Care Homes Owned by Gemini Care Ltd in Suffolk

A big thank you to everyone one at The Lodge for making my mum's stay comfortable.

My mother has severe dementia. She has the classic issues of fear and instability when visiting the hospital. The team at The Lodge have the utmost care and sensitivity with my mothers problems. Their patience in times of my mother's difficulties is clearly designed to bring about calm in a sure, safe and considered manner.

The facilities are clean and tidy. Their arranged activities are very stimulating. It is a pleasure to see my mother at The Lodge: she is safe.

After a mean death in a previous home our friend moved into the above home Nov 2013, a decision that has never been regretted. All her personal and medical needs have been very well looked after and she has made an excellent recovery. Her progress is largely down to local management who run a tight ship and extremely supportive staff. I would have no hesitation in recommending this home to anyone.

My husband has been in The Lodge since September 2010. The care he had was amazing, all the staff and management are really caring people and never passed a resident without a friendly word or cheery smile. Unfortunately my husband passed away, but the care he had and the kindness shown to me was second to none. This care home is always clean, happy but above all what a care home should be, caring.

The care home has always been honest, open and helpful to us. They have a very hard job on their hands and staff and management all seem to do their best to look after the residents in the best way possible.

My mum has been a resident for a year now and initially she was very frail and quite poorly having been living on her own with family support previously. The lodge were able to accommodate her at very short notice and under difficult circumstances, us as the family have been grateful to have mum in a placement to which adapts to her changing needs and offers family support to ensure mum receives specialised care. She has thrived since being at The Lodge/Copdock and staff and management are all excellent.

My husband has been at The Lodge for more than 3 years now. I visit almost everyday only missing when an occasional Bank holiday, no transports available. I have always found it a warm and comfortable place, all of the residents and visitors are treated with kindness and consideration and in my opinion the care of the residents is excellent.

The management are capable and efficient. The carers are excellent and considerate in their dealings with the residents. The staff are all very friendly and welcoming.

Over recent months the service has worked hard to meet the necessary standards set by CQC .

However, I do think that there is still room for some improvement. I would like to see the communal lounges look more like lounges and not just communal areas. For instance, residents do struggle with cups of tea and either have to rest the cups on the arm of their chair or bend down and put the cups on the floor. Narrow side tables between chairs, I am sure would help. The windowsills tend to get crowded up with unnecessary items. I would like to see "staff stations" in each communal room, to accommodate things such as drinking straws etc, so that the windows are more pleasant to look at. The flooring is kept to a good standard and so are the bedrooms, but other areas need attention; windowsills again, get sticky and the windows could do with regular indoor cleaning. I would like to see front and back gardens more accessible to residents, perhaps they could be taken out there as a group, with staff on duty by them when the weather is fine. Activities could be held outside. The standard of the communal furniture, in particular the chairs is very poor, when you think that these old folk are sitting in them all day, every day, some chairs must make their legs numb, due to the lack of cushioning in the seat pads. More fresh air needs to be obtained somehow, as the large lounge does get rather odorous at times.

However, on a good note I am hoping to discuss this with the service manager at some point in the new year, and I do want to get myself more involved.

I know that this all sounds negative, but the service is working to improve and they can't improve if they don't know where to make the changes. I would like to think that issues can be discussed openly with a view to improving wherever possible. WE MUST ALL seek for continued improvement and I don't mind taking part.