West Bank Residential Home

From our family's experience, West Bank provides the basic level of care needs. Pros: It will keep residents warm. Residents are kept in clean clothing. The food is fair to good, especially the main meal of the day. Bedding and bedrooms are well kept. The majority of staff appear to care about the residents, conduct their duties when required and provide a some social interaction with the residents. Cons: Organisation is bereft in some respects: a) Items are regularly and permanently lost, including important ones like spectacles and dentures. Residents lose most of the items, but staff seem to have no regard to recovering the items. b) Laundry is mixed up whereby residents end up with their own and other residents clothes and foot wear. The mobility of residents is not maintained. Staff do not pro-actively encourage the exercise of residents which leads to their quick physical decline. Staff seem to feel most comfortable themselves if the residents are seated and constrained within the building. Poor use is made of the secure garden. Infection control seems to be low there. Illness and hand sterilization of people entering the building is not monitored and staff with colds continuing to work have been noticed. Snacks for the residents are sometimes laid out directly on table tops rather than plates. Food spillage by residents upon themselves is just left on their clothes (bibs could be a simple solution). Lack of staff numbers in the evenings and, presumably, night-times is noticeable. There are times when whole areas of the premises are not in ear shot of the members of staff on duty. It is a pity that the original old two storey building was not modernised when the new care wings were added to it. The tiny vintage central lift is next to useless and the central narrow corridor causes a real bottle neck for all. I found somewhat of a negative culture there (can't do, rather than can do). The staff appear to interact with the residents only according to the staffs' schedule. I never witnessed a member of staff asking a resident how they felt or if they needed or wanted anything, except at meal times. Guarding against an attitude of them and us could bring about a better sense of community for all in this care home.
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