St Christopher’s Care Home in Ascot, Berkshire, a residential care home providing both personal and nursing care was rated outstanding for being caring, responsive and well-led following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), 22 & 23 July 2019.
The safe and effective categories received the score of Good from the CQC.
The CQC report highlighted that residents and relatives consistently agreed staff were very caring and kind. People agreed staff knew how they liked things done when supporting them.
One person came to live in St Christopher’s had a long history of getting lost, not returning home and getting upset for unknown reasons. Staff took real interest to get to know the person, their likes and what made them feel happy. They started to regularly help with activities that made them feel content such as changing their clothes during the day, rearrange and tidy their room. They also took the person for walks bringing back wood, leaves, cones and make displays in their room. This was an important part of the person's life and staff always encouraged them to make displays as they saw how the person's mood and behaviour improved.
Another person could not travel too far to their relative's birthday party. The provider did not want the person to miss it and suggested the family and friend’s celebration at St Christopher’s instead. The resident thoroughly enjoyed the event and said, "Thank you for making my birthday celebration in the garden so special. Very kind of you for allowing us to use it as the venue.”
This demonstrated that the provider and staff demonstrated a real understanding for the people they cared for and what was important to them that had such positive outcomes for people.
In August 2018, the service received the Platinum Status Award, the highest rating for providing and sustaining outstanding end of life care awarded by the National Gold Standard Framework (GSF). The GSF Centre in End of Life Care is the national training and coordinating centre for all GSF programmes, enabling front line staff to provide an exceptional care for people nearing the end of life.
The management team continually strived to improve the service and their own practice to ensure people were at the heart of the service. Professionals agreed the service provided was of a high quality and they did not have any concerns. They said, "The organisation has strong leadership and I think this is key to their success. They are responsive. The residents always seem happy and I have had only praise from families and certainly no complaints."
Another professional added, "Yes, it is my opinion from all I have seen that the service provides the very highest quality of care to all residents and their families. The service has a "can do" attitude and aims to exceed everyone's expectations on a daily basis."
Another visitor said, "In my view and from my experience, this organisation is clearly focused on the individual and their unique needs, whether they be residents, family members, friends or staff. Unique and exceptional care extends to everyone - including volunteers.
Nonetheless, there is a tangible feeling of community across the entire organisation. More especially, the vision and values of the provider are of a truly exceptional standard - way beyond anything I experienced in my working life. They are definitely exemplars in their field."
