Residents at Leonard Lodge care home in Brentwood, Essex are celebrating after it performed strongly in a nationwide survey of care home residents and their family members and friends.

The results, launched today, show Leonard Lodge was given an Overall Performance Rating (OPR) score of 933 out of 1,000 by residents, an improvement of 18 points from last year, and 879 by their family members and friends, an improvement of 51 on last year.

Now in its sixth year, the Your Care Rating survey is the country’s largest and most authoritative survey of care home residents and now of their families and friends as well.

The nationwide survey gives residents and their families and friends a voice, putting their care at the heart of understanding more about how well care homes perform.

Over 16,700 residents in 820 care homes across the UK responded to the Residents’ survey, which achieved a 41% response rate.

Meanwhile, 48 per cent of relatives and friends of residents living at 686 homes responded to the Family and Friends’ survey.

Each care home achieved an Overall Performance Rating and four statistically derived ‘theme’ scores (‘Staff and Care’, ‘Home Comforts’, ‘Choice and Having a Say’, and ‘Quality of Life’) based on residents’ responses to all questions in the survey.

Care homes participating in the Family and Friends’ survey achieved a separate Overall Performance Rating and four theme scores (mirroring those of the Residents’ survey).

Leonard Lodge achieved scores of 975 for ‘Quality of Life’ and 941 for ‘Choice and Having a Say’ meaning the residents of Leonard Lodge highly rate the standard of care they receive for ‘Quality of Life’ and ‘Choice and Having a Say’.

Their friends and families rated the standard of care for ‘Quality of Life’ and ‘Choice and Having a Say’ with scores of 930 and 916 respectively.

Tibi Ionescu, General Manager at Leonard Lodge care home said: “It’s great that not just our residents, but their families and friends value the care they receive at Leonard Lodge.

"Most of our scores across the four themes are really positive, which shows that life for our residents is happy and fulfilling and is recognised by their loved ones.

"While we’re really pleased with our scores, we obviously want to get even better and the survey helps us do that by giving us direct resident and friends and family feedback.

"Families can also see at a glance which care homes are committed to raising standards and being transparent as they take part in the survey. Every care home resident, and their family and friends, should be able to speak up about their care and this is what the Your Care Rating survey does – it gives them a voice.”

Leonard Lodge care home is run by Barchester Healthcare, one of the UK’s largest care providers, which is committed to delivering high-quality care across its care homes and hospitals.

Leonard Lodge provides nursing care and specialist dementia care for 60 residents from respites to long term stays.

All of this year’s results for every care home surveyed are displayed on the Your Care Rating website (www.yourcarerating.org).

The website also shows how homes that took part in the survey last year performed.

All of this helps families and potential residents who are choosing a care home for a loved one by giving them vital information on what the current residents and their loved ones actually think of each home and the standard of care.

The survey was compiled by leading research company Ipsos MORI with input from the care home operators taking part, plus the National Care Forum and Care England. This means the survey is the most authoritative of its type, and is also the country’s largest, capturing more views of residents than any other.