Wales’ largest provider of housing, care and support services is celebrating a run of excellent inspection reports.
James Wadlow, Director of Care at Pobl Group, said that the Group is “challenging and changing the stereotypes often associated with care” as its services continue to receive “excellent” Care Inspectorate Wales ratings, having first celebrated a run of six in 2024 and since adding three more to the tally.
CIW (Care Inspectorate Wales) inspections, known for their stringent criteria, rate services from ‘Poor' to ‘Needs Improvement', ‘Good', and ‘Excellent'.
The most recent Pobl Care service visited by CIW saw inspectors praising Llys Y Seren, PoblGroup’s purpose-built residential care home near Port Talbot. It was rated “Excellent” in all four areas of “wellbeing” care & support” “environment” and “leadership and management”.
Inspectors described the service as “exceptionally well presented and maintained”, commenting that residents “experience enhanced well-being” and “are treated with dignity and compassion by a very dedicated care team who know them well and strive to do their best for people.”
James Wadlow said:
“As part of the inspection process, CIW speak with residents and their loved ones about their thoughts, feelings and experiences – and for this to be described by CIW as ‘exemplary' really is very special.
“Pobl Care is exceptional. It’s only the top level of services which get “excellent” ratings and we have achieved this consistently. For us, excellence is cultural – it is an embedded level of quality assurance – and that’s what I’m most proud of.”
Plas Bryn Rhosyn, one of Llys Y Seren’s sister services, also impressed the CIW inspectors with another “excellent” rating and more outstanding comments, in particular the description of the residential care home as a “very welcoming and homely service where there is a real family and wholesome atmosphere.”
The most recent Pobl Care supported living settings inspected by CIW were in Gwent, where the theme of “excellence” continued.
The inspectors commented:
“We observed staff providing very high quality care and support to people, they have excellent knowledge of their needs and wants and know how best to communicate with them.” And perhaps most crucially, “People who use the service rate it as excellent.”
The three most recent ratings have been followed by an ENRICH Cymru award for the most active research care home, which was presented to Plas Bryn Rhosyn at Senedd Cymru. The award comes as Pobl collaborates with partners Social Care Wales and ENRICH Cymru to develop a brand-new resource and training pack for front-line care workers across Wales.
James said:
“I don’t believe that care is recognised as it should be. We need adult social care more than ever. Without it, everything fails.”
