West Eaton has been rated as OUTSTANDING by the Care Quality Commission following their inspection in August 2026. This is a fantastic achievement and thoroughly deserved by the West Eaton team who have such dedication and commitment and continually strive for excellence.
Our home manager Charmaine Denham said “Words can hardly express just how proud I am of our incredible team! To me, this rating is a wonderful confirmation of what our residents and their families have been telling us all along. Most of all, it is such a great validation of the difference we are making every single day in enabling our residents to live their best lives.”
Hereford Growing Point Autumn Show
As is now an annual tradition, residents were very keen to take part in the Herefordshire Growing Point Autumn Show and this year entered 3 categories. Thank you to Liv from Creative Minds, Herefordshire and Angie from Herefordshire Growing Point for helping residents with their entries. Residents went along to the show - they loved seeing all the exceptional entries (assessing the competition!) and the good company and cake!
Thank you to Keith from Tenbury Transport Trust for taking us. We were delighted to win 2nd place in the "Birds on a Twig" category. Our prize was handed to us by the High Sheriff of Hereford, Tasmin Clive.
Other activities and celebrations
We had some fun celebrating Mexican independence day with enchiladas, dips, tacos and of course a pinata! Very therapeutic for residents thwacking the pinata and they did laugh so much at the sight of all our team with their Mexican moustaches! Check out this fantastic video https://www.facebook.com/reel/1751166482698583
We always have a lot of fun when Eddie Graham comes to play. Corrine Frost has also visited to play cello and we had an afternoon of song and dance with Rob on the guitar and Sylvia on keys and singing. The residents always sing and dance along with each other and forget everything else!
We are very fortunate to have Sue Wilkie, an Art Therapists, visiting us. She will be coming in for the next eleven weeks to spend time with residents on a one to one basis as well as group art sessions. We bought the outside in with our craft after going to pick leaves to inspire our clay pots. We pressed the leaves into the clay to get texture, left them to dry and them painted them in autumnal colours. This was a really fun one to get involved in.
Baking and chef training
We celebrated Autumn, by picking blackberries in the glorious sunshine and making crumble for everyone to enjoy. Residents loved baking double chocolate cookies as a group and reminiscing about baking when they were little, talking about how sugar rations have changed over the years.
As part of our continual staff training the head chefs across our Heritage group came together for a fantastic day of training with Andy Cullum, better known as “The IDDSI Guy”. https://www.theiddsiguy.com/
The IDDSI (International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative) framework is a standardized global system that uses an 8-level continuum (0 to 7) to classify food textures and drink thicknesses for people with swallowing difficulties.
It is important for our chefs to ensure that the food they prepare meets the specific IDDDSI level for each resident, whilst keeping its flavour and appeal.
The session focused on gentler methods of cooking such as poaching, braising, stewing and steaming; all of which keep food tender and moist and enhance its flavour. The team discussed adapting recipes and shared ideas. Andy set up a discussion group so going forwards he could offer help and support and the team could share their recipe successes.
We are encouraging the team to share photos of any modified meals they serve to residents. A well-presented plate can make a real difference to how much someone enjoys their meal and how much they eat. Sharing photos is also a great way to celebrate skills, inspire each other and swap ideas across our homes.
A big thank you to Andy for such an engaging and practical day, to our Training Manager Charlie Bitchenor for organising the event and to all our head chefs for their enthusiasm and commitment to giving every resident a mealtime they can look forward to.
Coming up .....
For November, we are celebrating Guy Fawkes Night, with a fish and chip supper and fireworks, Diwali, with curries, sari’s, mehndi, and dancing and also Thanksgiving.
We are also remembering our fallen on Remembrance Day and we will be continuing with our Holy Communion Service on the1st Thursday of the month.