Saxonwood care home, Battle

"I started working in care in 2010 and worked my way from Care Assistant, through senior care roles, Deputy Manager to finally being the Care Home Manager.

I am passionate about my work. I enjoy the variety of meeting new people and supporting them at time when they need help and reassurance. I absolutely love bringing energy and creativity to every activity and watch how residents’ faces light up. 

Residents are at the very centre of our family.  Everything I do is with their wellbeing and happiness in mind.  Each member of our team is dedicated in giving the best care and making a positive difference to residents’ lives every day."

Sigita Kaleja, Care Home Manager

At Saxonwood we have a range of roles including; a deputy manager, administrator, senior care assistants, care assistants, chef manager, cook, kitchen assistant, domestic, laundry assistant, handy man and activities co-ordinator. All of our employees receive manditory training, regular one to one supervision meetings and have DBS checks. 

We meet the CQC requirements for the expected ratio of residents to carers and we have waking night carers so residents receive personalised care 24 hours a day.

Our teams are supported by our 24 hour call bell system and associated assisted technology that is in place throughout the home.

Our mission, to help people live their later life to the full, means we place great emphasis on our daily activities. We know how important activities are for the wellbeing of each resident and their quality of life.

We have dedicated activities co-ordinators in each of our care homes who create a fun and varied daily activities programme to reflect the current choices of our residents. Activities may be group or individual sessions, dependent on individual residents' requirements.

Activities are arranged each morning and afternoon, in addition to residents coming together to socialise or enjoy hobbies of their own. Residents enjoy trips out and spending time in the beautiful gardens surrounding each home.

We know that meal times are an important part of the day for our residents and we take great pride in offering a seasonal daily menu which has a selection of delicious, nutritionally balanced meals throughout the day.

Residents choose on the day what they would like from the menu and the chef prepares all meals with fresh ingredients. We cater for individual dietary requirements and personal preferences, and we’re proud to have been awarded five stars for our food hygiene.

We serve refreshments including tea, coffee, biscuits and homemade cake each morning and afternoon. We have a fruit bowl and juice bar for residents to enjoy throughout the day.

Residents meet regularly with our Chef Manager to give their feedback and make suggestions for new menus.

All four care homes have a 5* food hygiene award.     

If you or your loved one decide to make a permanent move into one of our care homes you will have your own room. We encourage residents to personalise their room with their own belongings so they can create a homely feel and make it their own. 

For example, you can bring your own bed, furniture, chairs, pictures and television. The majority of our rooms are en-suite and we also have a few double rooms which can accommodate two people.

Each room has a telephone connection so residents can have their own landline number and wi-fi. We also have guest wi-fi access throughout our care homes. Every room has a television aerial and an emergency call system in the bedroom and bathroom. We also offer residents a pendant to wear which is linked to the call system.

Engaging and involving our residents is important to us. We constantly seek ideas, feedback and suggestions from our residents and their family in order to continuiously improve our service. Here are some of the more formal ways we gain feedback: 

Resident meeting - Our residents meet regularly with our care home manager, they share feedback, staff updates and plan events.

Catering meeting - We hold catering meetings with our chef manager so residents can feedback about our dishes and make suggestions for the menu.

Resident satisfaction survey - Every year we formally ask residents for their feedback in a questionnaire. This is annonymous feedback about all areas of our service.

Relative satisfaction survey - It’s important that relatives or next of kin have the opportunity to share their feedback too. We conduct a questionnaire with relatives every year about our service.

We are very proud to have received a platinum award from the RSPCA for our pet friendly policy and we embrace the difference pets can make to our residents.

We are in our fifth consecutive year of winning a Housing Footprints award. This accolade shows that the RSPCA recognise our approach to promoting responsible pet ownership and how we acknowledge the positive difference animals can make to our residents. We have 109 pets living among our 800 residents, the majority of which live with residents who occupy our rented sheltered housing and leasehold properties. 

We have pet policy which is available for you to read. Pet Policy v2 2018 [pdf] 349KB

"I had just lost my husband when I needed to move home so it was really important for me to find a housing association that was dog friendly so I could bring Lizzie, my west highland terrier, with me. I couldn’t bear to lose another member of my family.

Having Lizzie gives me a purpose to life, I go out walking with her everyday which helps me to keep physically and mentally fit. It means I have something in common with other residents and we have a good chat. Sussex Housing & Care’s pet policy is clear and I know my responsibilities as a pet owner.”

Resident from Nevill Court, Crowborough.