A Calderdale care home has been praised for providing a high-quality place to live and be supported.
Positive feedback from residents and families about Bridge House Care Home in Brighouse, such as “safe”, “caring”, “comfortable”, “friendly” and “helpful”, was highlighted in a report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) after it rated the home as ‘Good’ in January 2022.
This rating – the second highest that the CQC can give – means the service is performing well and meeting expectations, and was awarded just five months after the care home had been rated ‘Inadequate’ in August 2021. The devastating impact of COVID-19 meant that urgent action was needed to address key issues at the home, including care and treatment, staffing and governance.
This impressive turnaround is thanks to many positive changes being made at the home, driven by a strong partnership approach.
Calderdale Council, NHS Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and the care home provider, Fisher Care Group, worked together to develop an extensive action plan to bring about immediate improvements and ensure that all residents were safely cared for.
Work included daily visits to the home by the Council and the CCG for several weeks; weekly quality assurance meetings; and the appointment of additional senior managers, nursing staff and a dedicated clinical lead at the care home. This team worked effectively in partnership with the Council and the CCG and achieved significant improvements to the service over a very short time period.
This resulted in compliments from residents and their relatives, including:
“The staff are always friendly and caring and helpful.”
“I know you do everything possible to make (my relative) feel safe, comfortable and cared for. For the last few months, I’ve noticed a lot of positive changes. I feel (my relative) is in safe, capable and kind hands from the carers to the nurses. I can honestly say that there’s nowhere else I would want (my relative) to be.”
The Council, the CCG and the care home have jointly developed a plan to support future ways of working based on lessons learned. As part of this, a temporary Multi-Disciplinary Support Team is being created to offer quality improvement support to care home providers who may be adversely impacted by the pandemic and other pressures.
Cllr Josh Fenton-Glynn, Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Adult Services and Wellbeing, said:
“Moving up by two CQC ratings from Inadequate to Good in only five months is a remarkable achievement, especially during the ongoing challenges of the pandemic.
“At Calderdale we work closely with our health and care partners to provide constructive support and we want to learn from every individual CQC report to continually improve our services with all our providers.
“We know that COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on care homes, their staff, residents and families. Providing the best possible care and support has remained the priority throughout.
“The team of staff at Bridge House, Fisher Care Group, the Council and the CCG worked exceptionally hard together to develop a comprehensive action plan addressing the CQC’s concerns. This has already improved the effectiveness and consistency of the service, and partnership support will continue for ongoing improvements as required.
“Our Vision2024 for Calderdale is to be a place where everyone can achieve their potential. This includes our ‘Age Friendly Calderdale’ commitment to enable people to have a healthy and good-quality later life. We are confident that Bridge House Care Home is a place where people can do this.”
Sarah Antemes, Head of Continuing Healthcare at NHS Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), said:
“We’re pleased to see the progress made at Bridge House Care Home. This is a testament to the hard work of the team at the home. Alongside their commitment to working in partnership with health and care colleagues to make and sustain improvements for residents as mentioned in the CQC’s report.”
Mike Higginson, Operations Manager at Fisher Care Group, said:
“The direct support was invaluable and reassuring, we were in this together for the residents. As the provider we felt supported and not policed, we were encouraged and not chastised, we shared ideas and experiences, we worked together.
“The result of this massive team effort was the home recovered from the potential threat of closure, families and residents were reassured, and the staff and management developed key relationships with the team from Calderdale to ensure the residents got the quality of care we would all expect them to receive.”
The year 2024 marks Calderdale’s 50th birthday. Where do we want to be by 2024? What’s our ambition and what will be different? Visit www.calderdale.gov.uk/vision
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