Enter and View Report: Pelham Grove Care Home

In March 2025, we visited Pelham Grove Care Home which has 34 bedrooms of which 8 are ensuite. At the time of our visit 28 residents lived at the home; this was due to refurbishment works being carried out following a significant leak in the building from a water heater.

The manager described the care home as a general residential environment but told us that it is more ‘dementia-residential’; the home has noticed an increase in referrals for residents with more pronounced/ advanced dementia.

The home provides palliative care on-site supported by community nursing. Respite care is also provided, and the manager gave an example of someone coming to stay 4-5 times over the course of a year, which supported this person’s family who usually cared for the person at home.

At the time of our visit, Pelham Grove Care Home did not charge top-up fees.

Summary

During our two-hour visit we observed that staff appeared friendly and treated residents with dignity and respect; there seemed to be positive relationships between staff and residents. Residents also seemed to get along and to be happy in each other’s company.

The physical environment of the care home does seem to provide several challenges, and we felt that some of these could be managed by targeted investment and design. Some of the challenges are related to the physical layout of the building such as areas with less natural light that would be difficult if not impossible to remedy.

Nevertheless, there were areas where we felt like improvements could be made such as in the upper lounge, to the flooring and to signage. We understand that financial and staffing challenges can impact on this work taking place and recent events at the care home such as the boiler leak and lift breakdown are likely have affected budgets.

Recommendations

We make the following recommendations for Pelham Grove Care Home

• Look to improve signage and navigation in areas working towards dementia-friendly standards to support residents moving around the home. This can help support residents to maintain as much independence as possible as they age.
• Continue with the building and decoration improvements already underway. The upstairs lounge could do with a makeover and one room was unavailable due to works needed to identify and repair an odour.

• Discuss menu options with residents as one resident advised they found it “a bit samey”. The residents we spoke to including this person did seem happy with the quality of the food, however. Consider options for making menus more dementia friendly so residents can read it more easily.

  Resources:
  www.alzheimers.org.uk/dementia-professionals/resources-professionals/re…

Positives and good practice

We found during our visit to Pelham Grove Care Home examples of positives and good practice which included but were not limited to:

• There were already examples of dementia friendly design in place such as the ‘Parrot wall’ seating area and visual signage in some areas such as those directing to toilets
• Staff at the care home have made the effort to build positive relationships with local partners such as Sefton Palm House and the dementia club at the local Policeman’s Club. This provides opportunities for residents to take part in activities away from the care home and link in with the community.
• The location of the care home near Sefton and Princes Park should provide plenty of opportunity for residents to access green spaces on their doorstep.

Response from Pelham Grove

We shared our report and recommendations to the manager at Pelham Grove who responded promptly and advised us below of the improvements underway at Pelham Grove. We thank management and staff at Pelham Grove for engaging with the Enter and View process.

• Both lounges have been decorated and new carpets for both lounges being fitted 30.07.25
• All corridors have been decorated, and doors painted different colour
• New dining room floor being fitted 30.07.25
• We have a paint and decorator here for 3 months and has been updating most of the home
• All corridor lights have been upgraded to new LED lights
• New bath has been fitted
• Menu – this menu has been done with all residents having there say about their likes and dislikes and we have incorporated this in the menu to suit all needs
• Food survey was carried out in January 25, and we discuss meals on residents’ meetings