HIGHAMPTON’S Burdon Grange Care Home has been given a rating of ‘good’ by the regulator of health and social care in England in its latest series of reports.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) published reports on the quality of care provided by 76 adult social care services in the south of England. Burdon Grange was one of 44 care homes and agencies to be rated as ‘good’.

Under CQC’s pro-gramme of inspections, all of England’s adult social care services regulated by CQC are being given a rating according to whether they are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led. Burdon Grange scored ‘good’ in every category.

The home provides accommodation, personal and nursing care for people with varying physical disabilities. The service also provides personal care to people in their own homes in the local area.

In the summary of their report, inspectors said: ‘Care files were personalised to reflect people’s personal preferences. Their views and suggestions were taken into account to improve the service. They were supported to maintain a balanced diet, which they enjoyed.

‘Health and social care professionals were regularly involved in people’s care to ensure they received the care and treatment which was right for them. Staff relationships with people were strong, caring and supportive.

‘Staff were motivated and inspired to offer care that was kind and compassionate. There were effective staff recruitment and selection processes in place. Staffing arrangements were flexible in order to meet people’s individual needs.

‘Staff received a range of training and regular support to keep their skills up to date in order to support people appropriately. Staff spoke positively about communication and how the registered manager worked well with them, encouraged team working and an open culture.

A number of effective methods were used to assess the quality and safety of the service people received.’

Janice Sowden, the home’s matron said: ‘We are all really pleased. We were striving to be rated good if not outstanding, so it’s great to get that. It is very much a team effort and down to the ethos running through the home of keeping people busy and empowered. I am especially pleased that they understood that we work hard to enrich lives. Burdon Grange is a unique environment and we work hard to help our unique residents —having that recognised in the report was great.’

Stuart Kempton, the home’s general manager said: ‘We are all extremely pleased and proud of receiving a rating of ‘good’ in every category. It is all down to the hard work of staff and even our residents to make sure Burdon Grange is a good place to be.’

Deborah Ivanova, CQC’s interim deputy chief inspector for adult social care, said: ‘People are entitled to services which provide safe, effective, compassionate and high quality care. We assess services against five key questions – Is the service caring? Is the service effective? Is the service safe? Is the service well led? Is the service responsive? – and rate each question and the service overall. Where we find a service meets our characteristics of good or outstanding then we will rate accordingly.’

All the full reports, including that of Burdon Grange Care Home, can be found online at www.cqc.org.uk