Staff and residents celebrate 10 out of 10 Care Home Rating

THIS week staff at Acacia Court, a care home in Southport, have been celebrating a fantastic achievement, getting a Review Score of:- 10, based on:- 19 reviews within the last 2 years.

This is an extremely hard thing to manage and Lyndsay Rafferty, General Manager at Acacia Court told us that:- "We are absolutely delighted. Acacia Court has a Review Score of:- 10 out of 10. We have also received an overall Care Quality Commission (CQC) rating of:- 'Good.' Plus, we are now in the Top 20 Care Homes North West England 2025 on:- CareHome.Co.UK/Awards as well. All this is down to our people-focused care. Each individual resident is considered with regards to his or her individual needs. All of our staff have put a huge effort to accomplish this task and have made the work place as friendly and as welcoming as possible ever since I since I took over as General Manager. This has also meant our staff have become closer and its more of a family than a business, with both staff and residents looking forward to to the many activities we are putting on, like doing cookery courses and first aid course for residents. We have all put in a great deal of hard work, and went above and beyond to enrich the lives of our 'family' and in doing so we have also enriched our own work lives. We strive to continue with this winning format. From coming in on days off to celebrate a resident's birthday to supporting families of residents, our staff endeavour to make our care home a real home from home. We value and recognise the benefits of taking a time out. Both staff and residents often get time to enjoy simple things like taking a break and having a cuppa with each other for a good chat. All this goes a long way to make a fantastic environment for all our staff and residents. The team has worked so hard and come together in achieving this score and I am so proud of them."

This relaxed atmosphere could be seen by ourselves when we went in to Acacia Court, and it was backed up with comments from both by some of the 27 service users, members of staff, plus a few family members of residents, all of whom spoke to us about this fantastic achievement.

This is a short video interview with Lyndsay and her Deputy Manager.

It is also worth adding that some of the residents said they are looking forward to the home's Easter Bonnet Competition. Plus, the special activities for both St Patrick's day, and Mothering Sunday.

A representative for the care home also told us other activities this year will include:- trips to Blackpool, a Summer Fayre, Sunflower Race and more.

For more information about the Care home please visit:- BloomCare.Co.UK.

Should we bring back dog licences?

FOLLOWING on from our coverage about a fatal dog attack on a Sefton Coast conservation animal we have had quite a few comments from readers to our newsroom saying that it might be a good idea to reintroduce a dog licence to help curb irresponsible ownership.

Dog licences were originally abolished in 1987 after it was replaced by a series of dog control measures contained in the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. Ever since the licence requirement was removed, we have seen many calls to reintroduce it. One of those calls came in 2023, when a Parliamentary Petition ran for 6 months, ending on:- 18 March 2024 that said:- "We believe the current debate on specific dog breeds and the demands to ban and destroy them is wrong. We believe the issue is not dogs, but incapable and dangerous owners. A return to a dog licence scheme would ensure not just anyone can own a dog and these could be removed for those who commit cruelty, neglect, or put the public in dangerous situations. To own a dog of certain breeds (XL Bully etc) would require extensive training for a licence to be approved."

This petition only gained 1,168 of 10,000 signatures required to get a Government response.

Another was in the form of a report:- 'Pet Owner Report 2023,' that was carried out by Johnson's Veterinary Products, with 1,000 pet owners across the UK taking part. That report revealed that 71% of UK pet owners would be willing to pay for dog licences should it ever be reintroduced to deter irresponsible pet ownership.

What are your thoughts on this? Should we bring back Dog Licences? Would it help?

More about the attack can be read on our Mersey Newsbites page.

Let us know your thoughts on this news topic... Email our Newsroom at:- News24@SouthportReporter.Com or send us a message on:- Mastodon, Facebook, or Twitter.