Inform - August 2017

August 2017 Issue 24

PHILOSOPHY OF CARE CHARITABLE FUND BRIDGE HAVEN SUMMER FETE A BIG THANK YOU TO KENT POLICE

CELEBRATIONS AT PUDDINGSTONE GRANGE INTERVIEW WITH HOME CARE SERVICE USER KATH BARKER

Residents from Riverdale Court visiting Broadstairs

PHILOSOPHY OF CARE Avante Care & Support has three key strategic goals – to focus on the quality of care we deliver, to improve our financial performance and to develop our services. In order to meet the first goal of improving our quality of care we are raising the profile of the Eden Alternative as our philosophy of care. This has replaced The Golden Thread. Many of our homes will be familiar with the concept of the Eden Alternative but in recent years we have not promoted it to any great extent. This is changing now.

Briefly, the Eden Alternative is a philosophy of care which creates communities where life is worth living. It achieves this through companionship, through giving as well as and receiving care, and through variety and spontaneity in everyday life.

We have already included an introduction to the Eden Alternative as part of our induction programme for new staff, and through the year we will be encouraging more staff to qualify as Eden

Associates. Our aim is for all our care homes and Home Care services to become Eden Accredited.

In the July Newsletter, I asked for your help in writing a Vision Statement for Avante Care & Support - a short sentence that says what we are trying to achieve. A series of meetings have been held at which many of you have had an opportunity to share your thoughts and ideas.

Thank you to all who have contributed to the discussion. We have held a meeting at Head Office at which each home, service and department was represented by a volunteer to share these contributions and we have drafted a Vision Statement which will be presented to the Trustees in September. We hope to be able to make an announcement soon after.

As part of our strategy, we have strengthened the operations team and I am delighted to welcome Gina Small as our Director of Care Operations.

Gina has had a long career in social care most recently with the Radian Group, where she headed up their domiciliary care services to older people and adults with learning disability and mental health care needs. In addition, she has

operated care homes in the private sector. Gina has overall responsibility for our care services with a remit to achieve our three key strategic goals delivering high quality care across our care homes and home care services, improving our financial performance and developing new services.

Gina is keen to be out and about across our homes and services and I know you will make her feel welcome.

Finally, I am very pleased to let you know that we have appointed three new Trustees to the Board of Avante Care & Support. Peter Horn has a wealth of experience in health and social care. Most recently he was Chair of Medway Community Health who provide stroke rehabilitation and intermediate care services from the top floor at Amherst Court. Tony Godden is a qualified

accountant who has worked at director level with a range of small and medium sized businesses.

He has been a school Governor and a Young Enterprise advisor. Gill Gibb is Chief Executive of Tree of Hope, a charity supporting families of children and young people with a disability or illness. Her background is in charity management, business and marketing and she also has previous Trustee experience.

These additions strengthen an already effective Board and will provide the excellent governance a charity like Avante Care & Support needs as we move forward.

As ever, thank you for all you are doing.

Stuart Cross Managing Director Avante Care & Support

Avante Care & Support Limited A Company Limited by Guarantee: Company Registration No. 2565021 (England)

ouse, 1 Jubilee Way, Faversham, Kent ME13 8GD A Registered Charity Registration No 1002727

MOLLY DE COURCY SADLY PASSES AWAY “Molly was very significant in my career as she chaired the interview panel that appointed me to be the Director of Social Services for Kent in 1991. I had previously been Director in Warwickshire and my wife and I moved to Kent as a result.

She was a very able chairman, and an extremely nice person to work with, and I believe we had a very productive relationship, for the County Council, and for all the people who depended upon social services for their help.

This was a time when we were able to develop our support services and Molly's commitment to improve the quality of those services remains with me even now, some 16 years later. She also accompanied me to visits we made to partners in services in France, where her language skills put the rest of us to shame! She also used to correct the grammar in my reports to the Social Services Committee regularly I remember, particularly objecting to split infinitives!

She was a lovely lady who gave a great deal to Kent, and of course to Avante Care & Support, but had retired from the Board by the time I arrived.

We will all miss her and her devotion to the service."

Peter Smallridge CBE Chairman of the Board

AVANTE CARE & SUPPORT AWARDED THE ISO 9001 On 4th – 7th July this year Avante Care & Support was visited by the company, Alcumus, who award Avante Care & Support the ISO 9001 certification.

This is an international quality standard that many organisations use and is recognised as a benchmark of quality of services. As part of their review of Avante Care & Support, the team from Alcumus visit twice a year with the purpose of auditing how we implement and manage our quality systems and processes. The team will visit 3 of 4 of our sites each visit and look at how those teams are implementing policies, how we audit our teams and services and how we resolve issues arising from our own audits.

On this visit the team went to Riverdale Court, Pilgrims View and the Faversham branch of Homecare and Support.

We are pleased to say that the feedback from Alcumus’ visit was very positive. The feedback was positive about the way we have systematically addressed our

quality monitoring systems and improvement work. The services visited had a good grip on policy implementation, the audit processes and corrective action system, and had taken appropriate actions when a Corrective Action Request (CAR) was issued. The team made several recommendations to improve our system and issued only one CAR from their audit and that was regarding two of the services visited where a review of the care plan had not taken place on the due date.

The staff in our Care Homes and Home Care & Support services must be congratulated on the hard work they have done in ensuring we are always looking at the quality of the services we deliver and are able to critically review what they do in order to make things even better.

Debbie Parker Quality Standards Auditor Avante Care & Support

Over the years many service users have benefitted from the fund providing them with resources or opportunities that they would have not otherwise had acces to.

In 2016/17 the fund raised £1,942 and made grants of £2,717. The funds are accounted for separately within Avante’s accounts so we always know how much has been raised and how much has been given out in grants.

Avante Care & Support has been operating a charitable fund for more than 10 years now. The purpose of the fund is to provide grants to our service users and residents to support them with financial hardship, personal development or fulfilment, and opportunities to take part in group activities. Funds are raised from staff payroll giving and other fundraising activities, including raffles and the HQ tuck box.

In the past, our service for young people, Stepahead Support, made the majority of applications due to the fact that the service was helping them to live independently as well as help them with personal development. Last year grants were made for household items, train fares to hospitals and sports equipment.

Pilgrims View care home made an application earlier in the year for some digital tablets to enable residents to do activities such as playing bingo, solitaire and emailing their relatives.

Now that we no longer have the Stepahead Service we want to raise awareness of the fund for care home residents and home care service users. The services can make applications for a grant by completing the application form that is in the Avante Policy Manual. Ask our Finance Team for help if you have any difficulties finding this. The Guidelines for applications and criteria are within the Business Development Policy in the Avante Manual.

Payroll Giving is a very effective way of donating as you will receive tax relief on the donation you make (as long as you are a tax payer). If you would like to join your colleagues who currently support the fund through Payroll Giving please contact the Payroll team who will be pleased to help you.

Debbie Pert Finance Director & Deputy Managing Director Avante Care & Support

CELEBRATIONS AT PUDDINGSTONE GRANGE

Spirits are high at Puddingstone Grange care home as staff and residents throw a party to celebrate the wonderful achievements and CQC report that we are all very proud of.

Bessie, a resident at Puddingstone Grange enjoyed a visit from her two sons, and Doreen also enjoyed a visit from her daughter. Brian who can be seen wearing the badge was a host for the day, helping to greet and serve Bucks Fizz to visitors on the day.

Our entertainment was provided by Edna, a familiar face at the home who kept people singing, dancing and having a great time. The Royal Borough of Greenwich Commissioning Officer also visited us, bringing with her sweets for residents to enjoy.

Allison Purkiss Home Manager Puddingstone Grange

NICE PAINT JOB! John, a resident from Puddingstone Grange is keen to continue using his working skills that he really enjoys, so he helps to re-paint the patio chairs brightly for the upstairs area. When finished, the residents made use of the chairs immediately.

RIVERDALE COURT VISIT BROADSTAIRS At the end of July, staff and volunteers all went down to Broadstairs for the day. The day got off to a little bit of a slow start when the bus broke down on the way to pick us all up but we were thankful it wasn’t whilst we were all on board! We got there eventually after having a good sing song on the way.

We all had a lovely picnic which our kind kitchen staff had prepared for us beforehand as we sat and enjoyed the seaside view. One of our lovely residents was given a kind gift by an overhead seagull, which she found very amusing, saying

OH WE DO LIKE TO BE BESIDE THE SEASIDE… On Wednesday 26th July 2017, 18 residents from Weybourne Care Home in Abbey Wood set off for a day trip down to Herne Bay In Kent. The residents were accompanied by staff, volunteers and family members for a day trip down to the South Coast.

To read the full story visit our website at www.avantecare.org.uk

she was “going to do the lottery that evening as it’s meant to be lucky!”

Some of us enjoyed an ice cream whilst others had a nice bowl of cockles and whelks. It was an amazing day and thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Annette Kelly Activities Coordinator Riverdale Court

A BIG THANK YOU TO THE KENT POLICE

CHIEF CONSTABLES PROPERTY FUND The Willow Day Care Centre, based in Milton Regis, Sittingbourne, regularly have Kent Police Officers visit the centre whilst they are going through their training programme.

During their time at the Willow Day Care the Officers gain some understanding of dementia, the different types, and how it can affect those living with it and their carers. After spending their community placement time at the Willow Day Care the officers then have to give a presentation to the rest of their group about what they have experienced and learnt.

‘Many of the Officers initially cannot fully understand how being with the Willow Day Care Centre will be of benefit to them in their job, but after their time at the Willow all of them change their mind-set and find the experience very helpful and leave more aware of how to approach, communicate and support those living with dementia in the community’, says Jeannette Spooner Day Care Centre Manager.

Back in April, Jeannette made a bid for funds from the Chief Constables Property Fund. The property fund is goods that have been stolen and

recovered and are auctioned if they are not claimed. The money raised then goes into the Chief Constables Property Fund.

In July the Willow Day Care Centre received a very kind email from Amanda Withrington, Diversity Placements Officer, saying they had been awarded £500 from the fund, the Willow staff and clients were thrilled.

Jeannette Spooner said, ‘Our clients have recently enjoyed making and decorating items that can be sold at our events that we hold. The recent projects were making and painting bird houses and painting and varnishing money boxes and other crafts. The clients have really enjoyed making items to sell. The money will certainly be well spent buying lots of new arts and crafts to make’.

A Big Thank You to the Kent Police Chief Constables Property Fund.

Picture from left to right Dennis Boakes, Frank Cleveland, Pearl Bennett, Son Stone (seated), Marie Wealthy, Sheila Rumley, Jeannette Spooner & Amanda Withrington.

WELCOMING PETER HORN TO THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

In May this year Peter Horn joined Avante Care & Supports Board of Trustees. Avante Care & Support is a registered Charity providing Care & Support across Kent, Bexley and Greenwich. Like all charities there is a Board of Non-Executive Trustees that oversee the organisations charitable aims, objectives and the strategic management of the business.

Peter Smallridge, CBE, is the Chairman of the Board with nine additional Trustees, each with a wealth of knowledge and experience, who meet bi-monthly to review all aspects of the running and management of Avante Care & Support’s services.

Peter is also chair of Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust and a Director of 121 Support, a community interest company providing mentoring support to managers mainly in mental health services. Other current activities include working as a volunteer mediator and anger management coach for Maidstone Mediation Service. Peter was previously Chair of Medway Community Healthcare from 2010 to March 2017, a social enterprise which provides community based health and social care services to the people of Medway and surrounding areas.

In a career spanning over 30 years in the public service, Peter has undertaken a number of senior roles in the Department of Health and the NHS

STITCHED TOGETHER WITH LOVE The community of Chestnut Suite at Parkview care home presenting the blanket they created for an upcoming auction at the home.

‘THEY ARE MORE LIKE MY FRIENDS RATHER THAN CARERS’

a rota basis and she wouldn’t have it any other way as she trusts her carers implicitly and it has helped her to continue to live an independently life within her own home.

‘My girls, I can’t thank them enough for what they do for me, they are more like my friends rather than carers’.

When asked in one sentence to describe her carers Kath said ‘Top lot all of them, the best carers I could ever ask for!’

Kath Barker aged 88, has been using Avante Home Care and Support services for over 25 years now. Her late husband Norman was also cared for by the Home Care team before moving into Northbourne Court Care Home in Sidcup.

Norman who was living with dementia, sadly died in December 2011, but Kath still talks fondly of the staff that cared for her Husband at Northbourne Court, Sidcup, before he died.

Avante Care & Support understands that finding the right care package, whether it be care at home or a residential care home, can be a difficult and upsetting time. Avante Care & Support regularly speaks to services users and families to help develop services around the people that use them.

Liz Barker, Kaths Daughter- in-Law, said ‘We cannot sing the praises of the girls any louder, our thanks must be expressed to all the staff at Avante Home Care & Support, not just the ‘girls’ but the office

Kath said, ‘It was ever so hard to be split up from Norman after living together for so long. He was my soul mate but I knew it had to happen as his safety was at risk. There were often nights that Norman would go off out in the night, we couldn’t have that so we decided the time had come for Norman to go in to a home. He was so well looked after there, he had his ways at times did my Norman but the care staff worked around this and he became really happy there. When Norman died I arranged for a bench to be made in the gardens of Northbourne Court. I wanted a memory of Noman there as he was so well looked after’.

Born in Camden town Kath worked as a waitress in a college in Dagenham where she waited on all of the teachers at the college, she spent many of her younger years looking after her father and brother as her mother was often away with family in Hampshire.

Kath has lived in her home in Welling for over 30 years and is now supported and cared for three times a day by the Home Care team at Avante Care & Support. Kath has the same four carers on

staff as well. Without them at the end of the phone we would be lost’.

Avante Care & Support home care services provides care and support across Kent and Bexley.

Both the Kent and Bexley teams have been recognised by the CQC (Care Quality Commission) as ‘Good’ care providers. To find out more about our services please call for an informal chat on 01795 597454 for our Kent branch or 01322 318110 for our Bexley branch.

BRIDGE HAVEN

SUMMER FETE

We held our Summer Fete in our orchard where our lovely wooden log cabin called ‘Gregory’s Tea Room’ is situated and was used for our fete.

The following fund raising activities took place:- a raffle; a tombola; a cake stall; a bric-a-brac stall; guess how many sweets were in a bottle; guess the weight of the cake and to guess the name of the new “bearded dragon” that we now have as a new permanent resident at Bridge Haven.

Our resident chefs prepared and cooked a lovely bbq for residents and visitors and there were a selection of cakes too for which donations were made.

Recently Bridge Haven was fortunate able to purchase, from our Amenities gazebo, which came in very handy shelter in when there was a shower Summer Fete.

enough to be Fund, a large for people to of rain at the

Due to the continued support from family members, visitors and staff helping out during our Summer Fete, our residents and everyone who attended had an enjoyable time.

The Summer Fete was a great success raising £280.67 for the Bridge Haven Amenities Fund Julie Westbury Activities Co-ordinator Bridge Haven