Part of Healthwatch Norfolk’s work programme is to carry out Enter and View visits to health and social care services, to see and hear how people experience care. The visits are carried out by our authorised representatives.
From September 2022 – April 2023, our Enter and View visits were part of a project called ‘My Views Matter’. This project was specifically focused on residential and in-patient care for people with learning disabilities and autistic people in Norfolk. This project was implemented in response to the tragic events at Cawston Park, in which three residents with learning disabilities died between 2018 and 2020.
We visited Astley Court on 27/03/2023, and the visit was announced in advance, in order to minimise disruption to the patients. We spent around two hours talking to patients and staff, and observing life in the service on that morning, and examining the building and its facilities. Most of the patients were either unable to talk to us or unwilling to do so, so we also sought the views of a self-advocacy group who regularly visits the service
