New Forest Nursing Home

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture. At our last assessment we rated this key question Good. At this assessment, the rating has remained Good. This meant the service was consistently managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality, person-centred care.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Staff were not familiar with the provider’s vision. However, one member of staff said, “I’m not sure I have seen a written down vision, but for me it’s providing the best personalised care and to make people feel like it is their home. It’s about being friendly, attentive, safe, and approachable. I want to be able to give people time and make people feel like they have my time.”

Daily meetings took place with heads of departments, and we saw minutes of these. Staff confirmed they attended other meetings. One staff member said, “We have regular staff meetings, sometimes with just care staff, sometimes with all the staff. We've got one coming up I think.” Staff told us they felt able to speak up during meetings. One staff member said, “We have the handover meeting every day and handover at night. We have daily stand-up meetings at around 11am. Everyone can speak up at these meetings. There is an open culture so if you think something is wrong you can say it.”

Staff spoke highly of the management team. Comments included, “We went through a stage of lots of managers, so we were dubious when [registered manager] first came here, but she works hard to have a good rapport with everyone” and “[Clinical manager] is great and is the best person for the clinical lead job; [they] are so calm, but so approachable, and they know everything. We've been through some [manager and staff] changes, but [registered manager] is great, and is really working to pull us into a cohesive team for the better.” Another staff member said, “[Registered manager] is a really good person. She is very kind-hearted. She is doing a lot for the home and giving us staff development opportunities. She is making a lot of changes and is very organised.”

Not all the people and their relatives we spoke with knew who the registered manager was. Comments included, “I haven’t actually met the new manager” and “I don’t know the new manager, but I know that my [relative], who is obviously a bit old fashioned would appreciate meeting them.” Other comments included, “The manager is good. She came to the hospital to visit my [relative]. She knows the residents and their relatives” and “The manager is very nice; she explained everything to me.”

The registered manager said, “My door is always open, but if I’m busy I ask [staff] to come back. If they don’t come back, I will find them and speak with them to see what they need. They have my personal numbers and can contact me 24/7. I try hard to be positive with the staff at the start of the day. I usually come in at 07.30 so that I see the night staff as well.”

The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. The service had policies and procedures that supported staff in speaking up. Policies included the topics of safeguarding and whistleblowing.

The registered manager told us the service actively supported staff to speak up with any concerns. Staff confirmed this. One staff member said, “I have zero tolerance for poor care. I would go straight to the nurse and manager. It does get acted on here. I know I could go higher if I needed to, and I am absolutely confident I would be listened to.” Another member of staff said, “I can raise concerns if I need to. There is an open culture here, and if we feel the organisation isn’t doing something right, we can raise it. I would inform the nurse if I had concerns, but if they didn’t act, I would go to [clinical manager] then [registered manager] and work upwards.”

The provider valued diversity in their workforce. They worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them. The registered manager said, “We have lots of overseas staff. We had a diversity day; I wanted everyone to get together. English staff brought in a cottage pie, the Scottish chef did haggis, polish staff brought in their food, Indian staff brought lots and lots. We invited all the staff and relatives who were visiting that day to join us. It was lovely.”

All the staff we spoke with told us the service was inclusive. One staff member said, “There is zero tolerance for racism here. Policies and procedures supported diversity and inclusion within the service.

The provider had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. Regular audits were carried out, and when actions were identified, they were added to action plans. There was clinical oversight in place with weekly clinical risk meetings and monthly clinical governance meetings. During our assessment, issues we raised were addressed immediately or investigated and the clinical manager and registered manager informed us of actions taken.

Although issues around wound management had not yet been addressed, despite being identified six months earlier as part of the provider’s audits, we were assured the newly appointed clinical manager had started the improvements needed.

We saw the management team and senior management team were visible. Statutory notifications were made to the Care Quality Commission in line with regulations.

The provider understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership. People’s records demonstrated they had timely contact with healthcare professionals.

The service had a good relationship with the local GP service. Staff said a health professional visited the service weekly and would carry out additional reviews when needed. One health professional told us, “The staff here certainly know the patients well. I always say if I had a relative [who needed 24-hour care], this is where I would put them."

The provider focused on continuous learning, innovation, and improvement across the organisation.

Incidents and accidents were reported, investigated, and analysed for trends. Staff involved in incidents were encouraged to document their reflections on what had happened and why. Lessons learned were shared with staff; however, minutes of staff meetings did not always include detail of what was shared. Despite this, staff we spoke with told us lessons learned were discussed and that care plans were updated to include information about incidents that had taken place.