The Member of Parliament for Morley and Outwood, Andrea Jenkyns, praised an ‘outstanding’ care home after she took part in its 20th birthday celebrations.

Andrea Jenkyns MP said it was “fantastic to visit Dolphin Lane”, a care home that is rated ‘outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the health and social care watchdog. 

The local MP praised the “brilliant team for all they do”. She also described the residents’ art exhibition as “amazing”.

The MP met residents and the care team at Dolphin Lane, which supports people with autism and learning disabilities. 

In the CQC’s most recent report of Dolphin Lane, inspectors said, “People and their relatives were universally positive about staff's care and compassion”. The CQC described staff as “kind, attentive and patient”.

Wright Care Solutions Ltd. an award winning Advisory Team, originally established in 2006, moving to a Limited Company in 2012. Our services include: supporting homes to reach compliance with CQC, CCG and Local Authority Quality Monitoring Teams.

We achieve this by visiting your care environment to review the services that are offered. The visit can be informal or if required the visit can be in the form of an external audits or a mock inspection.

We also provide Regulation 17 visits and can support with increasing occupancy, marketing of the home and we have experience of commissioning new builds.

Orchard Care Homes, one of the UK’s leading care providers for the elderly, is pulling out all the stops to create fun, engaging and inclusive activities for its residents.

The organisation has partnered with Oomph!, a company that aims to enhance mental, physical and emotional wellbeing of people through innovative exercise and activities, in an activities programme for all of its 40 homes across the country. 

Tom Brookes, CEO at Orchard Care Homes, says the company will continue to deliver the very highest standard of care to every resident. He commented: “My commitment to the residents across all of our care homes is to have hope and optimism for their future and to enjoy life to the full. Activities in our homes are tailored to the wishes, needs, life stories and interests of our residents and our partnership with Oomph! enables us to provide activities that create a genuine connection between the past and present.”

Safe surface temperature specialists, Contour, have provided a comprehensive, multi-phase LST package to a significant Scottish care organisation. 

Due to tighter regulations around patient safety and wellbeing Meallmore were looking for a product that would be good looking, well designed and a long lasting solution. They were also mindful of the view to having a hygienic solution to help combat the rise of superbugs in the care environments. 

Meallmore Care is one of the foremost providers of innovative and ethical health and social care, with premises located through Scotland and boasting the ISO 9001 International Accreditation for quality assurance each year for the past 8 years.

Contour’s range of innovative and aesthetic LST radiator guards are backed-up by a unique service package, including free site surveys, split deliveries, exclusive patented features, a dedicated technical support department and a supply & fit service.

Following the high temperatures this weekend, local home care provider Bluebird Care Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells has issued a warning to older people across the borough to stay hydrated this summer.

The company has launched its 'Summer Hydration' campaign to help educate vulnerable elderly people about the harmful effects of heat and sun exposure.

"High temperatures and hot weather can be incredibly dangerous, particularly for elderly people,” says Clare Mortlock, Operations Manager at Bluebird Care Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells.

“During the summer heatwave last year, Office of National Statistics figures show that there were nearly 995 more deaths than the average for the same months during the 2012-2017 period. Thousands of people end up in hospital each year due to heat and allergies brought on by the hot weather.

The CQC fundamental standards highlight the need to support people to express their views and be actively involved in making decisions about their care, treatment and support. Organisations need to show that staff routinely involve people who use their services, in planning and making decisions about their care and treatment. The era of health professionals deciding care and goals is over. Technology can support residents, clients, staff and managers alike, achieve these aims if the right type of technology / software is used.

Staff are responsible for ensuring a person’s clinical, medical and care needs, preferences and lifestyle choices are professionally assessed, and that a care plan is created that describes all these. If the resident is to be involved as possible in the process, technology needs to enable them to contribute to these assessments and plans. Does your technology support a resident’s contribution to care planning?

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has today published the findings of an in-depth review on the state of oral health care in care homes across England.

The review draws on one hundred inspections of care homes on which CQC inspectors were accompanied by inspectors from dental regulation. It reveals that three years on from the publication of NICE guidance on oral health in care homes, steps are often not being taken to ensure that people get the oral health care they need to ensure that they are pain-free and that their dignity is respected. 

Key findings include: 

• The majority (52%) of care homes visited had no policy to promote and protect people’s oral health
• Nearly half (47%) of care homes were not providing any staff training to support people’s daily oral healthcare.
• 73% of residents’ care plans we reviewed only partly covered or did not cover oral health at all – homes looking after people with dementia being the most likely to have no plan in place.
• 17% of care homes said they did not assess people’s oral health on admission

Advances in healthcare and higher living standards means the UK’s over-65 population is set to increase by almost half by the mid-2030s and the number of people living with complex care needs continues to grow. New roles and skills are needed therefore to meet this increase in complex care with an extra focus on person centred care. This will have a direct effect on the number of Health and Social Care workers needed on a scale never seen before and this cannot be ignored.

In England there are more than 80,000 vacancies in Health and Social Care at any one time. The industry is already at tipping point but with the increased number of people needing complex care and a significant lack of highly-skilled carers, action must be taken now to attract and retain more talent. 

A platform to help seniors stay independent longer and improve their quality of life

Oscar Senior, the company that develops solutions to connect seniors with caregivers and family members, is coming to the UK. Upon invitation by the British Government, Oscar Senior management has visited care-related companies in the London area in April. Because of the need for healthcare innovation as well as technology enhancement in the UK, Oscar Senior has decided to take the initiative to help the UK’s aging population stay connected and age at home.

Caregiving made easier with technology

The Oscar Senior platform for care organizations evolved from the idea of an easy to use app for the elderly, with the goal of simplifying technology so they can stay in touch with their loved ones. Following the demand for an age-specific solution, Oscar Senior has become present in 80 countries worldwide.

CARE home residents enjoyed a close encounter with cats at a Sheffield café – bringing back memories of their own kitties.

Several residents living at The Laurels Care Home, on Manchester Road, made a trip into the city centre to visit Tabby Teas Cat Café, on Cemetery Road.

The elderly visitors made lots of furry friends while enjoying a cuppa, stroking the cats and feeding them treats.

Resident Edith Keech said: “I had a black cat for 11 years. We named him Kilty as he was a Scot and it stuck. 

“It’s been lovely to see all of the moggys here. They’ve brought back lovely memories.”

Care UK’s national fundraiser focuses the organisation on health, fitness and wellbeing

Hundreds of Care UK’s care home team members, residents and their relatives have come together in a nationwide fundraising programme based around cycling and fitness to raise over £41,000 for three national charities.

The centrepiece of the fundraising programme was Ride800, a gruelling 800 mile, 15 day cycling challenge from Care UK’s southern-most care home in Poole to its northern-most in Aberdeen. This ride was undertaken by Andrew Knight, chief executive of residential care, Jacqui White, marketing director, and Tony Weedon, strategic programme director.   Dozens of care home colleagues also rode individual stages of the route which zig-zagged across England and Scotland to visit 26 Care UK homes.

Patient empowerment is part of a process to help people who have gone through care take ownership of their healthcare journey. According to the World Health Organisation, empowerment is a process which allows patients to gain greater control over decisions which affect their health.

Of course, what taking ownership means will vary from patient to patient depending on their needs. A change in an aspect of a patient's lifestyle, like their diet or an exercise regime, might be the trigger that results in a significant change. Alternatively, the support they need might be specific to their condition.

Whatever the case, frontline healthcare staff, like nurses, can play a central role in this process. After all, they do the majority of the daily work, and they’re also the people patients have the most contact with. Given this fact, let’s take a look at the role nurses can play in empowering their patients.

One of the common questions we are asked is how to provide the safety features and wayfinding pointers that residents need whilst still maintaining a homely, comfortable environment?

For safety:

• Handrails need to be provided at the correct height and which contrast to the walls and carpets but which complement both; Inverted studs or similar should be provided at the end of each run so that residents with visual difficulties know when they are nearing the end of the rail.
• There is a wide variety of safety flooring for care in a range of finishes which look domestic, but try to avoid changes of height - when unavoidable (eg ramps and stairs) then highlight the change to avoid falls.
• Chairs, toilets etc have to be at a height which are easy for residents to rise from and which contrast to the flooring and walls around.
• Avoid trailing wires and clutter (eg delivery boxes) particularly on the floors which can cause trips.

SCHOOL children have been learning about dementia from visiting care home staff who look after those with the condition every day.

Ingleby Care Home activities coordinator Kirsty Walsh and unit manager Cassie McCloskey visited St Thérèse of Lisieux R C Primary School to talk to pupils.

Both the care home and school are based on Lamb Lane, Ingleby Barwick, near Middlesbrough, and have taken part in joint activities previously.

The school’s year five and six teachers contacted the home to ask if anyone could visit to explain the types of dementia and how it can affect people in different ways.

There was also an opportunity for the children to ask questions, which included “does everyone get dementia”, “is it only old people that develop it” and “can they still remember things”.

Back in April, Bluebird Care celebrated Book Month to emphasise the power of reading and the joy it can bring to so many. The Franchise Support Team encouraged staff and customers from across the Bluebird Care network to share their favourite books with the world, using the Bluebird Care social media channels. 

The network were asked to do any and all of the following: 

• Share on social media, photographs of your favourite book and why you love it, using the hash tag #BookMonth
• Create a ‘reading corner’ in the office where people can enjoy reading on their breaks
• Set up a ‘book swap table’ where people can bring in books they have finished to share with others for free
• Host a charity book sale
• Start a #BluebirdCareBookClub with your staff and customers.

The network jumped at the opportunity to share their current reads and promote the importance of reading. Many of the franchises got involved by hosting book swaps and setting up reading corners too spread the message.