Inform Newsletter - September 2018

ISSUE 27 SEPTEMBER 2018

AMHERST COURT RETAINS ‘OUTSTANDING’ RATING

BUILDING CONFIDENCE AND FRIENDSHIPS BRIDGING THE GENERATIONS ‘MUSIK MATTERS’

Our Vision for Avante Care & Support is ‘Communities where everyone has a vibrant and fulfilling life’. We strive to achieve this for all our residents and service users, and so I am absolutely delighted our regulator, the Care Quality Commission, continues to rate Amherst Court as an Outstanding care home. Only 2% of homes across the country have this accolade and it is eloquent testimony to the hard work and commitment of our dedicated staff that following a recent inspection, Amherst Court has retained this top mark.

At the same time, Bridge Haven has been inspected and has improved from a Requires Improvement rating to be rated as Good. Again, this is due to the skill, engagement and commitment of our managers and staff in the home, which is reflected across all our homes and home care services.

Underpinning all the work we do is our Philosophy of Care, the Eden Alternative, and we are taking further steps to ensure that this philosophy informs our practise right across Avante Care & Support. As well as putting every new member of staff through an introduction to the Eden Alternative, we are running a series of three day courses to train staff to become Eden Associates. Alongside this, we have our own in-house trainers going through the Eden Educator programme so that we will be able to run our own courses in the near future. Moreover, we are working towards our Home Care teams joining the Eden register of services. This will mean we will become the first care provider in England to have both its care home and home care services accredited. If you want to know more about Eden, then please ask your local Care Home Manager.

As well as investing in our staff our aim is to provide the best environments we can for our residents. In this edition you will be able to read about the completion of a £1m building project at Weybourne to

build a new roof on the home, and we have projects at several homes to improve the décor and furniture so that our homes are truly homely. Alongside this, we are investing in new technology with new systems being introduced in our Home Care teams to improve our efficiency, and as a result the care, our service users receive.

Avante Care & Support is a charity and runs on a not-for-profit basis, which means that every penny we generate in surplus stays in the charity for the benefit of our residents and service users. That requires that we are governed effectively.

As a charity, a Board of Trustees has overall responsibility for the charity, and I am very pleased to announce that we have appointed a new Trustee, Andrew Ireland, to the Board of Avante Care & Support. Andrew has a wealth of experience in social care built up over a 40 year career, most recently as Corporate Director of Social Care at Kent County Council. He has also been Chair of Governors at a large primary school in

Faversham. Andrew will be able to help us navigate the complex and changing policy environment, both nationally and locally.

The addition of Andrew strengthens an already effective Board and will provide the excellent governance a charity like Avante Care & Support needs as we move forward.

Finally, I’m often in and out of our services and I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you when I visit. To be able to spend time with residents, service users, relatives and staff is one of the aspects of my job that I most enjoy, so please stop me and say ‘hello’!

Stuart Cross Managing Director

Joan Gregory has been a resident at Court Regis care home in Sittingbourne, for almost a year. When she first arrived she was a very quiet and withdrawn lady. Although Joan would sometimes join in with activities at the home she usually kept herself to herself.

Activity Coordinator Emma Ansley noticed the more Joan joined in with the activities at the home the more she showed her wonderful sense of humour as well as her kind and compassionate personality.

'Joan would always be asked if she would like to come along on our outings but she would always say she didn’t like going out. She had seemed to have lost her confidence’.- Emma Ansley, Activity

with some encouragement from Marie she finally decided she would go on the next day trip out to the Oasis Academy.

The day came and Marie, Joan and others went off to Sheerness. While a little apprehensive at first Joan quickly got into the swing of things and was seen cheering on the children after every performance and during afternoon tea was happily chatting to the other ladies who came along and to the staff and children too.

Coordinator.

One day Marie came back from a day trip out and sat chatting with Joan at dinnertime.

Marie began to tell Joan all about her afternoon tea at the Oasis Academy in Sheerness. Court Regis have a good connection with the Oasis Academy and residents and staff are invited to many of their events. The children and teachers from the Academy have also visited Court Regis on several occasions to befriend residents and take part in activities in the home. Once a month staff and children from the Academy host an afternoon tea and performance as part of their dementia café initiative. Marie told Joan all about it, and was half expecting Joan to say ‘I don’t think a day trip out is for me’, but on this occasion she didn’t!

Joan became quite interested in this visit out and with that Marie quickly followed up with ‘The children would love to see a new face and would love it if you came along too!’

Joan took a little while to think about it but

When Marie and Joan arrived back to Court Regis, Joan told everyone about her afternoon out, the lovely cakes she enjoyed, the endless cups of tea and the fantastic dancing and singing from the children.

Since then Joan has been one of the first to join in with everything! As well as taking part Joan encourages others to join in with activities in the home as well as the outings.

Joan has befriended so many residents since taking part in activities and day trips out.

In July Bridge Haven care home welcomed three little visitors from a local playschool.

Magpies, a village community charity run a playschool based in Boughton, Kent and took three of their children along to Bridge Haven care home to meet with residents and staff for the morning.

Bridge Haven care home is nestled in the rural village of Bridge, near Canterbury, and cares for and supports people living with dementia.

The home embraces the Eden Alternative philosophy of care which encourages these kinds of community links.

The visit had been arranged to help break ‘There have been some fabulous articles in the media recently that are showcasing intergenerational care and proving children are helping older people thrive. We have great community links with our local primary school who often visit residents at Bridge Haven throughout the year, but as yet we haven’t had a link with pre-schoolers. When it was proposed that we invite the children into the home both Donna and I were really excited to make this happen!’ - Kim Drury, Bridge Haven’s Home Manager.

down some of the barriers and stereotypes that are often linked to care homes, ageism and dementia care. Children can be a great inspiration for people living with dementia and by inviting young children into a care home they not only help to enrich residents’ lives but help dispel some myths about living in a care home.

The visit began with the children meeting residents in the large communal area of the home which allowed plenty of space for the children and residents to interact and feel at ease. The children were soon talking to residents about their families, interests and pets. Before the visit one resident who had been observed during the morning as being quieter than usual, appeared uplifted throughout the playschool visit and engaging positively with the children and enjoying their company.

The visit continued successfully throughout the morning with positive interaction from both generations, not forgetting the pet bearded dragon that was introduced to the children!

‘We all had a fabulous time at Bridge Haven care home and were made to feel so welcome. It was such a success we have already started talking about our next visit, we would like to make this a regular occurrence, the children clearly had a good time and you could see the residents enjoyed their company too’. Donna Kelly, Manager At Magpies Pre-school

For more information about Bridge Haven, please call the Home Manager on 01227 831607.

Musik Matters visited Amherst Court care home, Chatham, owned and operated by Avante Care and Support in August. Avante Care & Support knows that music is incredibly important to older people, because people of all ages have a real connection to music. It enhances memories, and it can help with calmness and relaxation.

Musik Matters is an organisation that is dedicated to providing music therapy and sensory stimulation to individuals living in residential care and Avante Care & Support was keen to see how Musik Matters could enhance the lives of our residents.

Marie Taylor Activity Coordinator said, ‘We saw

at first hand the impact of music on our residents when Neil of Musik Matters visited the home. Neil had a long chat with one resident, Paul, about music over the years.

Paul told Neil all about his music collection, his love for Elvis, the King of Rock ’n’ Roll and Jerry Lee Lewis. Neil then did a quick quiz with Paul, playing the intro to Elvis songs for Paul to guess what they were. Neil quickly

realised that Paul was a super fan and had to include some less well known songs as he got all of them right!

Neil was then introduced to Constance who was relaxing in her bedroom. Constance loves hymns. Neil began singing Amazing Grace and Constance instantly reacted really positively to the music and was very happy, even shaking his hand when he finished singing.

Since Neil’s visit it has been the talk of the home. People were especially appreciative that Neil recognised that some residents prefer the comfort and privacy of their own bedrooms to take part in activities, and Neil made sure this happened.

Amherst Court care home has been rated as an outstanding care home by CQC. Come and see what Amherst Court has to offer, for more information or to arrange a viewing please call 01634 400009 or visit www.avantecare.org.uk

Amherst Court provides 24-hour care and support for people living with dementia, where our team of qualified and attentive staff focus on the individual needs of the residents.

CQC inspectors were particularly impressed by the home’s leadership and the home’s responsiveness to residents’ needs. Care is delivered in line with Avante Care & Support’s vision of ‘Communities where everyone has a vibrant and fulfilling life’.

Inspectors spoke to residents, relatives, staff members and health and social care professionals. Comments from residents included, “I love it here, this is my new home" and “The staff are kind and respectful and very patient with mum". Other comments included, "I enjoy the atmosphere. If it's someone's birthday they always have a celebration."

One relative’s feedback included, “It's a good home, the staff all know what they are doing, I always receive the support I need."

Other comments included, "The staff don't rush. They have a chat too which I look forward to" and “They are quiet, caring and I really feel that they care."

The report went on to say, ‘There was a person-centred culture at the service, with care planned around the individual. Staff knew about people's background, their preferences, likes and dislikes and their hopes and goals. Staff spent time with people to get

to know them. There were descriptions of what was important to people and how to care for them in their care plan. Staff talked about people's needs in a knowledgeable way and explained how people were given the information they needed in a way they understood so that they could make choices.’

CQC Inspectors spoke with residents about the care they received at Amherst Court. The report stated staff supported people in a way that they preferred. People responded well to staff and looked comfortable in their company. Staff interacted with people in a way that demonstrated they understood their individual needs and had a good rapport with them.

Other comments from residents included, "I could not be happier, I feel happier every day and don't want to be anywhere else, and I feel very safe here".

Stuart Cross, Managing Director, Avante Care & Support said, "Amherst Court was the first care home in Medway to receive an Outstanding rating from CQC in April 2015 and I am absolutely delighted the home continues to be rated as Outstanding. Only 2% of homes across the country have this accolade and it is testimony to the hard work and commitment of our dedicated staff."

For more information or to arrange a viewing around Amherst Court, please call the Home Manager on 01634 400009.

Weybourne care home invited the local community to a BBQ and entertainment to celebrate the completion of the recent refurbishment.

Weybourne care home, located in Abbey Wood, has recently completed a refurbishment which has transformed interior and exterior areas of the home. The interior of the home has been modernised creating a fresh, bright and welcoming environment for residents and families to enjoy. The exterior has undergone a complete remodelling which has seen the old 1960’s flat roof replaced by a modern and well insulated pitched roof structure.

Last month, Home Manager, Mary O’Connor, held a BBQ party to thank everyone involved with the refurbishment and to invite guests to come and see the new completed works.

Elvis impersonator Gary King kicked off the celebrations by belting out a collection of Elvis Presley favourites. While the BBQ was heating up, visitors were flocking through the doors to take a look at the recently refurbished home.

Visitors included the Mayor of the Royal Borough of Greenwich Cllr Christine May, Deputy Mayor Cllr Mick Hayes, MP for Erith and Thamesmead, Theresa Pearce and Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for children’s services and schools David Gardner, all of whom spent time talking to residents and family members.

Mary O’Connor, Home Manager said, ‘I have really looked forward to being able to invite guests to see the transformation that has been undertaken at Weybourne, but also for visitors to see the great work that takes place on a day to day basis through my staff team.

The residents at Weybourne are at the heart of all our work. This BBQ is an opportunity to show that Weybourne is a community where everyone has a vibrant and fulfilling life.'

For more information or to arrange a viewing around Weybourne, please call the Home Manager on 0208 3108674.

If you would like to find out more about Avante Care & Support please call us on 01795 597400 or visit our website at www.avantecare.org.uk