The Manor House Gosforth

Updated 3 December 2020

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of CQC’s response to the coronavirus pandemic we are conducting a thematic review of infection control and prevention measures in care homes. The service was selected to take part in this thematic review which is seeking to identify examples of good practice in infection prevention and control.

This inspection took place on 28 October 2020 and was announced.

Updated 3 December 2020

About the service

The Manor House Gosforth is a residential care home providing personal care to 44 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 46 people across two adapted floors, one of which specialised in the care for those living with dementia. People lived in en-suite bedrooms designed to their individual tastes. The service is situated within a residential area of Gosforth and well-integrated into the local community, including shops and a medical centre.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Feedback about the service from people and those close to them was remarkably consistent and exceptionally positive. People and relatives told us they almost struggled to praise staff and the care they provided highly enough. One person summarised this by telling us, “The carers make me feel very important to them and I feel honoured to be looked after by them. They sit in your bedroom and have a good chat with you just like a good neighbour. I am just spoilt here”. A relative explained the exceptional staff attitude by describing, “I believe many staff here make it part of their livelihood and not just a job”.

Distinctive leadership at location and provider level had achieved a service that was outstandingly effective and responsive. The service was innovative and dedicated to ensuring continuous quality improvement to make a real difference for people. Highly person-centred care truly enriched people’s lives, helped them to achieve their dreams and led to extremely positive outcomes. A staff member said, “Unless it is physically impossible, we would try and get or do anything for people.” People and those close to them were fully involved in the delivery and design of the service. This included the recent full refurbishment of the service to an exceptional standard, as well as involvement in the planning of menus and specially themed restaurant nights.

Personalised scrapbooks captured individual journeys, to also involve relatives and close friends in people’s enriched lives and achievements. Daily and monthly newsletters were produced to promote everyone’s involvement in the service. This included ongoing communication of the large variety of activities on offer. These involved particularly positive opportunities to connect with the community, including partnership working with a local school. There was a distinctive focus on creating a service that welcomed and embraced people’s diversity and promoted equality.

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.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 22 April 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.