Beech Hall care home rated outstanding by Care Quality Commission

Beech Hall care home in Leeds has been praised and rated outstanding by inspectors from care regulator the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Residents and staff at the home in Armley, which holds a breakfast for the emergency services and a Sunday lunch for local older people, were celebrating this week after receiving the accolade.

Beech Hall is the tenth care home run by Anchor Hanover to be classed as outstanding, the highest number of outstanding care homes the care provider has had at any one time. 

Beech Hall was praised by the CQC under their inspection process which rates care homes as either outstanding, good, requiring improvement or inadequate. The home received outstanding ratings in three of the five categories and were praised for delivering ‘person-centred care’ and being ‘well-led’. 

Alongside providing exceptional levels of care, the home was commended for its strong links with the local community, with residents developing friendships and undertaking meaningful activity with people outside of the home. 

Activities sighted for praise in the report were: 

• a ‘Blue Light Breakfast’ held each Friday for the emergency services with people chatting to them and answering any queries. 
• ‘Spare chair Sunday’ held weekly where local older people visit the home for Sunday lunch and develop friendships with people. 
• A combined resident and community knitting group held weekly. 
• Working with young people from the Princes Trust scheme to paint equipment and furniture in the garden of the home. 

The home was also praised as an excellent role model for other care homes especially in its use of social media to forge strong community links and technology, purchasing interactive devices allowing people with dementia and communication difficulties to engage in a range of activities. 

In the CQC inspection, which can be found here, the inspector stated: “Staff demonstrated a real passion for the people they supported. People received highly personalised care that met their individual needs. People, relatives and visiting professionals said the service provided highly personalised care and achieved outstanding results.”

One relative told the inspectors: "I believe the leadership here is outstanding, positive leadership, it is so person centred. I can sleep at night I know [relative] is more than safe, [relative] is incredibly well cared for.”

Care Home Manager Victoria Gudgin said everyone at the care home was thrilled by the announcement. Victoria said: “This has been an entire team effort and I am happy that the report has recognised our hard work, dedication and commitment to delivering a high quality of care. 

“We are very passionate about the lives and interests of our residents and we actively seek out activities that are inclusive, supporting people to develop and maintain relationships to avoid social isolation. 
“We are extremely proud that we are a care home that is innovative and one which other care homes can learn from. 

“Beech Hall will continue to be a home with strong local community links, where residents want to live and where staff enjoy coming to work each day.”

Joyce Booth, aged 90, who lives at Beech Hall said: “I am happy that the home has achieved an outstanding rating which is thoroughly deserved. The staff are amazing, it is a lovely atmosphere, every day is enjoyable, full of meaningful activities and trips. It is also nice to make new friends and meet young people, sharing interests and talking about our different life experience.”

Find more information on Beech Hall here, or contact 0800 731 2020.