Forest Care Village Elstree and Borehamwood

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

People’s care records did not always contain consistent information regarding their nutrition and hydration needs. There were not sufficient snacks available for people and a lack of fresh fruit and vegetables. People’s dining experience varied across the different communities. Staff were able to tell us who required modified diets.

This service scored 67 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

This needs to be rejected

People’s dining experience varied in the different communities. We received mostly positive feedback from people eating on the Avalon and Glastonbury communities. We were told, “I am happy with the food.” And “We have a weekly menu and there is choice.” However, we were also told, “The food is someday good but sometimes bad.” And “I don’t like the food, they don’t do English cooking, lots of people complain about it but it doesn’t change.” We found room for improvement in the dining experience in the Rainforest community where staff tended to be task focused with limited social interactions at mealtimes. There were no menus, tablecloths or condiments to enhance the mealtime experience for people.

Staff we spoke with were able to describe people’s nutrition and hydration needs. However, they also described concerns about availability of snacks and fresh fruit and vegetables. A member of staff said, “There are not enough snacks, we only get what is sent up from the kitchen. A usual snack on some units is only half a packet of biscuits and three bananas between all the people on the unit. At bedtime there is only drinks offered.” Kitchen staff confirmed they used frozen vegetables except when making salads. We raised this with the manager. They were unaware all the vegetables were frozen and told us they would arrange for more fresh fruit to be made available for people.

People’s care records did not always contain consistent information relating to their nutrition and hydration needs. We found information was conflicting as to whether food and drinks needed to be prepared to a modified texture and thickness. There was very limited information in people’s records about what food and drinks they liked or disliked.

We did not look at How staff, teams and services work together during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at Supporting people to live healthier lives during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at Monitoring and improving outcomes during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at Consent to care and treatment during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.