Willow Bank Residential Home 'sees major improvement'

And Willow Bank Residential Home’s manager says there is further good news as it prepares to open a dementia cafe that will be open to the public.

The Tilesford Park care home received an inadequate rating and was put into special measures by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following inspections in March and April last year.

But Carole Hall said she took over as manager after this and things have been on the up, leading to the care home receiving a requires improvement rating in the latest inspection in November.

Writing in their report inspectors said: “ At our previous inspection we rated the service as inadequate.

"The provider (has now) showed us sufficient improvements had been made to the service and it was no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. The service is no longer in 'special measures'.

"The culture of the service was changing and staff were more confident in recognising and reporting abuse. Staff now had faith in the management team so risks to people’s safety were shared and reduced promptly.”

READ MORE: Praise for city care home’s staff

The new manager said: “There have been major improvements.

"It has been all change so we have put in the measures to get a good rating by the end of the year, and that is what we are going to do.”

Liana Birkett, director of Buckland Care which owns the Pershore care home, added: “Willow Bank went through a tough time last year, when we received a bad CQC report. We feel we have now come out the other side and learnt a lot from our mistakes. We have put in a complete new management team, got the staff fully up to speed and we are striving towards a good inspection this year."

The dementia cafe, opening on February 13, will offer specialists in dementia training, and a place for people with dementia and carers to meet others in a similar situation. The cafe will run every second Wednesday at the care home, every month.