A care home in Chingford gains top marks from national inspectors

A care home in Chingford has been praised by national inspectors for its leadership and positive, caring culture.

The Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) report gave Care UK’s Ivy Grove, on Hatch Lane, an overall ‘Good’ rating, following an unannounced inspection.

The home received ‘Good’ ratings in all five categories, including safety, responsiveness, effectiveness, quality of care, and having a well-led service.

The team impressed CQC inspectors with the kind and compassionate interactions between residents and team members. The report highlighted how an inspector observed a resident say to a team member: “You are all so kind to us.” with one resident telling the inspectors: “The team are so lovely and will always chat to me. I can’t ask any more of them.”

The inspectors highlighted that residents are supported to maintain their independence through personalised care plans. Residents had access to professionals to promote their independence, for example occupational therapists and physiotherapists. 

The inspectors saw that residents were supported to eat and drink a nutritionally balanced diet according to their wishes, tastes and health conditions. Residents were offered fruit platters mid-morning and afternoon tea and cake mid-afternoon in between their three main meals. A resident told them: "The food is tasty, varied and very good overall”.

The report went on to highlight how the activity schedule was planned around resident's hobbies, and how residents were consulted on exactly what they wanted to do. Inspectors noted activities include exercising, arts and crafts, trips outside the home, visiting entertainers, and festival celebrations. One resident said: “There’s always things to do. You can join in if you want to, but you’re not forced to.” 

The report also included positive feedback from the resident’s relatives on the home’s activities. One relative told inspectors: “Residents find the dancing very therapeutic. They had a Jubilee party which they very much enjoyed. There’s always lots going on in the week – they had puppies in the other day.”

Additionally, inspectors noted that Ivy Grove was well led. The General Manager, Alexander Bragg, was praised for his passion and responsiveness, as well as his commitment to ensure continuous learning and improvement across the team. Residents told inspectors Alexander is: “A godsend, marvellous, so responsive, so caring and really nice”.

Alexander said: “It's fantastic to read the positive feedback from the CQC inspectors. It’s a true testament to the team's passion and devotion to providing the highest standard of care to ensure residents live truly fulling lives.

"I would like to express my sincere thanks to everyone at Ivy Grove for their commitment, especially over the past few years. I appreciate all they do on a daily basis because they make our care home such a wonderful place for all of the residents to live and such a great place to work.

“I’m looking forward to celebrating this result with the residents and the team and building on our success in the future.” 

Designed to enable residents to live active and fulfilled lives, while also promoting independence, Ivy Grove incorporates space for hobby and leisure activities. The layout of the building has been configured to help facilitate the creation of close-knit communities and encourage social interaction among residents.

To find out more about Ivy Grove, please call April Jones, Home Admissions Advisor on 020 3797 0198, email April.Jones@careuk.com or visit careuk.com/ivy-grove