A care provider based in the Ribble Valley has been in touch with his first The Silver Line ‘telephone friend’, after volunteering with the helpline in a bid to help combat loneliness. 

Gary Derbyshire, partner at Promedica24, wanted to do more for The Silver Line after it was chosen as the live in care provider’s charity of the year.

The Silver Line provides information, friendship and advice to people aged 55 and over, open 24 hours a day, every day of the year. 

Gary, after completing his The Silver Line training and becoming a Telephone Friend, has recently made his first phone calls and said it is “one of the very best things” he has ever done. 

DAREDEVIL care home staff flew across the Tyne on a zipwire to raise funds for residents and charity.

Over £1,000 was raised by staff from The Oaks Care Home, in Blyth, Northumberland, after they launched themselves off the Tyne Bridge.

The home’s carers and support staff jumped from the bridge’s balustrades before zipping across the river on a cold autumn day.

The team included care assistants Samantha Porter and Linda Palmer, senior carer Sarah Geggie, care assistant Jessica Maxwell, maintenance man Chris Sogorski, senior carer Paige Gallagher, activities coordinator Natalie Brimelow, and care assistant Sarah Ferrow.

Regulators gave Richmond Nantwich Retirement Village the highest possible rating, putting in the top 3% of services in England

A retirement village in Cheshire has been rated as ‘Outstanding’ for its domiciliary care after a visit from regulators, the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The inspection report puts the Richmond Nantwich amongst the top 3% of home care providers in England.

Opened in 1996, Richmond Nantwich provides a range of independent and assisted living suites for residents aged 55 and over. As part of this the village provides personalised care packages for residents as required – employing its own domiciliary care team who can help residents with things including personal care, shopping, preparing light meals and accessing local facilities.

According to an article published in The Guardian on 25th November 2018, more than 1,000 care home patients have died suffering from malnutrition, dehydration or bedsores. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/nov/25/care-home-patients-engla...

These figures are from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which completed an analysis of death certificates at the newspaper’s request. The ONS acknowledged that ‘it is possible that poor care may have been a factor in some of the deaths’. 

The ExtraCare Charitable Trust has recently invested in some Raizer emergency lifting chairs to help residents get back on their feet across 21 retirement villages.

The charity hopes that this will help reduce the number of ambulance call-outs its staff have to make for people who have fallen and cannot get back up. Falls are one of the costliest problems facing the healthcare sector, and it is estimated that falls cost the NHS about £2.3 billion annually.

Supplied by Yorkshire Care Equipment, the Raizer is assembled around a fallen person by a single operator. You can then begin lifting the person back to a seated or standing position at the touch of a button, allowing you to keep eye contact and maintain conversation with the person and make sure they are okay.

Quality patient care is the objective of every service provider. To achieve this requires considerable planning, long-term commitment and careful management within a tight budget. More importantly, it requires highly skilled and well-trained staff with a dedication to a career that can be extremely stressful.

A study by the Communities and Local Government Committee found that 48% of care staff leave within a year of starting. A lack of career development and quality training are common complaints when leaving. 

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Care provider RCH was celebrating this month as it officially opened its first acquired brain injury centre in Bedfordshire.

Manton Heights ABI Unit, situated off Manton Lane in Bedford, will join the group’s ten older persons’ care homes and a supported living service in the east and south east of the country. 

The brand-new, state-of-the-art centre was officially declared ‘open’ by the RCH Care team and invited guests on Friday, 23 November 2018 and will provide life-changing support to people who have acquired or traumatic brain injuries – often the result of a range of illnesses or incidents such as a stroke or car accident. 

Five team members from Great Oaks care home in Bournemouth, have completed the ‘Be an Effective Leader’ programme. Great Oaks is managed by Encore Care Homes, which invests significantly in the personal development of its staff and presents them with regular training opportunities throughout the year. The ‘Be an Effective Leader’ programme was launched to provide staff with the skills and tools required to manage a team successfully.

NIGHTCLUB sensation Bongo’s Bingo has spread to a Tyneside care home.

The revamped version of the traditional game, which has become popular in clubs and venues around the UK, was played at Waverley Lodge Care Home, in Lemington, near Newcastle.

Students from the Newcastle United Foundation National Citizenship Service (NCS) organised a version of Bongo’s Bingo for the home’s elderly residents.

The game involves music, singing, dancing and unconventional prizes for those who complete a line, two lines or a full house.

While the nightclub version is accompanied by 90s rave music, residents at Waverley Lodge enjoyed Frank Sinatra, The Beatles and Elvis while marking their cards.

NURSERY children have been entertaining elderly care home residents as part of the United Nations Universal Children’s Day.

Youngsters from Orchard Day Nursery, in Huyton, near Liverpool, put on a singing show at nearby Aaron Grange Care Home.

The home’s residents and staff enjoyed the performance and joined in with many of the songs.

Clare Richards, home manager at Aaron Grange Care Home, on Blacklow Brow, Huyton, said: “There were lots of sing-along songs and the residents thoroughly enjoyed it.

“They’re all looking forward to the children visiting again and getting involved with arts and crafts, reading, board games and other fun activities.”

A new Dorset care home bed finding website is spreading Christmas cheer to those who are lonely this Christmas.

Care Home Bed Finder (CHBF), which is based in Bournemouth, has made a commitment to help lonely elderly people this December, following its November support for the Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal.

It has teamed up with local care home providers, social services and domiciliary care providers throughout the county, and aims to accommodate as many guests as possible who would otherwise be spending Christmas alone, perhaps due to bereavement, poor health, increasing age or distant family.

Bluebird Care has assisted local training company, Kilpatrick Consultancy, with a project to help the homeless in the Reading area.

Rebecca Kilpatrick, a mental health training consultant, approached Bluebird Care to ask for donations and the national home care provider jumped straight into action to do what they could to help.

THE BORO Foundation has been sending out memorabilia boxes to care homes to help residents with dementia reminisce.

The boxes containing old programmes, tickets and photos, among other items from past Middlesbrough FC games, have been the centre of activities run at the homes.

Mandale House Care Home, on Acklam Road, in Thornaby, was one of those benefitting from the scheme.

The home works closely with the Middlesbrough FC Foundation’s National Citizenship Service (NCS), offering teenage volunteers opportunities to work with elderly residents.

Kelly Daley, the Foundation’s NCS lead, said: “The club has delivered a number of dementia tours at the Riverside Stadium and the feedback was overwhelming.  

A group of local children recently visited Fairmile Grange care home to help residents and staff raise money for Children in Need.

The day involved a range of fundraising activities, including decorating cupcakes, guess the name of the bear and how many rainbow drops were in a jar. Stuart Davey, head chef of Fairmile Grange also prepared a variety of cakes for all to enjoy.

Kim Butters, wellbeing manager of Fairmile Grange, said: “Children in Need is such a wonderful cause, so it was fantastic to see our residents and the children from the local community get involved with our fundraising activities held at the home.