26
17/12/10
16:14
Page 1
26
CARINGDEMENTIA CARE
Home pioneers Department of Health initiative By Dominic Musgrave
Des Kelly presents Coverage Care staff with their awards with chief executive David Coull and NVQ coordinator Rachel Evans
Care company presents staff with awards MORE than 90 per cent of the 700 staff employed by a Shropshire care company are now qualified to at least NVQ level two in care. Eighty staff from Coverage Care’s 16 centres in the county have qualified this year, and they were presented with their awards and badges by Des Kelly OBE, executive director of the National Care Forum, at a special
celebration held at the company’s newest care home Greenfields, which opened in Whitchurch in September. The latest training initiative organised by Coverage Care is with the Royal College of Nursing to develop training for staff working with those with dementia, including dementia care mapping and similar practice based learning.
A LINCOLNSHIRE care home is pioneering a new Department of Health initiative which is key to changes proposed in the new NHS white paper. Barchester Healthcare’s Newton House in Grantham is one of the first community-based providers to involve people living in care homes, and their relatives, in using accounts to decide priorities for the quality of the health-related services delivered to them. The team has worked in collaboration with the local PCT for years, pushing the boundaries for managing people with continuing care needs and providing care to people with highly specialised needs who would otherwise face life confined to a hospital. It is one of two independent providers in the region to be asked to pilot the changed approach. The pilot involved drawing up a ‘quality account’ with people living in the home, their relatives and local health professionals like GPs and therapists.
Manager Lesley Marian Hart told Caring UK three more pilots are being set up in Barchester homes in other regions. She added: “Everyone concerned has worked hard and at our first meeting the enthusiasm we had from our review panel was extraordinary. “From a professional perspective the engagement of residents and relatives has been heartening. “We learned a lot from the process, too. “Our data gathering has become much more sophisticated, which has interested a lot of health providers – it helps demonstrate our successes with outcomes based care.” At Newton House’s first quality report panel meeting, pledges that received particular attention were action plans to use assistive technology to help reduce falls and to reduce the use of anti-psychotic drugs. Newton House is a purpose built home offering professional nursing care, a range of therapies and expert care for people living with dementia.
Labelling can clean up laundry problems RESIDENTS with dementia often experience distress if they cannot find the clothing they are familiar with, and it is important an individual’s garments are correctly returned to them after washing. With more than 1,200 garments going through the care home laundry this is not an easy task, especially if the garment is not named adequately. Attach-a-Tag is a simple, cost effective method of labelling clothing
and soft objects, and is an ideal way to quickly label short term and respite residents’ items as well as normal laundry. Replicating a button, it attaches in seconds to the garment seam or laundry label, making it discreet and comfortable to the wearer. The patented design is easy to attach but difficult to remove, and cannot be taken off by accident or come off during the laundry process.
Hairdressing service cuts out hassle JUST how can hairdressing impact upon your care home business? The majority of residential homes, nursing homes and care centres fully understand the benefits of preserving their residents’ pride in appearance and know the process should be an enjoyable one. However, according to The Alzheimer’s Society, personal care, including washing and bathing, is a common source of anxiety for those living with dementia. Lily Pins offers a fully managed, bespoke hairdressing service for care homes and provides industry specific
training to homes’ own hairdressers. Wouldn’t it be ideal if: Your hairdresser was dementia trained and experienced in carework. All residents could have their hair done irrespective of their frailties in or out of bed. Staff didn’t have to escort residents to and from a salon. All hairdressing substances were COSHH assessed. Hairdressers already had a valid transferrable CRB disclosure. Administrators did not have to deal with hairdressing money.