This is a copy of a letter sent to CQC- names have been removed for confidentiality.

My name is **.  My  mum, **, sadly passed away in October, 2021 at the Crantock Lodge Residential Care Home, Newquay where she had been a resident since January 2020.

As a family my sister J** and brother M**  feel like me ,incredibly privileged that mum was able to spend the final 19 months of her life in such a caring and professional environment.  As such, I felt compelled to write to you to highlight the wonderful care that my mum received at this exceptional care home and to express our deep and overwhelming respect and admiration for the management and all the staff at Crantock Lodge. 

It is one of the most difficult decisions for a family to make when the mum they love so dearly is no longer able to live independently and they have to find a care home.  But from the moment  mum entered this particular care home she was made to feel welcome and part of the ‘Crantock Lodge Family’. 

All members of staff without exception took the time within those vital first few weeks of mum moving there to get to know her, to understand her personality, her needs and her insecurities.  They simply made it their mission to bond with her and that enabled mum to be able to very quickly feel happy, comfortable and secure in her new home.

Last year during the Covid-19 pandemic despite the huge strain that was inevitably put on the care home staff, nothing was ever too much trouble for the manager, Kimberley Oakley-Davis, the assistant manager Emma Oakley or indeed any of the amazing staff at Crantock Lodge.

When mum became bed bound last year and it was apparent that a specialist hoist was required to enable the staff to be able to safely move mum in and out of bed, top priority was placed on acquiring this equipment and in finding a larger bedroom for mum within the home.

Throughout the 19 months that mum resided at Crantock Lodge, there were many many examples of situations where the staff went above and beyond what we as a family would have expected of them.  Whether it be simply taking the time at the end of a long shift to go back and sit with mum again for a while and chat.  The staff were well aware that my brother and I did not live close to Newquay and they would have known how very much mum would miss not being able to see us especially during the pandemic and not being able to have that physical contact.  Or, on hearing that mum was partial to a particular cake or packet of crisps, they would personally go out of their way to get it for her when they were next off duty.  Simple things, but immensely important things that showed they genuinely cared.  When mum started to have difficulty eating and her appetite waned, the cooks would go to extraordinary lengths to tempt mum to eat by preparing individual meals often pureed, once again going above and beyond what would have been expected.

Living far away from mum in London was hard for me particularly during the pandemic when it was simply not possible for myself and other family members to visit mum.  But the staff always encouraged me to speak with mum on Facetime at any time and it was never ever too much trouble for them to set up the Ipad in mum’s room so that we could speak and have that connection. 

To not be able to physically see mum, to know that her care and welfare was in the hands of other people was especially hard.  But it is testimony to the ethos of the care home and the total faith and trust I had in the staff at Crantock Lodge, that I and the rest of the family all had total peace of mind and confidence in the care and support mum was receiving there.  I cannot put into words how much that meant to us as a family and how priceless and rare it was to feel like that.

So in summary, when I reflect back at mum’s time at Crantock Lodge I am filled with an overwhelming sense of gratitude.  I am immensely grateful  for the care and dignity that the staff showed to mum, grateful for the genuine love and support they gave her and grateful for making the last 19 months of her life so happy in what were unprecedented times with the pandemic and under  such difficult circumstances.

I cannot speak highly enough of Crantock Lodge Residential Home.  The manager and assistant managers lead by example and this I believe is why the care home is so very special because these two people, Kimberley Oakley Davis and Emma Davis are themselves exceptionally special.  I believe their unique way of caring for all the residents at the home is reflected in the staff they have recruited over the years.  Every single member of staff are in our eyes indeed very special.

In the final two weeks of my mum’s life when I spent many hours at Crantock lodge at my mum’s bedside, I witnessed first hand the compassion, kindness and humanity of the staff.  Simply put, I was literally blown away by the degree of caring that I saw from each and every one of the staff.   It was clear to me that this was not just a job for them, this was not just a workplace, it was a vocation for them, a calling, and they saw Crantock Lodge as their home as well and this was reflected in how they treated the residents.

Crantock Lodge Residential Care Home is a ‘Home from Home’ and as a family we could not recommend it more highly.

Kind regards,

*******