Victoria Care Home

Here at Four Seasons we value all of our team members. We encourage and support them to complete courses to help them develop their skills, enabling them to further enhance their career.

One such way for Care Assistants to do this, is for them to complete the Care Home Assistant Practitioners (CHAPs) 12 week training programme. Whilst completing this course, the Care Assistants can learn how to support nurses with certain duties potentially freeing the nurse to deal with a more complex issue.

Nine of our Care Assistant in Northern Ireland enrolled onto this programme, and on Monday 4^th September they successfully graduated as Care Home Assistant Practitioners.

Carol Cousins, Managing Director for Northern Ireland said: “The graduation of the 9 Care Home Assistant Practitioners in Northern Ireland is a hugely significant achievement as these special pioneers are the very first in such a role across the Care Home sector here.

"Having Mary Hinds the Director of Nursing from the Public Health Agency and HSC in NI along to present the awards has reinforced the positive impact that CHAPs have in delivering the best experience of care for our residents."

More information about our CHAPs Programme is available in our careers section.

Following on from the success of last year’s Four Season’s Care Awards, which saw 1,200 nominations and over 80 colleagues, residents and volunteers receiving accolades both at a regional and national level.

This year’s awards are now open!

You can nominate people for the following categories:

• Care Assistant/Support Worker of the Year
• Senior Care Assistant of the Year
• Care Home Assistant Practitioner/Senior Nursing Care Assistant (CHAP/SNCA) of the Year
• Registered Nurse of the Year
• Dementia Care Champion
• Specialist Services Champion
• Personal Activities Lead Champion
• Support Team Member of the Year
• Regional and Central Support Team Member of the Year
• Deputy Home Manager of the Year
• Registered Care Home Manager of the Year
• Regional Manager of the Year
• Resident or Relative Contribution
• Volunteer of the Year
• Our Values Champion

For more information about the categories visit our Care Awards page here. You can nominate colleagues, residents or volunteers from your home here. The deadline for nominations is 5pm on 30th September 2017.

Who will be your 2017 champions?

Victoria Care Home in St Helens has been accredited for a pioneering dementia care approach.

The care team at Victoria Care Home is celebrating being accredited for a radically different approach of care for people living with dementia.

The Dementia Care Framework is a unique step forward in the personalisation of care for people living with dementia. The care team uses exclusive purpose-designed technology to help build and continuously update a picture of each resident’s individual experience of their care and their physical, psychological and emotional well-being, so that their care can be adjusted to their changing needs.

The pioneering home is part of Four Seasons Health Care which spent two years developing and testing the new approach. The home hosted an event for care commissioners, other health and social care professionals and relatives to introduce the Dementia Care Framework to them during an Easter themed party on Wednesday 12th April 2017.

Rachael Junge, Managing Director for Four Seasons in the North West of England said: “This is next generation dementia care to make life better for the person with dementia and we are excited to offer it. A vital part of the Framework is the bespoke support and training the team throughout the home receives with additional support and training for those, working within our dementia services. This goes beyond the practicalities of caring for someone with dementia and through simulation gives them a deeper understanding of what it is like to live with dementia.”

In addition to the support and training, there are three additional components to the Dementia Care Framework – personal care reviews, Resident and Family Charters.

At the heart of the Dementia Care Framework is a personal care review process which is continuously updated electronically by care staff to give a comprehensive and current picture of each resident.

Thought to be the first of its type worldwide, it is based on 320 recognised standards, including NICE Guidelines (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) and Alzheimer’s Society best practice guidance. It replaces paper-based audits that are slow and almost always behind the changing care needs of the person.

The resident and family charters were developed in consultation with residents, family members, health and social care professionals and care teams, taking account of over 400 comments. The resident charter sets out their rights, the standards of care they can expect and commitment to provide for their personal needs and preferences.

The family charter, sets out the support that they can expect to receive and how they can input to planning their relative’s care.

Only when a home achieves key standards within the Dementia Care Framework does it receive Four Seasons Accreditation for the quality of its dementia care.

To find out more about this fundamentally different approach to dementia care please visit carehomes.fshc.co.uk/dcf or email dementiacare@fshc.co.uk