Here at Knowle Hill we have a fabulous community spirit, we’re not just a care home, we’re a part of the community.

There’s a church behind us, a local supermarket down the road and we’re part of a lovely village. We have links with the Lifestyle Centre which is right next door. It has a cafe and community centre, and our residents can go along to all sorts pf activities like the dementia cafe, knitting club, tea dances and residents and relatives can pop next door to the cafe. It’s a community hub and we love being next door. This is a friendly place to be in a nice area of Sheffield.

We have a visiting church who come in, we also have other local churches, we’ll support anyone’s religious needs.

We have our own minibus with dedicated drivers, they go out and about all over: to the seaside, to local places of interest like the Butterfly House, Yorkshire Wildlife Park, Rother Valley, The Deep, and out for fish and chips, to local friendship group, pubs, and for meals out.

Our hairdresser comes in once a week, we have someone come in to do nails and we’ve also have visits from the chiropodist, dentist, a GP surgery once a week, and we have fantastic district nurses.

We’ve very proud of our staff, we’ve got a consistent team, including people who’ve been here twenty years plus. They’re loyal and passionate about what they do, they genuinely care about the people that they look after. We’ve got a good CQC rating and we get lots of compliments from relatives, residents, and professionals.

Our home is laid out over three floors, all self contained with their own communal areas. We’ve got a family cafe, an activity room, and beautiful sheltered outdoor areas with our own pub. We have a beautiful view over Beighton valley, and lots of greenery around us.

Our rooms are all en-suite, with a sink and toilet. Bedrooms are fully furnished but people are welcome to bring their own furniture and make the room personalised to how they want it. We’ve got nice bright airy communal areas, and dining rooms where people can go and make a drink any time.

Food is freshly cooked on the premises by a committed well-trained team with many years of experience. Food is all home made from fresh produce, and all our cakes and pastries are home made. Snacks are available 24 hours a day, hot and cold. We cater for special diets, soft diets, diabetes, vegetarians, pescatarians, halal. We have a drinks trolley which is always out at our parties and events. Someone people have their own beer fridge in their room, others like their daily whisky or snowball.

Friends and family can visit any time with no restrictions, take their loved one out if they choose to. We want visitors to feel welcome, that’s why we created the family tearoom as a dedicated space.

We have two full time activity workers, they organise lots of themed events, Wild West, Jubilee and Coronation parties, birthdays, summer fetes, beach and seaside days, Easter and Christmas celebrations, Remembrance Day, St George’s day, plus all kinds of day to day activities - from bingo and dominoes to arts and crafts. We have  movement to music sessions  three or four times a week, and other chair based activities. We run reminiscence sessions, we have a knitting club and we have good links with local schools. We’re part of  part of Adopt a Care Home and we have a link with the local infant school, they come in once a week and do a variety of things with our residents. We do a Bake Off, pizza making, and movie nights. Some residents enjoy occupational activities, which can help them feel part of the home and that they have a sense of purpose here – and we’re happy if someone wants to help with the dusting!

Our approach to everything is person centred, everyone is different and an individual and we’ll get to know that person and find out what works for them. Familes can be worried that a care home will be regimental and institutionalised, and when they get here they see it’s not like that at all. This is our residents’ home, they can get up when they want, go to bed when they want, we’re here 24 hours. People can go out, into town, nip out to Tesco. Residents have access to outdoor areas, the doors downstairs are always open.

We are on first name terms with families, we get to know them, we have an open door policy, we  invite them to activities and special events and we’ve created welcoming areas for them to spend time in. We want family and friends to feel welcome and comfortable here and that they can come and talk to us about anything that’s on their mind.

We’re got a care plan coordinator who sees someone from their first contact right up until they’ve moved in.

People can come and stay for respite if we’ve got space. This might be to give family members a break, to allow for work to be done at a property, for an assessments, or as a taster session for someone to have the chance to see if this is the right home for them.

We have regular resident forums, and we run dementia training every two months. Our  staff do a lot of training, including specialist dementia training, first aid, safeguarding. We place a high value on well-trained staff and our team each do a total of 33 courses altogether.