Barchester Wykeham House Care Home

Very helpful looking after my Grandad whilst we were away, ensuring he had a room close to the communal area made sure he was happy with the oxygen supply.

We are so pleased Mum is here, the staff have been wonderful to her and continue to help her with her issues. Now that new management have been brought in we feel it can only get even better.

Only a couple of tiny issues:

Smell - whilst this is much better it could be further enhanced by more deep cleaning and washing down of woodwork, nice smellies.

If residents are in their rooms, there should always be a knock on the door first - this has not been consistent.

We feel we can approach staff with any issues. Thank you.

My mother has been a resident of Wykeham House since April 2017. She has been very happy there and well looked after. She had a problem recently that she felt strongly enough about to want to complain to the manager. The manager of the care home dealt with it kindly, especially as my mother was rather confused about what she told her. The issue was followed up and I was informed by telephone and email of the result. I was pleased with the sympathetic way the matter was handled and appreciate the sometimes difficult circumstances under which the staff work. The nursing and caring staff always seem to be cheerful and patient with the residents.

Mum was admitted to respite care following hospital. She was cared for excellently. Staff were welcoming, cheerful, helpful and efficient. The building was in good repair with only the smallest blemishes. The food was good and appreciated by an elderly lady with poor appetite following an illness. The attractive presentation was able to inspire good eating. All in all a great stay.

It is a very caring home and I would definitely recommend it.

Since the CQC report, much activity has taken place (for the better). Many changes have taken place on the management side. This brought many outside personnel walking about giving their views on what should be done; this has an upsetting mood on the residents, seeing them as strangers.

The whole atmosphere changed, especially on the so called management side, no welcoming, smiling faces or greetings until the new manager came on the scene. The atmosphere changed all being with a smile and "Good morning" etc. The (I'm the boss) attitude over the past couple of months has gone, everyone is happy and talkative.

The care and attention given to my wife is second to none, although she is sometimes difficult, they persevere with her and get a result. I cannot find any faults in the paperwork etc; all up to date.

So, I'm just one of many people who are glad to see and hear that the garden feature is staying, and with the new manager in the chair, management is going in the right direction too.

My Mum has been a resident at Wykeham House for just over a year. I can honestly say that the staff at Wykeham have made this very difficult time for our family bearable. They are so caring and patient. There has been a change in the management recently which has caused a few ripples with the staff but all seems to be settling. I hope Barchester appreciates the staff they have at Wykeham.

I would recommend the home and people to anyone looking for care for their loved ones.

My wife has been in Wykeham House for nearly 5 years. All of the staff are very friendly and are always ready to help including management. I would and I do recommend this place to anybody who needs to put a loved one in care.

Caring staff, always friendly, calm and happy in a modern environment that is always maintained to the highest of standards. This tells me that my mum is in the best place possible.

When I viewed Wykeham, I was told that there are a lot of activities for the residents. When my mother started, I discovered there wasn't much daily activity and one of the activity coordinators had one day as a carer which left no one to do activities, or if there were, very little by someone else. I felt there could have been more time listening to music rather than watching the telly. My mother is used to more interaction with people which I feel she isn't getting at Wykeham.

I have always found the care my Aunt has received in these last five years as very good. There has been much improvement in the last 2 years since the new manager has taken over such as facilities, training, new staff, decor, activities and a lot of care to all residents to make everyone feel at home. Residents families are given a lot of respect. My Aunt's younger brother died recently and I was entering hospital that week and too ill to visit. The staff were extremely helpful and caring to my grieving Aunt until I was able to visit a week or so later. This was much appreciated. My Aunt will be 100 soon.

It is now five years since my friend had her stroke and had to make Barchester Wykeham House her home- to begin with, she was quite bright but over the years appeared to have lost her spirit. Recent months have shown massive improvements, this I believe is due to good management, a great occupational therapist and improved care and observation. I have only marked care as satisfactory because in some cases this still needs improvement- but is improving.

I am a resident/patient at Wykeham House. In that capacity, I have found the home to be excellent/good in an overall package - all teams, cleaners, carers, activities, nursing staff. The maintenance man is a very excellent person doing all the home at the moment alone.

In my mother's last few hours of life the staff were fantastic, so kind, the tea and biscuits really helped. We were really looked after, and mum was made as comfortable as possible, and pain-free. We thank the staff for their kindness and compassion.

Staff very helpful and friendly and couldn't do enough for me.

When visiting my mum the staff are always very friendly and welcoming and my mum seems very well cared for. I have nothing but admiration for the staff at Wykeham House.

The care has been first class. Nurses and staff had been just lovely, i look forward to coming again for respite in the future.

On the whole carers work very hard to create a caring environment and genuinely seem to care for the residents. However, they are frequently under time pressure from under staffing and sickness absence. This means they they may not be able to spent sufficient time with individual residents, especially those who are not mobile, and who therefore can feel isolated.

Individual carers are mostly good, occasionally do not respond to residents who are speaking to them. Training in communication skills has been organised to hopefully this will improve. Some carers go the extra mile, and relate to the residents, others do not really listen and laugh when they are speaking.

Nursing is variable with failure to notice symptoms of infection and lack of knowledge of geriatric immune response (or lack of); one or two very good and sensitive, and listen to residents and family. There seems to be a fear of asking the GP, and are reactive rather than proactive with health issues unfortunately.

First class service, a place I would hope to go to when my time comes. The care they give to my wife is friendly, my wife likes a joke and has fun. Of course she would be happy at home with me, but that's impossible. It would be nice to see her out of bed for the summer.