Glenholme Care Home in Spalding has officially opened and welcomed its first resident

Glenholme Care Home has welcomed its first resident after it officially opened last week.

The impressive new premises, on Halmer Gate in Spalding, were constructed over the past 18 months, and feature the likes of a hair salon, bistro bar and a mini-golf course.

Manager Jude Reeve is delighted to have finally opened her doors after being given the green light by the Care Quality Commission.

This involved tests to ensure the environment is suitable, as well as a fit persons interview for Jude.

“It’s been such a long journey, but necessary,” she told the Lincolnshire Free Press.

“It’s full steam ahead and now all the hard work starts. It’s all good to go.

“Everything that’s worthwhile is worth waiting for, so now it’s about getting it right and making sure that everyone living here has the best quality of life.”

Glenholme’s first resident made his move to the care home last Wednesday, and Jude says he has settled in nicely.

“He’s loving it. There are more care staff than residents, so he’s in a really good position at the minute,” she said.

The home will be taking their time to move in residents, and plan for their next tenant to join them this week. A couple more will be then joining the Glenholme family next week.

By the end of October, staff aim to have around 12 residents living at the home.

With her vision finally having been realised, Jude cannot wait for what the future holds.

“This is a really exciting project,” she said.

“There’s lots of scope to do different things if we choose to, working with commissioners and the community.

“There are some exciting projects going on in Lincolnshire.

“I come from Cambridgeshire, where we didn’t have those.”

She says these projects involve setting up telecommunications with local surgeries to create a ‘blue box’, which gives GPs real-time information on residents’ vital signs.

With strict Covid-19 guidelines still in place at the home, all staff have been required to be double vaccinated before beginning work.

An official grand opening celebration therefore won’t take place until 2022.

“Our staff have signed up to say that when it’s due, they’ll get their booster jab as well as the flu jab,” Jude said.

However, mandatory vaccinations cannot be enforced on residents because of possible underlying health conditions.

But Jude says she has yet to come across one who hasn’t wanted it.

Glenholme will be kicking off a series of community coffee mornings next month, with non-residents welcome.

Their first will be Halloween-themed and will take place on October 29.