About Furze Hill House in North Walsham

Furze Hill House is a 40-bed residential care home in North Walsham. We offer residential care for older people, including those who are living with dementia. We offer both permanent and respite care, and care at the end of life.

At Furze Hill House all rooms have an en-suite, with other assisted bathrooms with accessible baths available. All rooms are fully furnished, with aerial and telephone access points. We believe it is important that residents enjoy a feeling of homeliness, so each resident is encouraged to personalise their room with their own belongings.

The dining room and main lounge are both located on the ground floor. There is also a first floor communal social area for residents and extended family to meet with their loved ones as well as hosting activities. Families are welcome to use these spaces too when they visit, including if they wish to host special occasions for their relatives.

The secure wheelchair-friendly landscaped garden, which has both paved and grassed areas, raised flower beds, and sensory beach area is accessed from the main lounge.

The main lounge is used for several activities including Bible devotional times and other activities such arts and crafts.

Relatives and friends are welcome to visit at any time during the day and there is the opportunity for them to purchase a meal in the home if they wish to do so, by prior arrangement.

For information about how much it costs to live at Furze Hill, download our fee sheet.

Caring and highly trained staff

The Registered Care Manager, who is regulated by the Care Quality Commission, and Business and Facilities Manager who are responsible for the dedicated team of over 40 staff members.

Typically, Furze Hill House has up to six carers and one team leader senior carer on shift every day and there are three carers on shift overnight.

We also have an Activities Leader, Maintenance Officer, Support Services Supervisor and Housekeepers who work in different parts of the home – four in the kitchen and a team of five carrying out cleaning throughout the home and within the laundry a laundry service. This team ensures that the home is always clean and well-presented and that those who live with us have a well-laundered wardrobe.

Pilgrims’ Friend Society puts in place excellent staff training, ensuring staff are equipped to the highest standards both in person and via our online learning portal, Access LMS. This allows staff to access National Vocational Diplomas alongside their in-house training. To keep those who live with us safe, we also provide all care staff training in Manual Handling to Level 2 which is accredited by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).

We are supported by a central team consisting of Operations, Property Services, Finance, Marketing and Communications, and Human Resources.

Person-centred care

It is important to us that those who live with us lead fulfilled lives through the excellent care and services we provide. Before someone comes to live with us, we meet with them to complete a full and comprehensive care needs assessment to identify what the individual care needs, interests, and choices are and to ensure we can meet them.

Once someone has moved in, a senior member of the care team will further discuss their needs with them (and/or their advocate) and will create an individually tailored electronic Care Plan which is easy to understand and covers everything relating to their personal care. It also records their social interests, personal relationships, hobbies, and emotional, spiritual and cultural needs.

The Care Plan is regularly reviewed by the senior care staff, together with the resident (and/or their advocate), to discuss any changes needed and to make sure all the resident's current needs are being met. We want those living with us to be involved in decisions and be able to discuss their affairs, alongside their relative or representative, knowing that information is kept strictly in confidence.

We support those who live with us to remain as independent as possible but our care team also provide support with activities such as bathing, dressing and mealtimes for those who need it. Residents can specify male or female care staff and, depending on the gender mix of the team, we will aim to meet this request.

Alongside the network of healthcare professionals, and with input from our specialist Care Leads and Catering Manager, a range of special diets and needs are catered for. We also have regular visits from a chiropodist and a hairdresser, and we can escort residents to appointments.

We meet regularly with those who live with us to talk about the activities and social life of the home, and their views are sought on every aspect of life in the home as part of our Quality Assurance system.

Whole person care in a family atmosphere

Our team