Ever wondered what it takes to be Outstanding?

My Home Life spoke with a manager of a recently rated ‘Outstanding’ Dementia, Nursing, and residential care home, they kindly shared the key ingredients they needed to reach an ‘Outstanding’ rating.

 

“Things in the home improved when I was out of my office, it made me visible to staff relatives and residents and most importantly, involved me in the home”.

Being out of the office allowed me time to get to know my residents and see first-hand what was happening in the home. Last year I attended a My Home Life Leadership Support Programme, it allowed me to focus on my personal development in becoming a healthy, confident coach and leader. The programme allowed me time out of the home to network with other care home managers, reflect on my leadership skills and learn new methods of communication with staff. All this has created a more open, empowered culture in the service. “It all begins and ends with quality Leadership”.

“Resident involvement in the daily running of the home was pivotal in creating a person centered environment “.

The manager said, to reach ‘Outstanding’ the care home moved towards providing consistent capture and feedback of relative, professional and resident comments regarding quality in care. I explained to MHL the need to always involve the resident’s in all aspects of care home life, from individual care planning, to events planning for the care home.

“Making time to listen to relatives, residents and staff members is extremely important to me”

I explained that using this time allows me the opportunity to feedback and meet or realign expectations which, overall improved the experiences of those living in, visiting and working in the care home.

“Just be yourselves, it’s enough”

I often speak to staff about the importance of maintaining a ‘normal’ day’s routine when being inspected. Every day I see my staff shine with talent and initiative, I want to ensure staff know an inspection day is no different to any other day. “The key is managers being confident in their staff’s abilities”, this comes from investment in quality training, and the development of a positive culture of openness and good relationships.

“Always support the questioning, challenge and reflection of why things are done in a certain way”

Reflective practice is the final key ingredient in reaching ‘Outstanding’. All people living, working, and visiting the care home are encouraged to feedback and question practice. The Manager explained that with questions, comes learning, with learning comes change, and then innovation. This is why we always want to develop our skills, share our knowledge and learn from positive and negative experiences.

“It’s not a job, it’s what we do here”, a statement of which truly embodies the positive values of caring for older people living in care homes.

My Home Life would like to extend its thanks to the manager who assisted in the creation of this blog.