Uckfield care home rated ‘outstanding’ by health watchdog

Temple Grove Care Home at Herons Ghyll was inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on November 25, last year.

The CQC report, which has since been published, praises the care home for its personal and nursing care to younger and older people.

It reads: “Everyone we spoke with and heard from gave the highest feedback about the service and the kindness and compassion that staff showed people.

“A person told us, ‘I’m not treated as just a resident, I’m treated as my own special person’.

“Another person said, ‘Couldn’t think of a nicer nursing home. Always ‘life and laughter’ here. I’d recommend it to absolutely everyone’.”

Alison Barnes, general manager, said she and her team of 105 staff, 20 of them nurses, were delighted with the result.

“What makes me most pleased is that every single department within the home has been singled out for praise, including maintenance, housekeeping, food, activities, welfare and care, and nurses,” she said.

“We operate as a team with kindness at the heart of everything we do and it’s wonderful to see that recognised in the report.”

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Joanne Ellison, one of the owner’s, also commented: “I’d like to give a huge thank you to Alison Barnes and the amazing team at Temple Grove. This rating demonstrates the outstanding sustainability of this home over a number of years.

“The fact that less than 3% of nursing homes in the UK achieve this accolade is testament to the dedication and hard work of all of our staff. We are extremely proud.”

The report said the registered manager and quality training manager used creative ways to listen to people’s views and acted on them to improve.

It goes on: “Community involvement was strongly promoted and opened up new networking opportunities for people.

“The management team had good oversight of what happened day to day. They had developed tools to help track the quality of the care and support, so they could improve it. There was a culture of everyone being involved in the continuous improvement of the service.

“Equality and diversity were deeply embedded into the home. People’s differences were highly respected and supported.

“Staff worked hard to promote people’s independence mitigating any risks, so they were not restricted from doing what they wanted to do.”