NURSING home residents and their families in Gwent will have the opportunity to air their views about the care they receive through a new project.

The Care Home Ask and Talk (CHAaT) project will involve a small team of volunteers – all members of Gwent’s NHS Retirement Fellowship – visiting the area’s nursing homes to encourage residents to talk about their experiences.

The aim is to identify good practice, and provide valuable information about how residents feel about their care.

Volunteers will work closely with senior nurses from Aneurin Bevan Health Board’s complex care team to find out whether a particular care home is a positive option for older people.

“We want to find out from chatting to residents what their experience is of being in a care home,” said CHAaT volunteer Margaret Went, a former ward sister at St Woolos Hospital in Newport.

“People who talk to them about these sorts of things are usually officials and inspectors, but we are completely independent of that. They might be happier to talk to us about things they do not want to talk to staff about, and it should help communication.”

Feedback from residents is intended to complement information picked up through statutory monitoring of care homes.

CHAaT will help the health board in its role as a commissioner of healthcare, and nursing director Denise Llewellyn said it “will give older people the opportunity to speak about their experiences, providing rich patient experience data in the areas of autonomy, choice, care, dignity, privacy and respect.”

“CHAaT fully supports our dignity and patient experience agenda and recommendations for the care of older people made by the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales,” she said.

Another CHAaT volunteer is Barbara Davies, a retired superintendent physiotherapist, who worked in the NHS for 40 years.

She said CHAaT “is a great opportunity to provide older people with a safe and independent ear where they can openly discuss their care and experiences.”

“There are many examples of really good care, so our feedback will be used not only to make improvements, but also to share best practice with other care homes,” she said. CHAaT launches formally tomorrow.