AT a time when care homes are often in the news for all the wrong reasons staff at West Bay’s Harbour House are celebrating a ‘good’ report.

An inspector from the Care Quality Commission paid an unannounced visit last month and found staff at the residential care home looked after the 35 residents with kindness and respect.

The home was judged well-led and good at providing a safe, effective, caring and responsive service - and was called ‘a little piece of paradise’ by one resident’s relative.

Manager Anna Filsell said: “The inspector stated that we were ‘good verging on outstanding.’

“This is fantastic for us and shows that all our efforts to make our residents lives as well supported, enjoyable and easy are effective and appreciated.

“The entire staff team show total commitment and dedication to our residents, their families and all the professionals who work so closely with us to ensure that each and every resident receives the best possible care that they can.

“We are over the moon to receive this report and as one of our ‘short breaks’ guests refers to us as ‘the house of smiles’, I think we can rest assured that she is right. This is a step in the right direction to help raise the profile for care homes. All of us at Harbour House are proud to be a part of this very special industry.”

Ms Filsell said it was a challenging industry and it was important to note that even homes that don’t get a good report are often struggling because of the limited finances available for residents who are not self-funded.

She added: “I think because of the bad press over the last two years everyone is very willing to jump in when there is a slightly negative report, sometimes there is a whole lot more to it than meets the eye.”

She said the secret of success was getting the right staff, having a good heads of departments who both inform staff and listen to them - and not rushing staff through tasks so they have time to talk to residents.

The inspector said people at Harbour House, which is a not-for-profit profit organisation run in line with the Quaker philosophy, said they felt safe and happy..

The inspector said residents said staff were kind and treated them with respect, compassion and understanding.

“People were in control of every aspect of their care. People were supported to end their life with dignity and free of pain. Staff knew how to keep people safe from harm and abuse.”

Ms Filsell said to reach ‘outstanding’ they were planning to create a new larger, open plan area in the building that was purpose-built home more than 50 years ago when residents were in their 60s and 70s, not in their 90s as they are now.