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Silversprings care home in Brightlingsea added to our award winning portfolio

Richard Pearman, Development Director of Care UK commented: "I am delighted that we have agreed the takeover of Silversprings. This is a very well designed home with an already excellent local reputation which makes it the perfect addition to Care UK’s portfolio of 89 high quality nursing and residential homes around the UK.”

Care UK’s involvement with Silversprings was made in partnership with specialist healthcare investor MedicX which has acquired the care home and is leasing it to Care UK.

Tim Meggitt, Chief Operating Officer, MedicX, said: “I am delighted to announce this addition to the MedicX Healthfund portfolio. The property has been designed with market leading care in mind and this, coupled with a first class operator taking the lease, creates an extremely attractive property investment. Our appetite for similar investments remains strong.”

Built in 2009, Silversprings is an impressive, architect-designed home which is separated into three suites, each with its own spacious lounge and dining room, as well as a library, private treatment room, hairdresser and activity rooms. Residents’ bedrooms are light and airy, featuring modern dėcor, quality furnishings and en-suite facilities. Outside, the landscaped gardens include a vegetable plot, greenhouse and large sensory garden as well as nature walks where residents and their families enjoy looking after the home’s ducks, chickens and doves.

Within Silversprings’ safe, homely environment, residents will continue to receive the highest possible standard of care which includes residential and respite care as well as specialist care for those living with dementia, palliative care and end of life care. Residents will also benefit from Care UK’s innovative Activity Based Care (ABC) and the company’s pioneering work in dementia care and specialist training.

Lynda Appleby, Operations Director for Care UK, commented: “Silversprings is a fantastic home and this is an opportunity for the home to continue on its path of excellence. With one of the UK’s leading care providers at the helm, Silversprings residents and their families can be confident we will provide a consistent standard of care - care that is personalised, which treats each individual with dignity and respect and which helps to maintain their dignity, independence and freedom of choice.”

Care UK is planning to open more than 30 new homes over the next three years.

Kingsfield home launches new Dementia Support Group

The Kingsfield team created the drop-in service to offer support and information for both their residents’ relatives and people in the local community who are caring for someone with dementia. The launch of the new service marks national Dementia Awareness Week.

Care UK’s Theresa Dark said: “When you have a relative with dementia or are caring for a loved one at home it can be a stressful and worrying time and sometimes it helps to have someone to talk to.”

Theresa continued: “For many people, the idea of dementia holds many fears and a diagnosis can feel like the end of the world. But at Kingsfield we want to show people that this isn’t the case. With good care and advice life goes on.”

Anyone is welcome to go along to the drop-in sessions which will be held monthly on Tuesday evenings. The first session will be on 19th June from 6pm to 7.30pm and the friendly care team at Kingsfield will be on hand for an informal chat as well as a cup of tea or coffee and a biscuit.

Relatives and carers will also have the opportunity to meet and share experiences with other carers as well as hear from guest speakers from local groups who will be invited to speak about specific topics and answer questions.

Theresa said: “We decided to run the sessions in the evening as many carers and relatives work during the day which makes accessing support and advice more difficult for them. We believe this will be a hugely beneficial resource for the local community. Family and friends who provide care do a wonderful job and Care UK is committed to trying to make their lives a little bit easier.”

The Kingsfield Dementia Drop-in Centre is a free service and open to anyone in the area. Anyone wishing to come along should telephone Theresa on 01795 535550.

Crewe home gets ready for a right royal June of community fun and memories

Activities Coordinator Paula Chesworth has been working with the residents as they make plans to turn the Victoria Avenue home into a riot of colour. “Many of our residents love craft work and they are very creative. We have copied the Jubilee mascot and they are using it to create all sorts of decoration for our week of celebrations.”

On Friday 1st June, children from the Wistaston Green Primary School will be joining in a day of fun and ceremony at the home. Paula said: “The children are making a collage for our foyer that shows their thoughts and impressions of the Queen and the Jubilee. Some of them will be coming along to join the residents in a tree planting ceremony to commemorate the anniversary.”

The children will be joined in their visit by local MP Edward Timpson, as well as by the residents’ friends and relatives. During the afternoon, a time capsule will be buried that contains residents’ memories of the last 60 years. As well as recollections of other jubilees and royal events, the capsule contains personal memories and captures social history, such as how much a pint of milk cost in 1952 and what the container looked like.

On Sunday 3rd June, there will be more celebrations with a street party and entertainers as well as a royal presence. Paula explained “The Hope House charity shop in Nantwich is loaning us an outfit that looks just like one of the Queen’s. We are borrowing a mannequin to dress up so we can feel Her Majesty is with us in spirit!”
A queen is not a queen without her guards and so Paula and the residents are making sentry boxes where they can stand their own guards.

As well as a special street party tea, there will be a large cake decorated with the Jubilee emblem. Home manager Sarah Evans said: “Everyone is looking forward to it. The celebrations contain all our residents’ favourite things, visits from school children, a sing-along with the accordionist, a chance to remember street parties from yesteryear and lots of cake!”

Excited Essex residents say goodbye to their old home and hello to the new

Care UK made it a special priority to ensure that residents and their relatives were not only consulted thoroughly and sensitively, but also took an active part in helping to design the new home – which has been named Colne View.

The new home, which is close to the centre of Halstead in Essex, has been specifically designed to ensure residents can enjoy the highest standards of comfort and facilities. It boasts a retro-themed room, library, coffee shop, hair and beauty salon and cinema, all based around its own indoor ‘village centre ’ which evokes a typical Essex village. This innovative central area will help residents to catch up with family and friends, whatever the weather.

The residents, who also chose individual décor for their new rooms, were very excited about the move. Bill Bolitho, the resident who has lived for the longest period of time at Halstead Lodge, was given the honour of locking up the old home for the very last time before travelling to his new home at Colne View.

Bill said: “I was overwhelmed. Everything is better, including the food, and everything seems very favourable.”

Heather Choat, who manages the new home in Colchester Road, said: “Everyone was very excited about the move and it went without a hitch. We did it over a period of three days to ensure no one was stressed and residents were also reassured by the fact that the Halstead Lodge team members moved to Colne View with them.”

“My team members are very excited about the move as the home has been purpose-built to ensure they can help residents lead an active life, keeping up their hobbies and interests. We know from Halstead Lodge that many of our residents enjoy gardening, while others just enjoy spending time in the garden, so we have constructed special gardens. Residents will enjoy patios with raised flowerbeds, lawned areas and a vegetable/herb garden that we hope will also provide some produce for our kitchen.”

Colne View will offer specialist residential and nursing care for up to 70 people .

Caption, Resident Bill Bolitho and staff nurse Ruth Whymark lock up the old Halstead Lodge home for the very last time and Bill Bolitho relaxes in his new room at Colne View.

International Nurses Day

Managers at the North East London Treatment Centre in Ilford offered each nurse training opportunities and goody bags plus a special portfolio folder which can be used to keep all the records of their continuing professional development in one place.

At the Barlborough Treatment Centre near Chesterfield, nurses and other colleagues were invited to take part in a 'My Nursing Memory' competition. The winners were announced at a special coffee and cake event held in the reception of this popular local hospital.

Care UK employs hundreds of nurses across England and Scotland in its treatment centres, health centres and care homes.

Photo caption: Care UK nurse Carl Emmerich finds out who has won the ‘My Nursing Memory’ competition at Barlborough Treatment Centre

A bus journey into Woking history

The star of the ‘On The Buses’ afternoon was Robert Peters, the relative of a resident and a former bus driver with London & County buses. Residents and team members also joined in by reading poetry.

Activities Coordinator Pauline Dolan said: “Peter looked wonderful dressed in his old uniform. He handed out old-fashioned tickets to the audience before the talk began and then he told some very entertaining stories about his time as a driver and about the history of the routes he used to travel.”

Pauline continued: “The residents had a lot of fun. Most of them have lived in the area all their lives and Peter’s stories triggered happy memories as well as being entertaining and informative.”

The residents and activities team are also working on a local history project within the Kingsleigh home. With the help of relatives and the local library, they have been creating displays of areas around the home past and present.

Pauline said: “Reminiscence is important for people with dementia. As carers we learn a lot about the person and their history, and the resident keeps up his or her skills and vocabulary as they tell us their life stories.”

“The recollection sessions have been so positive we are going to take them beyond History Month. Each month we will focus a display on a resident so that everyone can learn about their life, their achievements and their interests. Our residents have so many captivating stories, we are all looking forward to capturing them for residents and carers present and future.”

Kingsleigh care home provides care and support for 67 older people, including those with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

Image caption:
from left to right.
Ruby Chipling, Robb Stephens (Retired Bus driver) Margaret Irving, Ivy Reynolds, John Battey, Violet Rance ,Alfonso Belvedere

Care UK bucks national trend on waiting times for NHS operations

Figures released recently by the Patients Association showed that there had been a significant increase in waiting times for some operations in NHS hospitals in 2011 compared with the figures for the previous year.

However, figures for Care UK treatment centres showed that their waiting times have continued to remain lower than national averages. The figures covered a range of planned NHS operations including hip and knee replacements and cataracts:

For 2011

	National average (days)	Care UK average
Hip Replacements	93.8	74.3
Knee replacements	99.2	73.5
Cataract operations	65.9	63.7

Dr Mark Hunt, Care UK’s managing director of healthcare which carries out the procedures at a number of NHS treatment centres in England said: “We are pleased to be bucking the trend and keeping waiting times down as much as possible.

We are able to achieve these lower times because we have a very efficient ‘one stop shop’ system where patients see the doctor and nurse and have any diagnostics done on the same day before the appointment for their operation or procedure is made.”

He continued: “We are also very fortunate in that we only deal with elective surgery so we do not have the problem of having to cancel operations because of emergencies.”

Dr Hunt added: “Care UK treatment centres have never had a case of the hospital acquired superbug MRSA and our complication and re-admission rates are very low. This plus the fact that people are actively choosing us after seeing the Dr Foster coverage last year shows how the independent sector can work well with the NHS to deliver a great deal for patients.”

Patients have a right to choose where they want their NHS operations carried out – contrary to popular belief, they aren’t restricted to their local hospital. Anyone who wants to consider a Care UK treatment centre for a planned operation should discuss it with their GP. Further information about Care UK’s seven treatment centres can be found via www.careuk.com.

Care UK treatment centres offer hip and knee replacement operations at three centres:

Barlborough NHS Treatment Centre (Near Chesterfield)
North East London Treatment Centre (Ilford)
Southampton NHS Treatment Centre

Cararact operations are carried out at four Care UK treatment centres:

Will Adams NHS Treatment Centre (Gillingham)
St Mary’s Treatment Centre (Portsmouth)
North East London Treatment Centre (Ilford)
Southampton NHS Treatment Centre

Rustington nursing home starts two-year quest for end of life excellence

The Gold Standard Framework Care Home Accreditation (GSFCH), approved by the NHS, Department of Health, Age UK and Macmillan Cancer Support, is designed to acknowledge the highest levels of end of life care and encourages choice and dignity for the patient as well as sensitive and effective support for relatives.

The GSFCH training programme is a three-stage quality assurance programme that includes training for all staff in the home and stringent monitoring, documentation and evaluation to ensure standards are kept at the very highest level. The home is then inspected to ensure all the techniques are fully embedded and that homes employees are consistently following the guidelines.

As well as training in pain management, palliative nursing, and counselling, the team will work with GPs at the Coppice surgery in Herne Lane, Rustington, St Barnabas Hospice and palliative care nurses to ensure medical provision is of the highest standard.

Home Manager Linda Clements said: “It is an incredibly sensitive time for people and we want to ensure that our residents have genuine choices and are in a relaxed and comfortable environment. We also want to ensure that the support we give to relatives, both before and after a death, is the best possible.”

Darlington Court, in the Leas, is home to 60 people. It offers nursing care for frail older people, including those with physical disabilities, and, in a separate unit, for older people living with Alzheimer’s disease and other related illnesses.

Investigating the past for a fulfilling future

Manager Sue Ann Jones said: “History Month, which takes place in May, has given us a great opportunity to investigate the history of Eastcote, Ruislip and Northolt. Many of our residents have lived in the area all their lives; they are keen to find out more and we are keen to learn about their past.”

Relatives have already brought in old newspaper clippings about the area and the achievements of their relatives and everyone is looking forward to more investigations using the local library and the internet.

Sue Ann said: “At the end of our month of research, we are going to frame our findings and create a permanent tribute to our area, our residents and their achievements.”

As well as history, residents and the team will be sharing cultural memories and differences. Sue Ann explained: “Many of the team come from other countries and they are amazed to hear stories from our residents about how, as children, they had to chip the ice off their wash basins before they could have a wash and how, later, during the war, they managed on rations. Years ago, we had one resident who preferred to sleep in a chair – a habit she had acquired in the Blitz and which had never left her.”

“All this information gives us a greater sense of who our residents are and our residents love hearing stories about how people grew up in their home countries. It is quite a cultural exchange!”

Whitby Dene is a 60-bed care home in Whitby Road, Eastcote, providing care and support for older people and, in a separate wing, for people with dementia.

Retro tea dance to recreate the 1950’s

There will be live 1950’s music, people dressed in 1950’s clothes and a buffet of food popular during that decade.

The will feature a custom-made pop up reminiscence room designed to evoke memories from a particular period.

One of the organisers, Elaine Carruthers, manager of The Orchard Centre which is an activity based club attached to Appleby House said: “Everyone is welcome. We have invited friends and relatives of the 75 residents and also sent out about 150 invitations to members of our local community including GPs, social services and many others.”

Elaine continued: “Care UK’s Head of Dementia Care, Maizie Mears-Owen arranged for us to have a demonstration of the reminiscence room for a day. They are made by a company called Rempod and come in a variety of designs recreating different rooms from different eras and we opted for the one which replicates a fifties dancehall. We will also be extending the theme to the rest of the activity room.”

“The aim is to spark memories of a particular time in people who are living with dementia and to help with reminiscence which is very therapeutic.”
The tea dance has also been organised by Appleby House manager Jeni Rushton and her deputy Lynne Rogers. It is the first time there has been a Rempod room on site although there are regular activities for residents which include the local community.

Elaine added: “We hope we have a good turnout as it should provide a fascinating snapshot of life in the 1950’s. It will also give people the chance to come and have a look at what we do here, see our home and day centre and meet our residents and team.”

Back to school for a birthday treat!

The special visit was put together by team members at the Care UK-run Terrace care home in Richmond.

During the visit to the school in Yore Bridge Miss McGregor met pupils old and new, including current teaching assistant Julie Fawcett who attended the school when Miss McGregor was headteacher.

Miss McGregor also took part in a tree planting ceremony, viewed her old log books and met children who have birthdays near her own on Tuesday 3rd April.

Miss McGregor started her career in Middleham where, on several occasions, she met a young stable boy and jockey called George Formby. Later she taught at a school in Kirklington.

Activities Coordinator at the home in Maison Dieu, Sylvia Payne, said: “As well as the visit to the school, we held a party here at the home with cake, wine and, of course, presents.”

Miss McGregor said: ““I was very happy to visit the school and to let them know how things were when I was a teacher. I was also very interested to see how the school had changed”.

Miss McGregor was one of two children. In the month she was born, the Titanic sank, and Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the English Channel. Miss McGregor’s father worked on the railways and her mother was a housekeeper in a large farmhouse in Redmire. Unusually, her grandfather taught her to read and write before she started school, and she credits him with instilling in her a love of learning and literature.

As the Health and Social Care Bill receives royal Assent, Chief Executive of Care UK, Mike Parish, offers a personal perspective on the debate around the bill and the involvement of the independent sector in the NHS.

The twin accusations of privatisation and the imminent demise of the NHS under the cosh from EU competition law have shown precious little regards for the facts. Regrettably, there has effectively been no debate about what the independent sector could bring to the support of the NHS if the two were allowed to work in partnership with each other.

The dialogue has reflected, at best, genuine concern about the impact of choice on the NHS system, borne out of inexperience and misinformation, and at worst, self interested scaremongering. So, let’s state some clear facts.

The independent sector currently contributes less than 5% of mainstream NHS activity yet achieves superior clinical and patient satisfaction outcomes.

Free choice of provider across NHS general hospitals, general practice (GPs) and community services (district nursing) has only been permitted for elective surgery –less than 5% of total NHS spend. Independent providers have been allowed to offer their hospitals for NHS care for around five years, mainly focused on orthopaedic procedures. The Department of Health has gathered patient satisfaction data during those years and this has incontrovertibly established levels of satisfaction some 15% better than NHS hospitals.

Regrettably, because the NHS struggles to collate such information, we have been starved of similar independent, comparative data on clinical outcomes. However, last year, Dr Foster’s NHS Hospital Guide was extended to include independent hospitals providing treatment for NHS patients. To ensure data was as comparative as possible, Dr Foster’s clinicians adjusted all hospitals’ case mix for complexity. Independent hospitals dominated the resultant league tables, with four of the top five hospitals providing hip replacements and all of the top five hospitals providing knee replacements for NHS patients being independent companies. This is borne out by peer-reviewed academic research looking at clinical outcome data (and, oh, how we need more of that), such as that done by the Royal College of Surgeons.

This clearly demonstrates the nonsense of the suggestion that independent providers put profit before patients. When business longevity depends on reputation, the opposite is true. To suggest otherwise is not just to miss the quality-led commercial case, but is offensive to the clinicians – some 41,000 of them, who deliver NHS care through independent healthcare organisations. It should also be remembered that successful providers in healthcare, including GPs, tend to reinvest their profits in new services for the benefit of patients and the NHS generally, representing the virtuous cycle of profitable enterprise.

The independent sector is paid the same price as NHS providers, yet incurs a penalty cost of pension contributions and VAT.

The NHS ‘tariff’ is derived from average real cost from across the NHS and is paid to all providers, whether public sector or independent. The tariff is designed to reflect procedure complexity – more complicated procedures for patients with multiple conditions are paid more than relatively routine procedures.

Additionally, NHS organisations are ‘charged’ a pension contribution rate by the Treasury of 14% of employment costs. To provide pension benefits equivalent to the NHS pension, as a result of actuarial calculations, the independent sector organisations would have to make employer contributions of between 28% for basic NHS pension transferring employees and around 50% for those enjoying extended entitlements, including GPs and those accorded special class status.

Healthcare provided by the NHS is deemed to be a VAT exempt service, meaning that suppliers of goods and services to the NHS cannot recover their ‘input’ VAT. So, compared to a NHS hospital, an independent sector hospital has to absorb the impact of its VAT.

If we combine the impact of pension and VAT differences, despite being paid the same tariff price as NHS providers, independent sector providers carry a material cost disadvantage – often as much as 20%. To counter this ‘state subsidy’ unfairness, it is often argued in mitigation that NHS providers carry the cost of medical training. This is factually incorrect as the vast majority of medical training is funded by Royal Colleges and not NHS hospitals. It also ignores the fact that independent sector companies provide extensive training to their medical and other professionals.

The UK allocates a materially greater proportion of its healthcare budget on hospital than primary and community care

The evolution of healthcare in the UK has prioritised the role of hospitals over more local GP managed and provided care. Because of market access restrictions, GP provision in the UK is a fragmented market of owner managed businesses that have demonstrated little inclination or capacity to invest in locally accessible diagnostics and treatment services, invariably preferring to refer patients to hospital rather than to develop more sophisticated primary care solutions. GP practices tend to be little more than consulting rooms with little in the way of direct access to diagnostics. Consequently and shockingly, the UK has less than half the number of MRI and a third of the CT machines than the average (not the highest) level across the OECD countries.

Professor Lord Darzi, Health Minister for the previous Government, championed the evolution of community based ‘polyclinics’. Whilst there may be debate around the precise configuration of such health centres, few argue with the principle.

The transition of commissioning responsibility to Clinical Commissioning Groups is an opportunity for the NHS to ‘catch up’ with more progressive health systems. The independent sector is willing to support this transition with investment in rapid access to local diagnostics and community based clinical assessment and treatment.

Indeed, the original motivation for using the independent sector in partnership with the NHS was to supplement capacity and thus reduce waiting times. That succeeded beyond expectations. Waiting times for hip and knee replacements has plummeted from years to months, or even weeks, since the introduction of patient choice – partly from the new independent sector capacity and partly from improved NHS performance. How much the latter was stimulated by the presence of the former is subject to conjecture.

The investment and organisational capacity and the quality excellence of the independent sector is ready, willing and able to respond to the opportunity to invest, at risk, on the same terms as state owned NHS providers, to add the right capacity in the right place to help the NHS respond to its fundamental cost and quality challenge. Tell me again, what’s the downside....?

Mike Parish

Chief Executive

Care UK

Spring fitness

However, with spring upon us now could prove the perfect time to improve your fitness.

Getting exercise

It is recommended that those aged over 18 get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week, such as walking quickly, cycling or tennis. On top of this, muscle strengthening exercises, such as lifting weights or doing push-ups should be performed on two or more days. These figures change to 60 minutes of exercise each day and three days of muscle strengthening per week for those aged under 18.

Of course, if you are busy with work or raising a family, it can be hard to find time to fit in this exercise during the week. However, it is possible to build exercise into your working day. You could try walking or cycling to work or, if it is too far to do that, you could park further away or get off the bus or train a stop earlier, to enable you to walk part of the way.

When at work, you could walk over to talk to someone rather than sending an email or using the phone. Taking the stairs instead of the lift will also allow you to get more active. It is also worth investigating whether there are any gym or sports facilities, either at work or nearby, which you could use during your lunch break or before or after work.

If you are looking to get more exercise than this, but have not really done much before, then the NHS’s ‘Couch to 5k’ programme may help. This is aimed at getting people of all ages and fitness levels to running five kilometres in nine weeks. While you may not have wanted to start this programme during winter, the warmer weather and lighter evenings should help make this more appealing.

Eating healthily

In addition to exercise, eating healthily is also an important part of getting fit. A balanced diet, including lots of fruit and vegetables, will provide the nutrition you need. The arrival of spring brings with it many seasonal vegetables in the UK, which can be incorporated into your diet. Asparagus, new potatoes, spinach and spring onions will all be at their best between the months of March and May.

Eating these vegetables, and others, will also help you reach your five a day. The World Health Organisation states that by eating five 80g portions of fruit or vegetables a day, you can lower the risk of serious health problems, such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and obesity. They also provide fibre, which helps prevent constipation and other digestion problems. A diet high in fibre can also reduce your risk of bowel cancer.

For further information on how you can exercise more and eat healthily this spring, visit the NHS Choices website.

Years of dedication and care celebrated at Mitcham nursing home

Support workers Sylvia Bautista, Mabel Davis and Sally Johnson, nurses Ermine Clarke and Maureen Ogg and laundry assistant Gladys Courtell all joined in 1996 – the year the home opened - and took part in a special award presentation by Care UK’s Regional Director Violet Kotu.

Manager Elaine Robson said: “I am lucky to have such a strong and dedicated team – a large turn-over of staff and can be disorientating and upsetting for residents but thankfully we don’t have that situation.

“Our 57 residents have dementia and the fact that we have had the same caring, dedicated staff, year after year, gives them peace of mind and continuity of care. It is also very reassuring for the relatives who get to know all the team and they then know that hey can not only talk to their relative’s key worker but to most of the people working here and that person will know and understand their loved one.”

In 2011, the whole Cumberland team, including laundry workers, kitchen staff and the maintenance team, took part in a pilot study of a pioneering experiential training programme that allows participants to experience some of the effects of diseases like Alzheimers.

During the training, team members were given direct experience of the dramatic effect that dementia and frailty can have on the senses; special glasses blur their vision, headphones deliver white noise and gloves restrict the movement of fingers. Trainees found themselves being fed food that they could not see, drinking tea from plastic training beakers and being asked several questions in quick succession without enough time to think of replies.

Elaine said: “It was a great experience and allowed everyone in the home to see a bit of the world as our residents do. They were already a very caring bunch, but this has raised their empathy even further.”

Other Cumberland team members who were celebrated at the event, for service of five years and over, were:

Marvlyn Charles-Yusuf
Naomi Johnson,
Oomila Lobin
Ahamefula Nwanyanwu
Freda Rust
Edith Williamson
Jane Wilson

Classes help Ponteland nursing home residents to carry on learning

Activities coordinator Annette Dodds said: “The classes are very popular with our residents. They all love listening to the music groups and many of them have happy memories of playing music or belonging to choirs in the area. Some of residents who join in with the art classes have painted and drawn throughout their lives and they love to be able to draw with other artists and learn new techniques from the teacher.

“People think that, when you leave your own home, you have to say goodbye to your hobbies and interests. At Ponteland Manor, we do everything we can to help people not only keep up their interests but to develop them too.”

Residents also attend activities at the local church. Annette said: “There is a pathway from our home to the church hall and visitors are wonderful at pushing wheelchairs or accompanying residents. The residents love it because not only do they get to carry out their favourite activities, they also get to have a chat and a catch-up about what is going on in town. Most of our residents have spent their lives in the Newcastle area and they really treasure being part of the community they love.”

Haywards Heath residents to receive the very best of end of life care

The Gold Standard Framework Care Home Accreditation (GSFCH), approved by the NHS, Department of Health, Age UK and MacMillan Cancer Support, is designed to acknowledge the highest levels of end of life care and encourages choice and dignity for residents as well as sensitive and effective support for relatives.

The GSFCH training programme is a three-stage quality assurance programme that includes training for all staff in the home and stringent monitoring, documentation and evaluation to ensure standards are kept at the very highest level. The home is then inspected to ensure all the techniques are fully embedded and that employees are consistently following the guidelines.

The home’s Clinical Lead, Emilio Estevez, and Registered Nurse Indu Paramasivan will soon begin the highly specialised training in pain management, end of life planning, medication, advanced nursing techniques and counselling which they will then share with their colleagues in the home.

Choice for residents is key to the programme and the Beech Hurst team will increasingly be able to make it possible for more residents to stay in the home until the end, rather than moving to hospital. Around 60 people live at Beech Hurst.

Scarlett MacDonald, who manages the home in Butlers Green Road, said: “The end of a person’s life is such a sensitive time for them and their relatives. So much of the anxiety can be removed by planning and building relationships with the people involved.

“This is our residents’ home and many would like to stay here rather than move to hospital as their condition develops. Here, they know the surroundings, they are comfortable and with their friends. They and their relatives can then choose to have active medication or pain relief.

“With this accreditation we hope to continue to be able to offer people the dignity and choice they deserve.”

Another Care UK home, Forrester Court in Paddington, achieved the GSFCH accreditation earlier this year – see www.careuk.com/news_items/1159

Rickmansworth residents can't wait for St Patrick's day!

Activities Coordinator Emily Stimpson said: “We have a number of residents and colleagues with a connection to Ireland and everyone loves a party so we decided that we would celebrate St Patrick’s Day a day early, with an afternoon of fun, food, music and games.”

After tucking into a special lunch of Irish sausages and colcannon everyone will join in with some Irish songs and activities before enjoying special tea that includes shamrock cakes, a Guinness cake and, for those who enjoy it, a glass of the black stuff too.

The residents at the Uxbridge Road home, which has a specialist wing for people with dementia, will also be joined by their friends from the Mill End Baptist Church who hold Tuesday coffee mornings which many residents enjoy attending.

Keren Welch, who manages the 42-bed home, said: “Just because you move into a home it doesn’t mean you have to stop celebrating festivals and holidays that are important to you. We always ensure that residents can continue with all the traditions, hobbies and interests that they have enjoyed throughout their lives and that makes for a lively home!”

Hats off to fundraising staff at Crewe nursing home

On Friday 30th March staff, residents and relatives will be joining in national Wear a Hat Day to raise funds for the charity that seeks to find the cause of, and a cure for, brain tumours.

Home Manager Sarah Evans said: “A former resident of the home, Michael Hodges, died recently from a brain tumour, aged only 57. He was a lovely man, with a great sense of humour and he was popular with staff and residents alike.

“We wanted to do something to remember Michael and one of the team noticed that Wear a Hat Day was coming up. It seemed the perfect way to have some fun, raise some money and remember Michael.”

As well as raising money from donations for wearing hats, there will also be an opportunity for staff, residents and friends to buy cakes at a special coffee morning.

Sarah said: “Everyone is hunting for fun hats and, so far, we have everything from baseball caps to Stetsons!”

Station House is a 69-bed nursing home in Victoria Avenue, providing nursing care and support for frail older people and, in a separate unit, for older people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and other related illnesses.

Are you caring for someone? You’re not alone.

It is estimated that there are around six million people in the UK who are unpaid carers, looking after a partner, family member or friend due to disability, illness or age.

These carers often have to fit their role around working, studying and other commitments. While this is hard enough, some people also do not let it be known that they are carers and so have nobody to share the responsibility with.

Carers sometimes forget that they need to look after their own health and wellbeing, as well as the person they are caring for. This includes taking time out for themselves, away from caring duties. There are lots of different types of support available for carers, including help in the home and respite care for a loved one – sometimes just for a night or two.

If you are a carer, here’s some practical advice from Dr Jurgita:

“Everyone needs to have a break from time to time, and carers are no different. If possible, ask friends and family for help, or speak to your local authority about getting support, so that you can have a rest. Often carers feel guilty about taking time for themselves, but taking short breaks will help you cope with the demands of caring in the longer term.

It’s important that you have time to relax by exercising or socialising. Organisations such as Crossroads Care, and Short Breaks Network, offer respite care schemes to allow carers to take a break from their responsibilities. Care UK can, for a small fee, provide professional trained carers who can stay with a loved one for a short while you take time out to have coffee with a friend or go shopping.

If you care for someone, you are eligible for a carer’s assessment, which is an opportunity to discuss your caring role and the support that you need. These meetings are designed to make sure you are receiving adequate help, and will cover the topics of health, sleep, work and time for yourself. This information can then be used to assess what help the authority can give to you, which will be written up as a care plan. There may be a charge for some or all of this assistance, but the local authority will be able to explain this to you.

Caring for someone can be emotionally challenging. Talking to friends and family about how you are feeling is really important. There are also online forums where carers can talk to others, who have similar experiences.

To help you improve your existing knowledge, and learn some new skills, an interactive online programme called Caring with Confidence is available. This contains a series of courses that you can download and complete in your own time. Among other things, this can help you better balance your commitments and manage your time, understand the care system and communicate more effectively with the person you care for.”

Further information on caring is available through NHS Carers Direct.

Sussex students getting real life experience of caring.

Deputy Manager Rachel Purcell explained: “We use Activity Based Care in the home, which means we help people who live with us to keep up their hobbies, interests and life skills through activities chosen by them. We also encourage them to take an active part in the running of the home and we encourage people in the local community to become involved in life at the home.

“The students will be working with our activities coordinators and taking part in sessions such as ‘knit and natter’, ‘make and bake’ and exercise classes as well as helping out with the many types of arts and crafts our residents enjoy.”

The students will spend 20 hours working with the co-ordinators learning how to create fun and challenging activities that help residents maintain their mobility, strength and independence as well as helping them to keep up their life-long interests.

Rachel said: “Dignity and choice are the most important aspects of care and we hope that, by watching and joining in with our skilled team, the students will learn that listening to residents and helping them to achieve their aims is vital to providing top class care.”

The week will also help students to find out more about the wide range of careers that are available in social care – from administration to catering, chefs to regional directors. Many young people are surprised to find that a company like Care UK has such a comprehensive career structure with lots of opportunities for training and career development.

Beech Hurst is a 60-bed nursing home in Haywards Heath providing specialist nursing care for older people, people with dementia and younger adults with mental health needs.