Castle Grove Retirement and Nursing Home situated in the Devon village of Bampton has been established since 1985. It has from that time developed into a centre of excellence in the delivery of health and social care for the elderly and retired. Established within four acres of grounds, it has all the facilities of a highly graded country house hotel together with the full extent of nursing care.

Castle Grove, a member of the Registered Nursing Home Association, is dual registered and provides 24 hour care of 19 residents as well as servicing a number of sheltered housing units and day care facilities. In addition to the two working proprietors, 30 staff are employed, most of whom are qualified nurses, care assistants or are working towards qualifications.

Castle Grove as an Investor in People:

The Investor in People standard is based on four principles of a National Standard:

Commitment: to staff training and development in order to achieve its aims and objectives.

Planning: a business plan embracing all facets of the business. This should contain the aims and objectives and what staff need to do to achieve them.

Action: an Investors in People develops its staff effectively in order to improve its performance.

Evaluation: in order to understand the impact of its investment in people on its performance.

Castle Grove was first recognised as an Investor in People in 1996 and subsequently in 1999 and 2003. The following are extracts from the latest assessment carried out by Prosper (the Devon & Cornwall TEC):

THE NATIONAL STANDARD

COMMITMENT "The broad aims and vision are encapsulated within a Mission statement which is highly visible throughout the house. This provides the focus for resident care plans, quality, training and development within the home."

PLANNING "Planning is both thorough and effective. The current business plan embraces all facets of the business and is used as a management tool to progress the business forward." "Training targets are set in line with client group individual care plan needs, NMC Post-Registration Practice requirements and Social Services and Health Authority joint inspectorate requirements. Castle Grove exceeds all minimum requirements" "There are qualified assessors in Care and in Food and Beverage Preparation and qualified trainers in Manual Handling."

ACTION "All new joiners undergo induction training." "All senior staff are either trained trainers, NVQ assessors or both. Their effectiveness is measured by the proprietors through appraisals. The general working environment is very supportive with managers and peers actively involved through on-job coaching, mentoring and assessing which is continuous providing all employees with a high degree of job satisfaction and feeling of self-worth"

EVALUATION "Evaluation is meaningful and well focused on measuring knowledge gained and improvements in performance. The NVQ assessment process is rigorous and measures both underpinning knowledge and subsequent practice" "Morale appears to be extremely high with equity, equality and group dynamics emerging as key motivational factors"

"Training programmes and development have helped Castle Grove to: