Archived: Anchor House - Poole

Consequently the experiences of people living at Anchor House that we refer to in our report are mainly based on our observations of the support that we saw the home's staff providing for individuals living there. They also based on the views of some relatives who we spoke to on the telephone and the written views of other relatives and some social and health care professionals about the service provided at Anchor House.

We saw staff explaining to and showing to people how they could do things and watching them to make sure that they did not injure themselves. We saw them helping individuals' at meal times and supporting them to take medicines that they required. We also saw them encouraging and supporting individuals to pursue activities that that they found stimulating and enjoyable such listening to music, watching DVDs, or using items that stimulated the senses such as special lighting. We saw one individual helping prepare a meal and getting obvious pleasure from copying and writing in a book.

We noted that the home's staff were always polite, sensitive, and when supporting people doing it in ways that promoted respected their choices and promoted their dignity, privacy and independence.

Views about the service expressed by people that we spoke to or we obtained in writing included the following comments:-

'It is good ' they are good ' '.

'As a team you were continually committed and showed such dedication and kindness towards her. I believe that X received outstanding care from you all'.

'We were very impressed by the dedication of the staff. They go beyond the call of duty'.

'I think it is amazing 'it is marvellous'.

'We consider ourselves very lucky that our daughter is in such a marvellous place'