional changes.
Staff consistently acted in ways that were demonstrably above and beyond their job description in order that people felt included and valued as individuals. One member of care staff regularly came to the service outside their working hours to help arrange outings on the service's minibus. People told CQC inspectors they loved these outings on a Wednesday afternoon, which were in addition to the trips they accessed regularly.
Cherry Holt maintained extremely strong community links and ensured the service was at the heart of that community. For instance, they had organised regular visits from a local primary school. This included craft sessions and an 'end of term' disco. Staff we spoke with shared a passion for this meeting of generations, which ensured people who used the service felt a valued part of their community.
End of life care was exceptional. The service was acknowledged as a leader in developing and using best practice. The local commissioning group confirmed Cherry Holt was integral to the development of their end of life care pathway and that they sought staff input before rolling out to all care homes. The service had achieved Gold Standards Framework accreditation; this includes training and assessment to ensure the service provides end of life care in line with best practice.
