Salutem

Three former failing Spectrum residential care homes in Cornwall, which were acquired by Salutem Care and Education in March, have received positive reports from the Care Quality Commission.

Silverdale Care Home and Rose House in Redruth and Heightlea in Truro are no longer classed as Inadequate following inspection visits.

The inspection teams looked at the overall experiences and progress of individuals supported, considering the quality of their experience and the effectiveness of leaders and managers.

Silverdale was rated as ‘Good’ in the following areas:

• Is the service safe – which was previously Inadequate
• Is the service caring – which was previously Requires Improvement
• Is the service responsive – which was previously Requires Improvement.

Salutem was praised for changing the culture at Silverdale in a short period of time with the inspector saying that ‘Under the previous provider we had identified a closed culture at Silverdale. Since taking over the service the provider had worked hard to instil a culture of care in which staff truly valued and promoted people's individuality and protected their rights.’

The report noted that ‘People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.’

The inspector also highlighted the staff support and attention to care saying that ‘Staff supported people consistently and understood their communication preferences. Risk assessments were in place to guide staff on how to keep people safe while enabling them to do the things they wanted.’

Heightlea also improved its ratings in the same three categories to ‘Good’.

The inspector noted that at Heightlea ‘People were happy and confident requesting support from staff who they enjoyed spending time with. Staff got on well with the people they supported and had the skills necessary to meet people’s needs.’

It also stated in the report that ‘Relatives were highly complimentary of the changes and improvements they had observed since the new provider’s involvement with the service’ and ‘Relatives recognised that staffing levels had improved since the new provider took over the service and that this was positively impacting on people’s wellbeing.’

The CQC rating at Rose House has gone up from ‘Inadequate’ to ‘Requires Improvement’

Comments from the inspection included People received kind and compassionate care from staff who protected and respected their privacy and dignity’. It also said that Staff were committed to listening to the person and supporting them to express their views’ and ‘Staff supported the person to maintain relationships with those that were important to them’’

Martyn Heginbotham, chief operating officer at Salutem said: “We understand that there is still a long way to go until these homes reach the standards we aim for across our business but these first inspections show that we have undoubtedly made significant progress.

“When we took over the homes at the start of this year, we endeavoured to drastically improve the support provided, as the people living there deserved better and I’m pleased to see the reports have shown this has happened. There is still work to be done but the many positive comments from the CQC inspectors and relatives of the individuals we support demonstrate that we are committed to continuing to improve.”

ENDS

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For further information contact Caroline Walker on 01325 363436

Editor’s Notes:

Salutem Care and Education is a national provider of care, support and education to individuals with complex needs, including those with a learning disability, autism, mental ill health and physical disabilities. Salutem Care and Education includes Modus Care Group, Pathways Care Group, Clearwater Care Group and the former Scope regulated services.