Mayor visits unique care unit in Stanmore

Company news

Feb 26, 2010

The success of a specialist unit was celebrated today as the Mayor of Harrow Councillor Eric Silver and the Madam Mayoress visited a unique intermediate care centre at Care UK’s Woodland Hall, Stanmore.

The Greenview unit, situated in Woodland Hall Care Home, was opened in November 2008 to provide intermediate care that can prevent older people having to leave their own homes permanently.

Care UK’s Home Manager Kumaree Juggapah explained: “Often older people are taken into hospital with an infection or fracture which, after treatment, still leaves them with some rehabilitation needs that hospitals are not designed to provide.

“They are then faced with the prospect of going home when they still have those needs or going permanently into a care home when they are not ready to take that step.”

The Greenview unit, which is funded by NHS Harrow, Harrow Council and the North West London Hospitals, specialises in behavioural needs and caters for older people who have experienced mental health needs and who also need nursing care.

Each client receives a programme of care, which lasts between six weeks and three months, designed to rehabilitate them physically and mentally.

Middle row: Dr Clair Hilton (Consultant Psychiatrist), Mayoress & Mayor Harrow Council, Michelle Sampang (Regional Director).

Bottom row: Mai Delaguerrande (Occupational Therapist), Kumaree Juggapah (Home Manager), and Uttara Mandal (Psychiatrist Registrar).

Mrs Juggapah said: “From the moment our patients come to us we work intensively with them. Woodland Hall nurses are dedicated, caring and work in a very hands-on way to help the physical rehabilitation. Expert psychiatric care is delivered by a psychiatrists, psychologists, registered mental health nurses and a team of occupational and physiotherapists from NHS Harrow. There is also input from a GP and geriatrician”

The results are impressive with 60 per cent of those patients entering the unit since it opened being able to return to their own homes.

After the visit the Mayor said:” The Mayoress and I were very impressed with the standard of care and friendliness at Woodland Hall Care Home and by all the people staying there who were happy and relaxed.  The hard work and dedication that staff put in, and who treat everyone with dignity, was very apparent.”

Sarah Crowther, NHS Harrow’s chief executive, said: “The Greenview unit is an example of what a difference committed staff can make to the lives of older people in our community by delivering superb intermediate care. The energy and skill of the unit’s therapists inspires recovery and creates a familial atmosphere, which is one of the drivers for the home’s impressive results.”