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, and 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 The Old Rectory in Hevingham on 15/02/2023, and the visit was announced in advance, in order to minimise disruption to the residents. We spent around two hours talking to residents and staff, and observing life in the home on that morning, and examining the building and its facilities, and also interviewed two family members of residents. In total, we spoke to two of the residents, and spoke to two members of staff, including the manager.
Overall, the people we spoke to were happy with the care they or their relatives received at The Old Rectory, and we witnessed positive and caring interactions between staff and they people they support. The following points could however be addressed:
Some of the carpets could do with being updated, and there could perhaps be more personalisation of the communal spaces – there are purchased artworks on many of the walls, which were presumably chosen by staff (although these are mixed in with photos of the residents).
Some thought could be given to how people could become more involved in some everyday tasks such as laundry, cooking and food preparation.
