Issue 78 13.10.21
The weekly online newsletter for the care sector
Residents pen charity song with musician
AN Anglesey musician has spoken movingly how writing a song with nursing home residents conjured memories of his beloved late grandmother after being kept apart by the Covid-19 pandemic According to Tom Owen, the experience was all the more poignant because coronavirus restrictions meant he was unable to see his 97-year-old gran, Elizabeth Owen, in the months before she died. The song, titled Dyma Cariad (Here’s Love), and which also drew inspiration from Anglesey’s community heritage, is on a new album available to download through the charity Live Music Now Wales. Tom said when writing the evocative piece during the height of the second lockdown his mind was filled with bittersweet reflections of times spent with his grandmother, affectionately known as Betty to family and friends. She sadly died of natural causes only weeks before he started work on the songwriting project in which he linked up with Glan Rhos Nursing Home, near Brynsiencyn, Anglesey. Due to the restrictions Tom had been unable to visit his grandmother in the months before she passed away.
He said: “In a way the resulting song is a personal tribute to her as well as others of her generation, like all the wonderful Glan Rhos residents, who have spent a lifetime contributing so much to our vibrant Anglesey community.” A well-known local singer and multi-instrumentalist, Tom is one of five talented musicians from different Welsh counties commissioned by the charity Live Music Now Wales to produce the album titled Unlocked (Datgloi). The song has been released online and is free to download at https://livemusicnow. bandcamp.com/releases while the video is available at https://bit.ly/UnlockedPlaylist The compilation album features 10 newly penned songs all inspired by the heritage of five different communities across Wales. Glan Rhos activities manager Wendy Rogers said Tom had a natural rapport with the residents which inspired them to spontaneously burst into song. She added: “I recall a time when one or our lady residents started singing a tune her father used to sing her. It was so moving we were all in tears. “We can’t wait to hear the completed Unlocked album.” Tom is a member of the jazz quartet Tacla.
Excitement builds for accolades
Residents of Rogers House enjoyed getting stuck into some crafting in the garden. The crafty residents at the Wigmore care home enjoyed a cup of tea whilst making their own lavender bags They removed the lavender buds from their stems before combining them with rice and adding them to a pouch, complete with custom labels. Home manager Jackie Miles said: “Our residents love their crafts and our activity coordinators always make sure there is something innovative and interesting on offer for them to try. The group had great fun making the lavender bags and of course it’s great they can enjoy using them too.” Pictured is resident Marjorie Good.
T H E 2 0 2 1 C A R I N G U K AWA R D S Thursday 2nd December 2021, THE ATHENA, LEICESTER
EXCITEMENT is building for the industry’s biggest end-of-year party, with plans in place to make this year’s Caring UK Awards the best one yet. Nominations for the 2021 awards are now closed and the full shortlist is on the Caring UK website. Organised by Script Media in partnership with Caring UK and headline sponsor Virgin Money, this annual celebration of success will culminate in a glittering ceremony – taking place at the Athena in Leicester on Thursday December 2 – where host Dean Andrews from Emmerdale will reveal the lucky winners who will take home an award. We received a record number of entries from all over the UK with so many stories of the wonderful work that was done particularly during the pandemic and we want to thank everyone who sent in nominations. Shortlisted entries from far and wide have made the finals, now progressing to the next stage of the judging process. Event director Judith Halkerston added: “We have been amazed by the incredible work that has taken and is continuing to take place in homes nationwide, and the last 18 months has only confirmed to us just how wonderful care staff truly are. Once again we were overwhelmed with the standard of entries we received from homes up and down the country. We can’t wait to celebrate with everyone at the awards on December 2.”
CARING UK AWA R D S 2 0 2 1
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CARINGWEEKLY
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Residents go for gold for charity
The team from Elsyng House.
Care operator commits to going green with events OAKLAND Care spent September showed its commitment to ‘Going Green’ by hosting multiple events aimed at protecting the environment. Three of Oakland Care’s homes mobilised volunteers, residents, staff and the public to three different locations for actions aimed at promoting sustainability and protecting the environment. Ten volunteers from Elsyng House, as well as the chief executive and members of head office, came together on a mission to plant 100 trees across Broomfield Park’s boundaries. An ‘oak tree nursery’ was also established, allowing residents and the public the opportunity to enjoy their growth. Business services manager Aaron White said: “The tree planting event organised by Elsyng House was excellent – it really shows what can be achieved in a day and it’s already given us ideas for how we can make even more of an impact next year.” In Hastings, 12 members of the
Hastings Court team, as well as the operations director, took part in a beach clean. More than 10 large bags of litter were collected, as residents came to the beach to join in, and commend Hastings Court for their hard work and efforts across the day. Hastings Court Green Champion, Chloe Oliver-Taylor, added: “I was amazed and delighted at how many staff and residents turned up to clean our beach. “I felt proud when so many members of the public walked up to express their thanks and congratulations for our efforts. “We walked for four hours in the sunshine, before coming together with colleagues and residents for fish and chips and a beer on the seafront.” And the team at Woodland Grove care home went to Loughton on a litter picking expedition. A team of 10, including residents and managers, were responsible for collecting seven large bags of litter in the local area.
Team members recognised TEAM members at Bluebird Care Gravesham and Dartford were successful at the Kent Care Awards and have been shortlisted for the Leaders in Care Awards. Live-in care assistant Fawzi Ajamie won the community homecare champion category at the Kent Care Awards for continuing to go above and beyond for his customers. And Denise Dadswell has been named a finalist in the registered manager of the year category at the Leaders in Care Awards. Community liaison manager Georgia Rae Weed said: “We are delighted that two of our team members have been recognised for prestigious awards, both locally through the KiCA and nationally at the Leaders in Care Awards. “Both Fawzi and Denise have demonstrated time and time again exceptional dedication and compassion towards our customers,
Denise Dadswell who’s lives have been greatly improved by their work.” Denise will find out is she has been successful at an awards ceremony taking place at the National Conference Centre.
THE Macmillan World’s Biggest Coffee Morning became a truly ‘glittering’ occasion at 21 care homes across the south. As they raised their mugs and tucked into fresh homemade cakes and pastries, hundreds of Colten Care residents and staff enjoyed a Willy Wonka-style twist on the annual charity get-together. Chefs at each home in Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire and West Sussex included a ‘Golden Cupcake’, with an edible golden centre, in every batch of cakes they baked and served. Each lucky recipient of the tasty treat has been entered into a draw with the chance to win a prize worth £500 – made up of £250 in shopping vouchers and an equivalent £250 donation from Colten Care to Macmillan on their behalf. The overall winner will also win a bottle of bubbly. Amid smiles and laughter all round, Frank Garrett, a resident at Wellington Grange in Chichester, was overjoyed to ‘strike gold’. Operations director Elaine Farrer said: “The Macmillan coffee morning is an ideal opportunity to have fun while raising money to help fight cancer in the process. It’s something we are proud to take part in every year.” As well as the search for a golden cupcake, this year’s Macmillan fun at Colten Care included a ‘soak the manager’ challenge.
Frank Garett, who won the golden cupcake at Wellington Grange in Chichester. Residents and colleagues at Wellington Grange stepped up to pelt home manager Helen Smith with wet sponges or watched from the sidelines. There were also raffles and cake sales at various homes, plus stalls selling gift items donated by community friends or made by residents in arts and crafts activities. At Outstanding-rated Woodpeckers in Brockenhurst, the garden echoed to the sounds of ‘Savoy Songs’ with residents singing along to jazz standards played live by two musicians from the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and led by Colten Care’s music and arts partner Fiona Pritchard.
Marathon runners raise funds for care charity THREE fundraisers are resting their feet after running the London Marathon for Royal Star & Garter. Carolyn Eastwood, Clare Holman and Andy Helliwell were among the thousands who took part in the 26.2mile challenge. To date, the trio has raised just over £6,000 for the charity. Clare ran 3:49:43 in her second marathon. She chose to raise money for Royal Star & Garter because her grandfather Frank Perkins was a resident at the old Richmond Home. Clare said he received “exceptional” care, and after the marathon added: “He was in my thoughts leading up to the event. “The whole experience on the day was just amazing. The crowds were fantastic and hearing my name called out by complete strangers as well as my supporters really spurred me on.” Carolyn is a Governor at Royal Star & Garter and was running her first marathon. She finished in 6:14:17 and said: “It was really tough but thinking of how much I was raising for Royal Star & Garter kept me focused. “The crowd was also amazing. People were shouting out my name and cheering me on and it helped keep me going.”
Andy Helliwell Andy’s London Marathon effort is the culmination of three gruelling endurance challenges, having already completed the 35-mile Spires and Shires Ultra Marathon and 100km Race to the Stones earlier this year. Royal Star & Garter is one of four charities he is raising money for. He finished the marathon in 4:28:24 and said: “It was a truly amazing experience – to have that amount of support from the spectators the whole way round is a really special feeling. “This was my third big run of the year, so a break is next on the agenda.”
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No lessons learned on care since Covid-19 THE Government continues to ignore a crisis in social care that left the care of our oldest and most vulnerable exposed to the Covid-19 pandemic, providers have said. Welcoming the publication of a first inquiry into the pandemic, the Independent Care Group said social care paid an awful price for years of under-funding and under-staffing when coronavirus struck. And it warned that the Government seemingly has not learned any lessons as the social care sector continues its survival battle. Chair Mike Padgham added: “We know that at least 32,849 people died from Covid-19 in care settings between December 28 2019 and September 24 this year. “Without the blood, sweat and tears shed by our amazing staff within the social care sector, that could have been much worse. They performed miracles. “When Covid-19 hit, the care of people in their own home and in care and nursing homes was already on the brink after a generation of neglect. “The Government then compounded that situation by putting social care to the back of the queue, concentrating attention and resources on the NHS as it reacted to the pandemic. “At the outset, care providers were told to continue as normal and even when alarm bells started ringing,
we had to fight to get proper PPE, access to the right testing regime and funding support to prevent us being overwhelmed. “Eventually, the Government did acknowledge that social care was as much a part of the frontline against Covid-19 as NHS care was and we got a measure of support. “But if you ask whether any lessons have been learned, I would say the signs are, alarmingly, that they haven’t and social care is still playing second fiddle to NHS healthcare.” The ICG has welcomed the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee and Health and Social Care Report, Coronavirus: lessons learned to date. In particular, the ICG welcomed the report’s acknowledgement that longstanding pressures on social care need to be tackled urgently; that the prominence of social care within its government department needs to be addressed and that reform of social care, via a 10-year-plan, is overdue and needs to be undertaken urgently. The report also endorses the Health and Social Care Committee’s call for additional resources. It says: ‘That Committee has made the case for an increase of £7 billion a year by 2023/4. We note that despite the Government’s recent announcement the level of new investment in social care from 2023/24 remains unclear.’
Woodland View manager Cindy Hawkins with Mayoress Dilys Moy and Mayor of Droitwich Spa Councillor Bill Moy.
Mayor visits new home COUNCILLOR Bill Moy and his Consort Dilys Moy have visited Droitwich Spa’s latest care home development, Woodland View. The Mayor and Mayoress planted the first tree in the grounds of the home as the build moves forward ahead of its opening later this year. Woodland View is care provider Ideal Carehomes’ latest development and has benefitted from a £12million investment. It will provide 24-hour residential and dementia care for 66 residents, as well as bringing up to 65 jobs to the area once fully staffed. Home manager Cindy Hawkins gave the Mayor and Mayoress a tour of the state-of-the-art facilities including the cinema room, hairdressing salon,
vintage tea room with balcony area, Sky Bar with far-reaching views and well-equipped bedrooms with en-suite wet rooms. She said: “It’s been wonderful to meet the Mayor and Mayoress of Droitwich Spa and for them to be involved with our home at such an exciting time of the build. “The home is coming along nicely and I know the future residents will enjoy living here when we officially open our doors.” The Mayor planted a bay tree to commemorate the visit as a nod to the ancient myth that planting a tree at a new build home will appease the tree-dwelling spirits which may have been displaced in its construction.
Walton HPC complete the sale of a large purpose built Care Home on the M25 BLUEBELL CARE HOME, STANLEY ROAD, GRAYS, ESSEX Bluebell Care Home was purpose built in 2008 and is currently registered for 80 with 80 single bedrooms, all with large en-suite wc’s. The home is arranged on ground, first and second floor levels with access to all residents’ areas via shaft lift. The home is located just behind Grays town centre which lies just off J30 of the M25. Surrounding the home is a mix of commercial, retail and residential properties. Paul Burford of Walton HPC’s English Office, who handled the sale commented: “We were delighted to be instructed to confidentially market Bluebell Care Home and following a very discreet marketing campaign, a deal was agreed to DMP Healthcare. The sale was conducted to the satisfaction of all parties and there was no disruption to the ongoing business.”
The outgoing vendor commented: “We instructed Paul Burford of Walton HPC after hearing very good reports of him through my contacts in the industry. I cannot recommend him highly enough. He provided us with an excellent service, and he was very easy to deal with. We often spoke in the evening and at weekends when necessary and he was highly professional throughout. I would highly recommend Walton HPC to anyone thinking of selling their care home.”
england & wales: Paul Burford paul.burford@waltonhpc.com 01926 760 116 | 07808 764 748
SCOTland: Gary Walton gary.walton@waltonhpc.com 0141 378 1065 | 07554 009 244
www.waltonhpc.com
THE 2021
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UK AWARDS THE ATHENA,LEICESTER
I N PA R T N E R S H I P W I T H
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CARINGWEEKLY
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Manager is among first to receive social care award A HARTLEPOOL registered care manager has been honoured with a new award introduced by the chief nursing officer for England. Julie Shield joined Abbeyvale Care Centre, part of National Care Group, as a care assistant in 2000 and has since worked her way up through the business, becoming a registered manager 11 years ago. This accolade means that she becomes one of the first professionals in the sector to receive a silver Chief Nursing Officer Adult Social Care award, which was recently introduced by the Government to celebrate nurses and care workers in adult social care who go above and beyond their everyday roles to provide excellent care, leadership, and inspiration. Julie said: “I’m absolutely thrilled to receive this award. I love what I do and work alongside an incredible team of colleagues who put the people we support at the heart of everything we do. “After everything the past 18 months have thrown at us, I couldn’t be prouder to work in social care and would like to say thank you to National Care Group for nominating me for this, and other awards I’ve been fortunate enough to receive.” This is the third award Julie has received so far in 2021, after winning ‘Manager of the Year’ and ‘Pandemic Star of the Year’ at National Care Group’s virtual annual awards in the spring. James Allen, CEO of National Care Group, added: “We’re incredibly proud of the work Julie has done over the past year. “Care managers are on the frontline every day, taking on huge responsibilities regularly equal to those working within the NHS – and
James Allen, CEO of National Care Group, and Julie Shield, registered care manager at Abbeyvale. this has only been escalated further due to the Covid-19 outbreak. “That’s what makes Julie’s achievements all the more impressive, as she’s been able to keep Abbeyvale completely Covid-free and even returned to work just six weeks after being seriously ill herself early in the pandemic to ensure she was able to be there for her colleagues and the people she supports. “Thanks to Julie, the person-centred approach of Abbeyvale has never faltered and she’s kept the sense of home and community alive for individuals at the most extraordinary of times. “I’m glad to see awards like this one being introduced for those working in social care. It’s a sector that has, historically, been overlooked but this is a crucial step in continuing to raise the profile of those going above and beyond every single day.”
Care scheme’s residents finally get together RESIDENTS of Meadow View Court made the most of the new relaxed restrictions when the extra care housing scheme’s caterers invited them for a celebratory cream tea. As the Wateringbury facility opened its doors and welcomed its residents during the pandemic, ongoing restrictions meant group social activities have been unable to take place. So, with restrictions finally easing, the on-site caterers, Elior, decided to host a cream tea for the residents. Housing officer Carol Bishop said: “Our scheme has only been open for eight months, so our residents have been unable to socialise in a group together due to the ongoing restrictions.
“As an organisation, social interaction and tackling loneliness is at the heart of what we do and is what extra care housing is about, so it has been really hard this past year, but it’s been wonderful to see the friendships developing and people getting to know one another as we start getting some activities up and running.” The residents were able to mingle in the communal lounge and spend time with their neighbours, who they may have previously only seen in passing, or on the way to lunch. With a real buzz in the air and the lounge chairs all full for the first time, the residents tucked into fresh cakes, sandwiches and scones, whilst they chatted the afternoon away to one another over a plenty of cups of tea.
Home celebrates ‘Good’ rating from regulator CAVENDISH Court care home, part of the Maria Mallaband Care Group, has received a ‘well-deserved’ Good rating from the CQC. The care home in the village of Alderley Edge, near Wilmslow, which provides nursing, residential, dementia care and short stays, was inspected in June. It revealed work to transform the home over the past year had clearly paid off. Inspectors found the care delivered was “person centred” and “people were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives.” It also notes that staff at the home were described as “kind”, “caring” and “excellent”. MMCG regional director Tracey Yates said: “The team at Cavendish Court have achieved a well-deserved outcome from the latest CQC Inspection. “They have supported and coached each other to improve standards across four of the key lines of enquiry, implementing good quality outcomes for those that live within the home.” Inspectors spoke to staff, visiting
healthcare professionals, service users and relatives, as well as reviewing records, to get a picture of how the home works and the care it offers. Their report concluded the home was safe, effective, caring and responsive, while offering feedback around further steps to take to be well-led at all times. It also highlighted that staff spoke positively of the training they could access and relatives also felt staff were well trained. Also noteworthy was how caring they were seen to be, as registered by the CQC inspector. Home manager Sandra Senior added: “We are very proud to have received an overall ‘Good’ rating for Cavendish Court in our latest unannounced inspection. “The inspection was full of praise for the kind, considerate and caring job that our team carry out each day, so special thanks goes to all our members of staff who work hard to facilitate this. “I am full of admiration for everyone’s dedication, level of empathy and professionalism.”
Home’s random acts of kindness bring joy to frontline workers CARERS from Beaumont Hall care home in Leicester have been spreading a little joy around the local community, dishing out hearty breakfasts for frontline workers to show their support and say thank you for all that they do. The care team and residents were able to nominate their ‘pandemic heroes’ to receive a free breakfast grab-bag. With lots of suggestions on where to make their first delivery, Fosse Healthcare was selected to receive the first feast in recognition of their outstanding work throughout the pandemic. The Beaumont Hall team created tasty breakfast bags including sausage and bacon sandwiches, along with
vegetarian and gluten free options. They also included a touching ‘thank you’ letter, offering words of support and encouragement to their fellow healthcare heroes. Home manager Lee Day said: ‘We have received so much positive feedback about our breakfast deliveries, and I am just pleased to know that maybe the reason a key worker is smiling is because of our team. “It is an incredibly rewarding feeling and the whole reason we started our breakfast initiative.” The care team now intend to continue spreading the joy across the community to those who have worked throughout the pandemic.
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