Godalming care home named care home of the year

 

A Godalming care home is celebrating after winning big at a prestigious awards ceremony.

Care UK’s Broadwater Lodge, on Summers Road, was awarded ‘Care Home of the Year’ at this year’s Surrey Care Awards 2024.

The Surrey Care Awards recognise and celebrate the work of colleagues and organisations who provide high-quality care in Surrey’s health and social care sector.  

The home has been rated ‘outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission, a rating it has retained since 2019.

Judges praised the home’s commitment to fulfilling residents' needs through person-centred care. For example, one resident would only eat orange food and the Head Chef coloured all their food orange so they could eat the food they wanted while maintaining a healthy balanced diet.

The lifestyle team always aim to creatively meet the needs of different residents when arranging activities based on their individual interests, history and choices. For example, a resident living with dementia and down syndrome didn’t take part in activities when he first joined the home. The team, with help from his sister, took the time to build his trust and understand what he enjoyed, this led to him recently singing along to a live performance at the home and dancing with Home Manager Angela Bookham.

Making Broadwater Lodge truly unique, and a big hit with residents, is the home’s farm which features sheep, goats, pigs, chickens and a pony. The residents are able to visit the farm and care for the animals, or simply spend time watching them from the comfort of an armchair. This was especially beneficial to one new resident and her husband, who were both anxious about the transition into the home. The resident had a pony as a girl and often cares and grooms the home’s pony.

Judges also noted that the team works hard to be an active member of their community, building strong relationships with the local nursery and a mother and toddler group, the friendships made through both groups greatly enhancing residents’ physical and mental wellbeing.

Many senior members of the team have been at the home for over 20 years. This has resulted in residents’ relatives building strong relationships with the team. They have built a level of trust where relatives feel comfortable communicating and sharing feedback. This has helped the home improve how it approaches end-of-life care, and relatives are encouraged to spend the night and are given a bed to spend the final days with their loved ones if they wish.

Angela Bookham, Home Manager at Broadwater Lodge, said: “We’re delighted to win ‘Care Home of the Year’ at this year's Surrey Care Awards. This win shows just how dedicated the team is towards looking after every individual’s needs 

“Here at Broadwater Lodge, we hope to continue to build strong relationships with colleagues, residents, relatives and the wider community, so that we can work together to ensure residents lead happy and fulfilled lives.  We work incredibly hard to support residents with compassionate, person-centred care.

“I am incredibly proud of the team for their consistent passion, and dedication to delivering the very best care. We have such a hardworking team who help make Broadwater Lodge a fantastic place to work – and the perfect place to call home.”