The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found the quality of care provided by Vale House, Littlemore in Oxfordshire, to be ‘Outstanding’ overall following an inspection in March 2016.
Inspectors rated Vale House, located in Sandford Road, Littlemore in Oxfordshire ‘Outstanding’ for being caring and responsive to people’s needs and ‘Good’ for being safe, effective and well-led.
A full report of the inspection has been published today at: www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-364881644
Deborah Ivanova, Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care, said:
“We found the care provided at Vale House to be outstanding. The staff should feel proud of the work they do and for the excellent level of positive involvement the staff have with the residents.
“What really struck us about this service was the level of personalised and innovative care that people received. The specialist service demonstrated that they were open and engaged to provide new ways of delivering high quality expert care.
“Whilst this should be standard practice across the sector, we do not see it often enough and this, amongst other good practice found, is why this service deserves the outstanding rating which has been awarded.
“The manager and all of the staff deserve the credit for this outstanding service.
“People should always be cared for by services that are safe, effective, caring, responsive to their needs, and well-led. I would encourage other providers to read this report, and the others we have published on services we have rated Outstanding, to see what they can learn.”
The report highlights a number of areas of outstanding practice, including:
Providing excellent and innovative person centred care that supported people and their family’s to come to terms with difficult life changing events such as dementia, end of life care and bereavement.
Vale House was outstanding in how they supported people to maintain their interests by a staff and management team that not only respected people’s adult status, but also did not recognise any barriers in making things possible for people living with dementia. The staff team consistently demonstrated affection and warmth in their relationships with people.
People were supported by a service that was devoted to getting to know the people and family's they supported. The service was exemplary in responding to people's needs and preferences. For example, there was a clear focus on the importance of knowing peoples histories and involving relatives at every point of peoples care.
Vale House recognises the importance of the role that relatives and friends of people living with dementia play in an individual's welfare. This defining characteristic of the care at Vale House is visible in their commitment to having a full time family support worker. The visions and values of Vale House were embedded within its culture.
Relatives told us they were confident they would be listened to and action would be taken if they raised a concern. We saw complaints were dealt with in a compassionate and timely fashion. By a home that had systems in place to assess the quality of the service provided.
Ends
For further information please contact CQC Regional Engagement Officer Farrah Chandra on 07917 594 574 or, for media enquiries, call the press office on 020 7448 9401 during office hours. Journalists wishing to speak to the press office outside of office hours can find out how to contact the team here. (Please note: the duty press officer is unable to advise members of the public on health or social care matters).
For general enquiries, please call 03000 61 61 61.
Find out more
Read reports from our checks on the standards at Vale House