Care home celebrates CQC success after 'hellish few weeks' with Covid outbreak
Corton House Care Home staff celebrate its 'good' CQC rating in Norwich - Credit: Contributed
Staff and residents at a Norwich care home have been in celebratory mood after seeing significant improvements in the space of three years.
Corton House Care Home on City Road was verging on 'inadequate' in 2019. Then in March 2020, the home managed to clear all regulation breaches and rated 'requires improvement'.
But despite having to deal with the challenges of the pandemic, the home was rated 'good' in its latest Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection report in May.
A celebratory outdoor event for staff and residents was washed out by the torrential downpour on Friday afternoon, but the 42-bed home has toasted its progress.
Deputy manager Debbie Goulding praised the influence of outgoing home manager Lisa Brown for driving the rise in standards after joining the team in October 2019.
She reflected on how staff rallied together during a "hellish few weeks" in November and December 2020 when there was a Covid outbreak at the home.
Mrs Goulding said: "Everybody worked hard across the board. It was difficult with Covid but we knuckled down and got on with it.
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"At New Year's Eve we managed to all get together and it was nice to think the outbreak was over but we had also lost people, so we were trying to have a nice time but also reflecting on a hellish few weeks.
"Like every care home we struggled to get PPE before the outbreak and prices went up everywhere. It was a big financial burden on all care homes."
Mrs Goulding said creating a head of care promotion created a strong management team with an emphasis on developing younger people to progress as well.
Norma Goose, 91, who lives at the home, said: "The home has done their best for us and can't do anymore. There are lots of activities going on to keep us active such as scrabble and exercises.
"I will be glad when the home is opened up as there have been no visitors since March 2020 but I understand the reasoning. I have a telephone in my room and I exchange letters with friends.
"I still have my doubts about the virus and still feel cautious."
