care homes

Hi Debbie,

Nice to hear from you, I'll answer this more fully tomorrow night when I
am on a sleepover, nice to know you have registered.

Regards,

Mac.

I am not sure what position you are coming from - are you a carer, relative, volunteer or a job role that brings you into contact with the care home environment? I am an advocate, and as such try to give people in Care Homes a voice to express their experiences as recipents of care. I observe and listen and have raised issues of concern regarding dignity in this role. I feel it is important to be diplomatic but at the same time clear about the concern so that it can be discussed in the right setting. Confidentiality is also important - the last thing people want is to be belittled.

Glenys

I hope this is useful.

Concerns must always be raised although I agree diplomatically. Concerns are areas which need improving and care homes usually welcome them. However, it is also about how it is raised and in most cases concerns are successfully resolved. Care homes are changing and will continue to change. There are hundreds of good homes around.
 Dr. Taleb Durgahee

Palm Court Centre of Excellence in Dementia Care
PREFERRED PROVIDER OF DEMENTIA CARE FOR EAST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL
Provides Nurse Education and Overseas Nurse Programme
In Collaboration With Brighton University

17-19 Prideaux Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN21 2ND
Tel: 01323 721911
Fax: 01323 410244

www.palmcourtnursinghome.co.uk

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Hi Debbie

If you open this attachment you will find some key points, each with challenging questions to ask yourself about your service. (Pages 10-46) This is a very good general guide, and a good starting point. It does depend of course on your role within the home. If you are the manager, then you are in a position to influence things, in consultation with the owner if appropriate. If you are in any other capacity, then you must get your manager on side, and other staff. Don't go it alone.

You can bring anything up at a handover, or staff meeting, in theory, but in practice it might be better to become familiar with the guide mentioned above so that you can back up what you have observed with sound reasons why it should be improved. If you have not been working in the home long, you need to get a feel for how open it is to discussion and improvement. You might want to set up a group to look at each issue...there are lots of different ways to go, and alot you can do. Good luck.

Hi Debbie

Forgot to sign off on my previous message. Sorry! Sending again.

If you open this attachment you will find some key points, each with challenging questions to ask yourself about your service. (Pages 10-46) This is a very good general guide, and a good starting point. It does depend of course on your role within the home. If you are the manager, then you are in a position to influence things, in consultation with the owner if appropriate. If you are in any other capacity, then you must get your manager on side, and other staff. Don't go it alone.

You can bring anything up at a handover, or staff meeting, in theory, but in practice it might be better to become familiar with the guide mentioned above so that you can back up what you have observed with sound reasons why it should be improved. If you have not been working in the home long, you need to get a feel for how open it is to discussion and improvement. You might want to set up a group to look at each issue...there are lots of different ways to go, and alot you can do. Good luck.

best wishes

Rose Fordham

Bingo and Beyond

Dear Rose

Thanks for your email, but there was no attachment - could you send it
please.

Thanks,

Debbie
best-care-home.co.uk
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rose Fordham" <[log in to view email address]>
To: <[log in to view email address]>
Sent: Friday, July 03, 2009 12:04 PM
Subject: Re: care homes

Hi Debbie

www.scie.org.uk/publications/guides/guide15

The attachment is awaiting approval, but if you viisit the site above, you can access it yourself. I thought it would be quicker to attach it, but obviously not!

Regards

Rose Fordham

Hello Claire
you might find this of interest

For many older people living in care settings, going out of th front door can be a rare event. But, for prisoners in the UK it is a requirement that every individual spends an hour a day outside. It is not surprising that levels of depression are as high as 60% in care homes for people who are spending large parts of the day in th same chairs in overly heated lounges

The NAPA Breath of Fresh Air Annual challenge is therefore inviting care homes to open their doors and windows to new experiences including for those who are physically frail of have dementia.

NAPA has produced a helpful resource '101 Ways to enjoy a Breath of Fresh Air' and aims to raise awareness of the importance of activity at the heart of good care.

For more information email [log in to view email address] or visit www.napa-activities.co.uk

Also Help the Aged have an initiative caleed My Home Life which is all about the Quality of Life of older people in care settings http://www.myhomelife.org.uk/

I have also attached one of our leaflets which might be of help

hi. I am a senior carer in a nursing home. We also have a EMI unit. To get started as a dignity champion i put posters up, this to make visitors and families aware that dignity is important to promote when dealing with every day activities. The care staff are split into groups with a leader in each group.Organised meetings are taken with the manager and leaders to discuss how to best promote dignity. This also gives us the chance to exchange information or problems that may arise.Its feedback that helps to ensure the best care.Then each leader communicates to their group the outcome of the meeting.I also display booklets, cards and leaflets. There is never to much information.

Hi Joyce
What an excellent way to handle the workforce and spread Dignity Awareness. I think this would be good practice for all Care environments and Nursing Homes to pursue, not just EMI units.

I think this could be a way forward to promote the importance of treating people with respect and to encourage staff to actually take notice and use these teachings in practice. It sounds as though it's working for you, so it could work everywhere.

It's refreshing to hear that you spend so much time and effort ensuring that your residents are treated well, and not just satisfying the criteria and ticking boxes.

Excellent adivice! Thank you.

Regards

Sally

I am very interested in your work to promoted dignity awareness because, as a non-NHS dignity champion I am currently preparing to go into the local hospital in Colchester to talk with the geriatric nurses about how they are perceived by the patients and their relatives.

I would welcome any advice on how to approach the nurses without appearing to be critical of their work. I would imagine you had to overcome that problem when you first started your group work.

I'm so glad to hear that Dignity Champions are spreading. So much good can come from this. I don't really have time right this min to answer but we have a website which is trying to promote Dignity Champions in the Care Home industry www.comparecarehomes.com all 5 Directors are registered as Dignity Champions and we hoped that the site itself could qualify. It is worth a look if you get chance.

HI,
Good to see this site. I have looked at it before as we were deciding about supporting it - which we (A Dignified Revolution) have done.

Would be good to do one for each hospital with their latest CQC or HiW inspection report.

One suggestion for the care homes site - would it be useful to include a column where the viewer can click on the latest inspection report?

Regards,

Lorraine
A Dignified Revolution.

Hi Lorraine,

Thanks for the positive feed back. Any support you offer would be greatly recieved. We have considered including such information, it was suggested to be part of phase two of our website upgrade. I will make a point of raising it again at the next meeting with the Directors.

I'm glad you like the site, so much work has gone into it over the last year. You see, my Grand Mother needed to go into a care home and the difficulties we experienced finding a suitable home and the funding for it inspired nearly every aspect of our site.

Our long-term goals are to one day influence positive change in the care indusrty.

www.comparecarehomes.com

www.comparecarehomes.com

Palm Court opens Copper Beech House this week.
 
 PALM COURT CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE IN DEMENTIA CARE, 17 PRIDEAUX ROAD, EASTBOURNE, EAST SUSSEX, BN21 2ND    TEL: 01323 721911

As experts, Palm Court knows a person with dementia responds to people, to circumstances and to environments. Copper Beech House (CBH) encapsulates this ethos. 
CBH is a new private luxury house to enable people with Dementia to live well in comfort and healthy surrounding with nursing expertise. Our mission is to enhance the quality of life of people living with dementia.  CBH is purpose built with high specifications and  managed by experts in Dementia Care. Care is powered by Kitwood Model and is strongly person-lead. We have innovated an imaginative Interactive Relationship Care Plan  to uphold personhood, humanity and enhancers of interactions. Our creative approach is being evaluated by University of Norway. Our care standards is second to none.
 
We hold Quarterly Relatives Meeting to examine care standards with full transparency and go beyond borders to take dementia care to a new level of excellence. A nurse with 20 years of experience cared for her mum with dementia for four years and this is what she had to say: 'Palm Court cares for my mum better than I have ever done'.
 
Our staff are reflective carers and celebrate the history of the person with dementia through life histories, engage in respectful pleasurable stimulation to promote renewal of self and personal growth.  
 
Please come and see our new development and give us your thoughts.

Dr. Taleb Durgahee
Director
Palm Court and Keller House Centres of Excellence in Dementia Care
PREFERRED PROVIDER OF DEMENTIA CARE FOR EAST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL

Provides Nurse Education and Overseas Nurse Programme
In Collaboration With Brighton University. Member of the Mirror Project in Reflective Learning at work with University of Norway. A Partner of Northampton University

17-19 Prideaux Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN21 2ND http://www.palmcourtnursinghome.co.uk
Tel: 01323 721911    

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE
The contents of this e-mail are confidential to the ordinary user of the e-mail address to which it was addressed and may also be privileged.  If you are not the addressee of this e-mail you may not copy, forward, disclose or otherwise use it or any part of it in any form whatsoever.  If you have received this e-mail in error please e-mail the sender by replying to this message.
PPleaseconsider the environment before printing this e-mail.
 

This isn't exactly care homes, but the recent care of the elderly debate has prompted a letter on p 27 of today's Times which mirrors my own experience of the uselessness of the NHS compaints process, when one wishessto raise 'concerns' about the service provided. Here is the letter;

Sir, What really worried me, when I observed and experienced terrible lapses of care in a hospital, was that the hospital was not interested in the things I'd seen going wrong. It was fixated on my making an official complaint, which would have taken up to six months and which required names of nurses, times and dates of incidents, and so on.
What I had experienced was day by day lack of care, lack of training and general incompetence. The hospital should have thanked me for drawing the problems to its attention. Instead it put up barriers to prevent people from telling it what's wrong.
Until hospitals welcome feedback, however painful they might find it, they will never improve the quality of their care.

Susan Taylor, Sherbourn In Elmet, Leeds

Now, once one enters the formal complaints process, all of the staff invovled become primarily 'personally defensive' (ie ' if someone gets blamed, it won't be me' is their attitude). If one raises an issue informally, usually it isn't taken 'seriously'. This is a very significant problem, which hampers NHS bodies from improving by listening to feedback from patients and relatives !

Do we need to make an appointment to view?

No just turn up or give me a call on 07886131518
 
Look forward to seeing you.
 
Palm Court takes next step in high quality care with Copper Beech House.

'Palm Court cares for my mum better than I have ever done'. 

The daughter of one of our residents praised the expertise and quality of care during our Quarterly Relatives' Meeting. Even though she is a nurse herself with 20 years experience, and had looked after her mother for four years, she said 'Palm Court cares for my mum better than I have ever done'.

Our expertise has not only been acknowledged by relatives of our residents but also by the University of Norway. The Faculty of Health and Social Care has taken a keen interest in our innovative approach to stimulate the mind and invigorate the body with Palm Court's Interactive Relationship Care Plan. A team of researchers have visited Palm Court twice in the last six months. 

It is with this recognition that Palm Court has opened Copper Beech House, a new private luxury house dedicated to ensuring people with dementia live in comfort with the highest level of nursing expertise. We want to continue our ethos to enhance the quality of life of people living with dementia, using Kitwood Model to empower our residents.

Copper Beech House, purpose built with high specifications including a hair salon (with full time stylist), is managed by a team of experts in Dementia Care with a total of more than a hundred years of experience. We are reflective carers and celebrate the accomplishments of each of our residents and their family life. 

You are personally invited to come and experience Copper Beech House and give us your thoughts. 
Dr. Taleb Durgahee
Director
Palm Court and Keller House Centres of Excellence in Dementia Care
PREFERRED PROVIDER OF DEMENTIA CARE FOR EAST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL

Provides Nurse Education and Overseas Nurse Programme
In Collaboration With Brighton University. Member of the Mirror Project in Reflective Learning at work with University of Norway. A Partner of Northampton University

17-19 Prideaux Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN21 2ND http://www.palmcourtnursinghome.co.uk
Tel: 01323 721911    

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE
The contents of this e-mail are confidential to the ordinary user of the e-mail address to which it was addressed and may also be privileged.  If you are not the addressee of this e-mail you may not copy, forward, disclose or otherwise use it or any part of it in any form whatsoever.  If you have received this e-mail in error please e-mail the sender by replying to this message.
PPleaseconsider the environment before printing this e-mail.
 

Age UK have My Home Life which is about increasig the quality of life in care homes which is all related to dignity http://myhomelifemovement.org/
The attached docuent is focused on hospital care but some of the issues are as relevant to residential care and nursing homes. It is important to be aware that some practices are not just poor practice but might constitute abuse e.g.using incontinence pads rather than helping people to use the toilet/commode, not helping with food and fluids when required

This is a very serious situation. Elders live in Care homes for safety. If you want to be renowned in this field, then your work can do it. Field of <a href="http://www.carehomestoday.co.uk/">Care Homes</a> is all about passions, affection and sympathy. If you have a staff with skilled person and they behave well with the residents, then it will generate goodwill automatically.

Until staff are aware what dignity means they will be unable to promote it. I think that more understanding of human rights and how it feels to have these rights removed can only promote better services. I belive that training involving role play can be much more successful as staff are able to understand more, how loss of rights and dignity can impact on a servce users well being and self esteem.Where you see lack of dignity it is important to guide others and lead by example, where this is unsuccessful it is important to report concerns to management so that improvements can be made.

I agree 100 0/0
------Original Message------
From: Rochelle Monte
To: Jo McCowey
ReplyTo: [log in to view email address]
Subject: [Dignity Champions Discussion Forum] - Re: care homes
Sent: 27 Dec 2011 20:18

Until staff are aware what dignity means they will be unable to promote it. I think that more understanding of human rights and how it feels to have these rights removed can only promote better services. I belive that training involving role play can be much more successful as staff are able to understand more, how loss of rights and dignity can impact on a servce users well being and self esteem.Where you see lack of dignity it is important to guide others and lead by example, where this is unsuccessful it is important to report concerns to management so that improvements can be made.