Care South Take 5 January 2023

Welcome to Take5

After a long hot summer we are now in and out of very cold winter spells! Despite this, you continue to keep our homes and our Care at Home clients warm and safe, with Food, Fun and Friendship in abundance.

The Trustees/Directors were able to visit some of our care homes with myself before Christmas and it was so nice to be able to meet with you once again and witness first-hand the amazing care, activities and events you continue to provide. Thank you for making us so welcome. There will be further Trustee/Director visits this spring.

Just before Christmas we received the wonderful news that the government guidance on wearing face masks in care settings had changed. I’m sure this has made a huge difference. This announcement was very timely and meant that residents and families were able to celebrate Christmas together in a more relaxed and meaningful fashion – and safely. They were also able to see your smiles which I’m sure was priceless to them!

I can see from this edition of Take5 that you have all been very busy over Christmas, enjoying plenty of ‘Food, Fun and Friendship’. Many of you were able to join us for our online Christmas party and Stars Awards. The hosts of the raffle, Martin Ross and Les Johnson – both dressed in rather suspect festive outfits – managed to share over 100 prizes across the group.

The Stars Awards part of the event was an abridged version of the awards, and normal service of the full Stars Awards will resume this summer. Congratulations to the Crewkerne office and to St Ives House for winning Care at Home Office of the Year and Home of the Year respectively. St Ives House leads the way with exceptionally strong performances in quality and training compliance, and a satisfaction rating of 9.8 on carehome.co.uk. You have all been amazing at encouraging residents and relatives to rate us on carehome.co.uk, and they’re telling us that they’re so pleased and grateful for everything that you all do. Well done! Their accolades have meant that we are yet again a Top 20 Care Home Group amongst all providers in the UK. You should be very proud of yourselves.

Our recruitment pipeline remains healthy, and we continue to welcome new starters and staff returning to the business having tried something different. It’s so important that you all play your part in welcoming new colleagues and making them feel part of your teams. Don’t forget our ‘Refer a Friend’ scheme which could mean that you not only earn £500* but also get to work with a friend!

I was so pleased to see so many long service awards for 10, 15, 20 and 25 years – and in particular for Tracy at Talbot View with 40 years’ service, and Ita at Elizabeth House, who has been with us for 48 years. Thank you to all of you for your commitment to Care South!

In November, we said goodbye to Aaron Whitehead, who led our homes carefully and safely through the pandemic, and to whom we are very grateful for his substantial contribution to Care South. Our new Director of Residential Care, Philip Smith will be joining us at the end of March and will be continuing many of the initiatives that Aaron started, including the resident lifestyle experience review and the dementia strategy and specialist dementia training programme.

We continue to invest in all our services, old and new, and construction of our latest new care home, Marjorie House is progressing well and remains on track for completion in early 2024.

As ever, our HEART Values remain incredibly important to us all and I know those Values are ever-present in all your hard work and in everything you do to keep our residents, Care at Home clients and each other safe. Thank you!

Simon Bird, Chief Executive

Festive fun returns with the AFC Bournemouth Christmas coffee morning

Residents from a number of homes, along with clients from Care at Home Bournemouth, were delighted to visit AFC Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium for the much-anticipated return of its annual Christmas coffee morning.

The coffee morning, hosted by AFC Bournemouth, was thanks to the ongoing partnership between AFC Bournemouth Community Sports Trust and Care South, which began in 2014. Care South residents in attendance included life-long fan, Stan from Wickmeads (pictured), who celebrated his 100th birthday with a special visit to the stadium last year. Everyone enjoyed a morning of tea, coffee, cakes, mince pies and festive entertainment.

*subject to T&C’s

A Moment with Maggie

I hope you all enjoyed time with family and friends over the festivities.

Interactive new technology at Sussexdown

Sussexdown is thrilled to be benefitting from the latest Genee G-Touch wireless screen, which has been donated by the Friends of Sussexdown.

The innovative G-Touch interactive screen is easy to use and encourages residents to participate in a wide variety of interactive activities.

The touchscreen system includes games such as catching fish in a pond and driving a bus. The software helps residents with health issues, including those living with dementia and Alzheimer’s. With its large screen, built-in front facing speakers and HD video conferencing camera, the system also provides for spectacular viewings of videos, TV shows and movies, as well as being the perfect communication tool for video calling loved ones.

‘Candles on the Lake’ with Lewis-Manning Hospice Care

We were delighted to support Lewis-Manning Hospice Care’s ‘Candles on the Lake’ again last year. This reflective event gives everyone the opportunity to come together to celebrate and remember loved ones. We purchased paper candles for our homes, for residents to write messages, which were released on the lake by our community partner, AFC Bournemouth. The event was attended by over 3,000 people and raised over £8,000. Thank you to all of you who took part!

It’s a new year, but from a HR, Recruitment and Learning & Development perspective, our focus continues to be on attracting good people to do great work for all the residents and clients in our care.

We continue to work hard to fill vacancies and, at the time of drafting this update, we have already offered nearly 4,000 hours across the residential portfolio. Finding suitable candidates is only the start and a warm welcome and lots of support from you all at a local level is key. As you may be aware, some staff also ‘buddy’ new joiners to the business, sharing their knowledge, good practice and answering queries. If you would like to help settle in our new starters by becoming a local ‘buddy’, please inform your Manager and we will ensure that you are trained to take on this important role.

As costs continue to be a focus, I would also like to remind you of the discounts available via the Blue Light Card – you can save on fuel prices and your weekly shop!

The HR team is here to support each and every one of you and the HR Business Partners, Moira Jevons-Hunt (James Marchant’s portfolio) and Zoe Fisher (Sarah Hill’s portfolio), regularly visit their locations. Please do not hesitate to talk to them if you need any personal support/help, or if you have any questions or feedback that you would like to share.

Maggie

Maggie Searle, Director of HR and Training

Anagram Corner

Can you untangle these tricky anagrams?

All these words can be found on the pages of this issue of Take5. The first five correct entries drawn out of the hat will all receive a £30 voucher.

A crackin’ Care

Residents at Fairlawn were treated to festive entertainment from ukele group, ‘Frayed Strings’.

Sussexdown welcomed in 2023 with a New Year’s Eve party filled with Food, Fun and Friendship!

At Alexandra House, it was wonderful to welcome friends and family back for Christmas visits.

Fremington Manor residents enjoyed a tinsel-topped trip to Little Johns Garden Centre.

Dorset House residents and staff baked this fantastic Christmas cake from scratch!

At Fern Brook Lodge, Peggy was the proud winner of the Christmas Fayre competition for the best-dressed guest.

Father Christmas paid his annual visit to Buxton House with gifts for all the residents.

South Christmas!

At Wickmeads, super-fan Stan received a very special gift from AFC Bournemouth – a signed shirt!

wonderful,

Residents from St Ives House were delighted with their pre-Christmas trip to Stewarts Garden Centre, including a visit to the real life reindeer flying school!

Everyone enjoyed the Food, Fun and Friendship celebrations at the Kenwith Castle Christmas party.

Many of our homes joined in the fun for Elf Day before Christmas, including this amazing display from Maiden Castle House

The joint-winners of the Christmas Carol competition were Castle Dene (pictured) and Dorset House.

At Talbot View, residents and staff enjoyed a

relaxing Christmas time together with a festive pyjama day!

A great turn out for Christmas Jumper Day at Head Office.

Elizabeth House residents received lots of presents from Father Christmas.

Celebrating our success!

2022 saw us recognised by carehome.co.uk as one of the Top 20 large care home groups in the UK, which is something we should all be incredibly proud of.

2023 awards closing soon – keep those reviews coming!

The awards are back for 2023 – this year with an earlier closing date of 28 February. It’s really important that we encourage residents, their families and friends to leave positive reviews so that we can retain our Top 20 position. If you need additional materials, including review cards, please let us know.

Our stars of 2022

Now in its 13th year, the Stars Awards remain an important event for us, where time is taken to celebrate and thank you all for your great work and commitment to residents and Care at Home clients. It offers us a great opportunity to recognise and reward individuals and teams from across the company.

Care South Chairman, Jane Stichbury and Chief Executive, Simon Bird hosted the 2022 virtual ceremony in December and presented the Home of the Year and Care at Home Office of the Year awards with lots of friendly competition.

It certainly wasn’t an easy decision for the judges, with such high-quality care and consistently positive feedback from residents,clients and relatives, which is second-to-none across the whole Care South group.

But there could only be one winner and on the day St Ives House scooped the Home of the Year award, based on a number of criteria, including feedback and reviews from residents and relatives. The Care South fundamental principles of Food, Fun and Friendship are ever-present in all Care South homes and the team at St Ives House just pipped other homes to win this award.

The Care at Home Office of the Year winner on the day went to Crewkerne, in recognition of its quality and care compliance alongside great customer feedback and reviews.

Simon Bird, Chief Executive, commented: “What a challenging year we have had – our Stars Awards event is a wonderful way to highlight the commitment and hard work from all our care homes and Care at Home offices. I was so pleased to have the opportunity to acknowledge and appreciate that and to thank everyone at Care South for their dedication to the many people in our care. Well done to Emma and the team at St Ives House and to Sarah and all the team at Crewkerne! I hope everyone is as proud of themselves as I am of them – well done to all!”

Home of the Year 2022 – St Ives House

Emma Cotton, Home Manager at St Ives House, commented: “We are delighted to have won the Home of the Year Stars Award. The team always go above and beyond to help residents continue to lead rich and fulfilling lives and all our hard work has paid off. We all love what we do and wouldn’t want to change it. Thank you to our fantastic team for helping make this happen.”

Care at Home Office of the Year 2022 – Crewkerne

Sarah Broom, Somerset’s Care at Home Manager, commented: “We are all over the moon that the Crewkerne office has been selected as the Care at Home Office of the Year. It’s been a busy time and the team has worked exceptionally hard, so it’s fantastic for us all to be recognised for this. I would like to personally thank all the hardworking team for their invaluable support too and for making this happen.”

Celebrating delicious seasonal food

Winning celebrations for autumn food festival

Our autumn food festival was a wonderful activity with Food, Fun and Friendship at its very heart. All our homes took part and we were amazed by how many incredible pies were created.

Competition was fierce but there could only be one winner and Talbot View took the first-place position for its fabulous pie. The team was closely followed by Dorset House in second and Kenwith Castle in third. Each of the winning homes received a beautiful food hamper, courtesy of Harvest Foods, one of our major food suppliers.

As part of this autumnal competition, many chefs picked locally sourced fruit and discussed various fruits and pastry facts with residents, who reminisced about their pie-making days and shared tips for making successful pastry.

Helen Goss, Activities Assistant at Talbot View, commented: “The autumn food festival was a fantastic celebration of great seasonal food. It was wonderful to be the winner and residents in our care were delighted that their hard work in helping with the pie has paid off.

“No matter what age, food sets the rhythm of the day for everyone. We focus on the overall dining experience as meals are more than just the food on the plate – they bring residents together. The fruit pie competition was a huge success, and everyone had so much fun taking part.”

The beautful winning pie display at Talbot View

The team at Kenwith Castle claimed third prize with these delicious-looking creations.

Celebrating their win at Talbot View

A celebration of kindness and friendship

Care South wishing trees for #WorldKindness

Throughout November we celebrated kindness and friendship with a focus on World Kindness Day – a fantastic opportunity to celebrate all the Food, Fun and Friendship across our care homes.

As the saying goes, people come into our lives for a reason, a season or a lifetime. At Care South, we understand the importance of maintaining friendships and creating new ones for the residents in our care.

We want residents to continue living rich and fulfilling lives and doing what they love. That’s why we encourage residents to meet friends, enjoy visits from loved ones and take part in activities as much or as little as they wish. Our care homes provide a safe and homely space for residents to continue friendships and make new, lasting relationships, based on care and kindness.

Dorset House celebrated a month of ‘acts of generosity’. An amazing variety of activities started with a 14km sponsored walk to raise funds for Alzheimer’s Society, which raised an impressive £100. Luckily, the November weather was kind to them!

Staff joined in with residents for our wishing tree activity at Fremington Manor – a lovely day that left everyone feeling uplifted.

Residents at Castle Dene decorated their wishing tree with poppies for Remembrance Day.

Care South welcomes...

Sussexdown welcomes new Home Manager

Lynne Hudson joins Sussexdown as its new Home Manager. With over 45 years in the health sector at a senior level and 22 years of experience managing care homes, Lynne is passionate about delivering high standards of care and loves making a difference.

Nelson set to make his mark at Fremington Manor

Fremington Manor welcomes new Home Manager, Nelson Lima.

Nelson benefits from vast experience in the care sector and is focused on supporting residents and ensuring the highest quality care is delivered day-in, day-out by the fantastic team at Fremington Manor.

Key dates for your diary

Spring is just around the corner and there are lots of events coming up, including:

• 14 February – Valentine’s Day

• 14 -21 February – National Nest Box Week

• 21 February – Shrove Tuesday

• 1 March – St David’s Day

• 2 March – World Book Day

• 12 March – Commonwealth Day

• 17 March – St Patrick’s Day /Red Nose Day

• 19 March – Mothering Sunday

• 20 March – First Day of Spring

• 7-10 April – Easter

• 22 April – Earth Day

• 23 April – St George’s Day

If you have any great ideas for activities, crafts or competitions focused around these events, we’d love to hear about them!

Anniversary celebrations!

We have lots to celebrate in this issue! A big thank you to everyone for your hard work and dedication – and congratulations on these milestone anniversaries:

25 years:

Vanessa Pearce, Care Team Leader, Alexandra House.

Sharon Berry, Care Team Leader, Talbot View.

Jane Moxom, Senior Care and Support Worker, Care at Home, Crewkerne.

Fay Fowler, Home Care Assistant, Care at Home, Crewkerne.

Jayne Preston, Specialist Team at Care at Home, Crewkerne.

Jeanette Poole, Housekeeper, Talbot View.

Mandy Garland, Night Care Team Leader, Castle Dene.

Wendy Read, Care Assistant, Talbot View.

20 years:

Jo Powell, Staff Supervisor, Care at Home, Crewkerne.

Lorelei Burrows, Senior Care Assistant, Dorset House.

15 years:

Joanne Peatfield, Care Assistant, Beauchamp House.

10 years:

Natalie Hoskings, Deputy Manager, St Ives House.

Double celebrations for Ita at Elizabeth House

Ita Graven, Care Team Leader at Elizabeth House who has worked for Care South for an astounding 48 years, recently celebrated her 80th birthday!

Her colleagues and friends at Elizabeth House made a lovely cake and arranged a special afternoon tea in her honour.

Simon Bird attended to present Ita with a gift and thank her for her remarkable service, loyalty and hard work over the years. Simon commented: “Ita’s 48 years’ service is really quite incredible and there seems to be no limit to her energy and enthusiasm for her career in care – thank you, Ita!”

Carol Ball – 30 years

Tracy Jeff – 40 years with Care South

Tracy Jeff embarked on her Care South career at Elizabeth House when she was just 17 and has worked at Care South ever since.

It’s certainly been a family affair as she currently works with her daughter at Talbot View and even met her husband at Care South. Tracy has worked in both care, activities and domestic roles over the last 40 years and is now Head of Laundry at Talbot View.

Simon Bird said: “We are delighted to be celebrating Tracy’s 40-year service award – this is a fantastic testament to her commitment to Care South and is very well deserved. Thank you for all your hard work, Tracy.”

Congratulations to Carol Ball who is celebrating 30 years at Fremington Manor. Carol has enriched the lives of many at Fremington Manor, from residents, their family members and fellow team members. Thank you, Carol.

From Care Assistant to Home Manager

Just as our previous edition of Take5 was going to press, Ash Smith was formally confirmed in post as Home Manager at Maiden Castle House, having embarked on his career with Care South as a Care Assistant over a decade ago.

Of course, this may seem like old news to many, as Ash had been Acting Home Manager since January last year and his formal promotion in October naturally fell into place. But it’s a fabulous achievement and a testament to his dedication and commitment that we simply couldn’t leave out of Take5!

Simon Bird said: “We have enjoyed seeing Ash develop and drive Maiden Castle House to where it is now. We look forward to seeing him continue to flourish in his career with Care South.”

Update from Care at Home

The seasonal period is always a busy and positive time for Care at Home.

It was so lovely to see the reactions of clients as we delivered our homemade Christmas hampers, funded by the Chairman’s 2020 fund. A small gesture that meant so much – really well done to the teams who worked so hard to make it happen. It’s not something that we have to do but, as a not-for-profit charity, we choose to.

Capturing life at Care at Home with new videos and photography

We now have new photography and video footage for our Care at Home offices.

Check out some of the great shots and use the QR code to see the videos on the Care South website.

Big thanks to everyone for their help in making this happen!

As ever, our staff have continued to provide essential services across local communities, including vital work to support hospitals who are working under so much pressure. The tenacity and dedication of our staff never ceases to amaze me, never more so than during the winter weather months – they always find a way to visit our clients in their homes, no matter how challenging the conditions.

If you haven’t attended one of our open coffee mornings, it would be great to see you and have a chat – for myself and Bex, they are the highlight of our month. Another highlight is the long service awards, in fact I recently presented these to four staff over a two-week period, each with over 20 years’ service – in these times, that really is dedication to our clients, their colleagues and to Care South.

The Operations team, Bex and Rahul, Registered Managers and their teams have been super busy rolling out PASS digital care planning and by April we will also move to PASS roster. This will see Care South at Home truly modernised and ready for the future.

We are working hard to improve retention and recruitment and in the coming months will start to welcome our first visa-sponsored candidates. 2023 will see our Assisted Living services grow at Kenwith Castle and we will open our first shop and café. This development will pave the way for a new Care South at Home community service in North Devon. Very exciting!

Thank you, stay safe over the coming months and keep on doing a great job.

Martin Ross, Director of Care at Home

Take5 photography competition

We received lots of fantastic entries for the photo competition. It was another tough one to judge and as a result we have four worthy winners this issue.

Congratulations to our overall winner, Stephen Maskell from Head Office, for this beautiful shot of a Brownsea red squirrel with a sweet chestnut. Stephen will be receiving a £50 voucher!

It’s Take5 quiz time!

Fancy bagging yourself a £30 voucher? Simply answer the ten questions below and send your answers to take5@mckennatownsend.com

1. How many letters are there in the English alphabet?

2. Who is Batman’s crime-fighting partner?

3. In which European capital city would you find the Eiffel Tower?

4. How many zeros are there in ten thousand?

Congratulations also go out to our three runners-up – you have all won a £25 voucher:

5. What is the name of the shape that has five sides and five equal angles?

6. How many legs does a spider have?

7. How many seconds make one hour?

8. What is the name of the fairy in Peter Pan?

9. What sweet or savoury item do you traditionally make on Shrove Tuesday?

10. What is celebrated every year on 14 February?

Closing date is 24 March and all the winners, plus the correct answers, will be in the next issue.

We look forward to seeing your entries for next Take 5 photography competition!

Just a reminder, we need high-res images for your entry to be considered. If you are taking them on an iPhone, please send at one of the highest size settings.

Send your photos, along with your details and a title for your shot to take5@mckennatownsend.com

Deb Wiltshire at Fern Brook Lodge for this ‘view with Pumpkin the dog’.

Sandra Bartlett at Dorset House .

Rachel Sohorye at Dorset House for this clifftop in the Algarve.

Take5 minutes with

Mark Wardman, Catering Operations Manager

What is your role at Care South?

I’m responsible for overseeing all food and menus at our 15 care homes, ranging from legal compliance through to the overall dining experience. I support the wider catering teams and Head Chefs to ensure they have the tools to enhance the food offering available to residents and that we are offering varied and nutritious food to everyone in our care.

How do you work with the homes to create menus?

Each of our homes is different and we are big on person centred care and ensuring we incorporate residents’ choices. Resident surveys and meetings give us important feedback and we take these into account when creating seasonal menus. The Head Chefs in our homes are able to create their own menus, which allows them to use their own creative flair and knowledge of residents’ favourite dishes and flavours. We are however looking at centrally written menus, with a group of Chefs involved in this, to help share best practice and recipes.

How important is seasonality with the food created at the homes?

Seasonality is incredibly important, as is using local produce. We pride ourselves on using suppliers local to each home such as butchers and source locally grown seasonal fruit and veg. Our menus change regularly based around seasonality.

Could you outline how homes help meet nutrition and hydration requirements?

We tailor menus to suit residents’ needs. We use electronic care planning systems which incorporate nutritional factors. If, for example, we notice weight loss we can adapt a resident’s menu plan based on this. We have developed specific recipes which are diabetic-friendly or focus on higher protein/lower carbohydrates to create a balanced diet. We will be launching digital menus which record nutritional values and allergens which will make it even easier to tailor menus to each resident.

Why is good food important in care homes?

It’s important that we offer good quality, nutritious food in our homes, not only because it enhances the experience of living in a Care South home, but because food is an important part of anyone’s day, and we believe looking forward to the next meal should be exciting. For us, it’s essential we make all meals as special and memorable as we can for residents and there’s nothing we love more than hearing great feedback as well as our residents sharing their meal experiences and feedback with friends and loved ones.

Mark’s diabetic-friendly banana pancakes

As Shrove Tuesday is approaching, what better time to start practising this delicious, diabetic-friendly pancake recipe.

Ingredients (serves 6):

2 very ripe bananas

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 eggs

6 tablespoons plain flour

Vegetable oil

Fresh berries

Raw, unprocessed honey

Double cream

Peanut butter

Method:

1. In a large bowl, mash the bananas very well with a fork

2. Add the vanilla extract and baking powder and mix until smooth and combined

3. Add the eggs and whisk everything together with a fork

4. Using one tablespoon at a time, add the flour, mixing as you go until you have an even batter. Put this to one side

5. Heat a frying pan on medium heat and add a drizzle of vegetable oil. Move the pan around to make sure the oil covers the bottom of the pan

6. Pour in a ladle of pancake mixture into the pan and shape with a spatula

7. Allow to fry until the top is starting to bubble and the bottom feels sturdy enough to hold together

8. Gently, but quickly, release the edges of the pancake with a spatula, then slide it all the way under the pancake and flip it to the other side

9. It should only take a minute to cook on the other side. Remove from the pan once it’s finished and lay on a plate. Repeat the process until you have a tasty pancake stack

10. Serve with fresh blueberries and raspberries

11. Add 1 teaspoon of raw, unprocessed honey to a cup of double cream and stir until well combined for a delicious, easy, sugar-free sauce to drizzle on top! Or simply top with peanut butter

Take5 WordSearch

Try this Wordsearch for a little brain-teasing fun!

All the words below are hidden in the grid...

STARS AWARDS

TEAMWORK

RESIDENTS

HONESTY

EXCELLENCE

FRIENDSHIP

APPROACH

RESPECT

SPRING

TAKE FIVE

Take5 winners

Congratulations to all our winners from the October issue! Our spot the object winners were Samantha Ward from Castle Dene, Jordan Warren from Head Office, Sally Mayo-Smith from Care at Home, Crewkerne, Janna Walford from Sussexdown and Valerie Rooney from Talbot View. You will all receive a £30 voucher.

Our anagram winners were Francesca Skirth from Head office, Sallie Samuel from Castle Dene, Kizzy Cook from Fern Brook Lodge, Linda Edwards from Care at Home, Crewkerne and Janet Barry from Dorset House who will each also receive a £30 voucher.

Miranda Cameron-Taylor from Care at Home, Crewkerne, Patricia Goddard from Beauchamp House, Sara Carlton from St Ives House, Shannon Kyriacous from Sussexdown and Georgia Campbell from Elizabeth House correctly completed the spot the difference and will receive a £30 voucher.

Lisa Mitchell from Maiden Castle House was our Take5 quiz winner and will receive a £30 voucher. Congratulations Lisa!

October issue quiz answers

The answers for the quiz in our spring issue of Take5 were:

Spot the object

Take5 spot the difference

We have five £30 vouchers to give away!

All you need to do for a chance of winning is identify the eight differences between these two photos from the AFC Bournemouth Christmas Coffee Morning.

We’d love to hear your feedback on Take 5!

Is there something you’d like to see in the next issue, or do you have any news that you’d love to see featured?

Just get in touch by emailing take5@mckennatownsend.com

We look forward to hearing from you!

Take5 competition entries

Send your entries for all our Take 5 competitions to take5@mckennatownsend.com

Closing date for all the competitions in this issue is 24 March – and all the lucky winners will be listed in the next edition of Take5

Good luck everyone!