Case Study - Andover Care Home improved their Food Hygiene Rating from 1 STAR to 5 STAR within a few

Case Study – A Care Home in Andover, Hampshire

Cibus’ Jennifer North explains in her own words how she was able to turnaround a care home’s food hygiene rating from 1 Star to 5 Star within 12 weeks. By applying Jennifer's 30 years industry experience and a structured approach Jennifer was able to engage the care home team to ensure compliance and hit the food hygiene rating target they were all aiming for.

‘I was approached by the owner of an existing care home in my local town of Andover He had recently purchased the premises and was concentrating on upgrading and renewing the premises, when he had an unexpected visit from the Environmental Health Officer (EHO) and had been shocked to receive a 1 Star food hygiene rating. This was potentially damaging to his own personal reputation and worse still a potential risk to his vulnerable residents.

On my first visit I got to work finding out about the owner’s wants, needs and set expectations of what I would achieve for the care home. We agreed an action plan and time frame in order to arrange a re-inspection and to achieve a 5 star rating.

During my next visit to the care home I spent time getting to know the kitchen staff, carers and nurses. At some point everyone involved prepared food for the residents and understandably they were nervous of why I was there and what would happen! When I reviewed the business’s food safety process documentation, everybody was extremely helpful in explaining their involvement and keen to help the owner.

From my second visit I prepared a detailed report outlining what needed to be accomplished, the time frame to completion and the allocation of specific tasks to key staff members. It’s very important that all actions are completed by the business to ensure that the food safety documentation is a real life reflection on what is being practiced (good or bad news) every day.

This can only be done if everybody involved plays their part and management take responsibility for ensuring it happens. This is a key point within an EHO inspection.

Following a further two visits I undertook food safety training with all staff as well as a full review of the food safety management system documentation.

The outcome and good news is that we achieved a 5 star rating within 12 weeks. The business owner was delighted and so was I'