7 July 2011
During an inspection looking at part of the service
When we looked around the home we saw people's rooms were clean and suitably furnished. People had been able to personalise their rooms and bring in their own furniture if they wished.
We spoke directly with four people during our visit. People told us that staff were very caring towards them. One person described the staff as 'marvellous'. One person who had lived in the home for several years told us they were happy living in Astley Hall and that most of the time they chose to spend time privately in their own room and that they were able to do this.
Another person told us there were only a few people in the home they could socialise and engage with and they wished they had more company. One person told us they liked to socialise and that they did not like the fact that there was not a communal dining room or lounge on the second floor which meant they had to use those on the ground and first floor.
One person told us that they enjoyed spending time in the garden. Since living in the home they had been able to pursue their interest in gardening and continued to grow plants in pots in the gardens outside their room. Another person commented that they would have liked to spend more time in the garden but were unable to do so as they had to rely on staff and they did not like to ask them as they appeared very busy.
During our visit we saw numerous examples of staff interacting positively with people living in the home and it was clear from our observations that people we saw on the first floor Nightingale unit (dementia care) reacted positively when staff engaged with them.
We observed both breakfast and lunchtime in the home. Staff supporting people at mealtimes did so in a very caring and calm manner and people were able to choose where they wished to eat their meal. On the dementia unit at lunchtime we saw staff sat at the table eating with people living on the unit and engaging in conversation.
We saw that people were being offered a choice at mealtimes and people were observed having alternatives to the menu choices. At breakfast both hot and cold options were available to people. During our observations we saw cold fluids available to people in the communal lounges and dining rooms. We saw numerous instances of staff offering people in these rooms hot and cold drinks. Cold fluids were also available to people who remained in their rooms but for people nursed in bed, fluids were generally only offered when they were receiving care or pressure relief.