A closer look at Derwent Care Home

About Us

Derwent Care Home is situated in the hamlet of Low Westwood it was once known as Hamsterley colliery, after the large mining colliery situated to the south of the village by the south banks of the river Derwent. The colliery opened in 1864 and closed in 1968, the Colliery lay between Hamsterley and Low Westwood.

In the local village there is a regular bus service that commutes to nearby Consett, Newcastle city centre and the local Metro Centre which is one the largest shopping centre in the north east. The village also has a post office, hairdressers/barbers, church who we work very closely with a community centre and an Italian restaurant. Our GP surgery is situated along the road from our care home and they offer our resident’s a weekly ward round as part of their service.

Daily Life

Derwent Care Home is a registered 44 bedded home that provides care for older people with both general and dementia needs.

The home is spread over three floors that have access by stairs or a lift, all our bedrooms benefit from en-suite facilities and bedrooms are pleasantly furnished to ensure your comfort but we do encourage if you would like to bring in all your personal items to make your room feel more homely. We have access to the internet/skype which is available for all residents, family and friends. The home can provide daily and weekly newspapers and magazines delivered as requested, we also have a hairdresser who comes into our salon twice weekly and we can arrange visits from the local dentist, optician and podiatry services. Our staff are able to offer help and support with all daily tasks such as personal care help at mealtimes, help to complete letter writing and completing forms and documentation.

Within Derwent Care Home we have visiting clergymen of many denominations who can visit the home when requested. We have a dementia dance and exercise class that visit Derwent every other week this fills the home with lot of laughter and fun for all resident’s who take part in this class. These are only some of the many activities that we offer our residents on a daily basis we have a market stall every week, baking days, flowers arranging using flowers from our own flowers stall and have recently started our very own art class. We can arrange for small parties to be catered for if you would like to celebrate your loved one’s birthday or anniversary.

Dining

Our home has a warm and relaxing feeling and we welcome everyone who visits us with a smile we value your views and opinions on the service that we provide. We encourage family and friends to come and join their loved one to have a meal at our home where our chefs Carl and Yvonne provide nutritious and well-balanced meals. If requested we can arrange for you to meet up with the chef and discuss your choices of food. We can cater for your particular likes and dislikes offering alternative dishes to suit your tastes. We also provided vegetarian and vegan dishes if required. Hot and cold drinks are provided day and night along with snacks on request.

Who’s who?

Allison Donnelly is the home administrator at Derwent Care. She started work here in August 2007 and whilst the home was still being built she has always loved her role at Derwent and feel she has a very strong and well led team that makes Derwent a special place to work.

Kim Chambers is the manager at Derwent Care Home, who started work here in September 2007 and worked as a care assistant on our units. Throughout her time at Derwent she has worked her way up to become the manager in our home of which she takes great pride in, and all her staff team who are very dedicated and provide high care standards to all our residents.