Archived: St Marks Court

73 Split Crow Road, Deckham, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, NE8 3SA (0191) 490 1192

Provided and run by:
Southern Cross BC OPCO Limited

All Inspections

14 March 2011

During an inspection in response to concerns

Some of the people living in the home had a high dependency level and some could not express their views verbally. In some instances observations of behaviour, and judgements around non verbal communication was used. We observed that everyone, including those very ill or confined to bed, looked clean and well cared for.

Relatives confirmed that people were always dressed in their own clothes and that these were always clean. One relative said that staff were quick to respond when people became ill and always 'kept them up to date with any changes' in health or well-being.

Two people spoken to were happy with the way that their bedroom was kept clean and no-one spoken to had any concerns about the standards of hygiene in the home.

People we spoke to were not sure how many staff were supposed to be on duty and they recognised that staff had busy periods through the day. People said that staff did not keep them waiting too long to attend to their needs. We did not ask people about the staff training in the home.

People using the service said that "staff work very hard" and were "very good at their jobs". Two in particular complemented the Manager and the Deputy for the improvements that had been made over the last months.

People living in the home said that they felt able to make a complaint or to discuss any concerns with staff, or the manager, and that the more junior staff always made sure that any concerns are passed to the senior staff if they could not resolve them themselves.

They said that they were satisfied that any complaint or concerns would be taken seriously by the service. Two people said that they knew there was a system for dealing with complaints and that they had been given information about how to do it. None spoken to had needed to use the complaint process.