Victoria Care Home

Friday 16^th June marked Care Home Open Day, a day that actively encourages people in the local community to pop into their local care home and find out what’s going on.

The theme for this year’s open day was friendship, and Four Seasons homes and their local community certainly forged some long lasting friendships with their local communities through a variety of different events.

The events included:

• The Prince’s Trust heading into Kingsmead Care Home in Swindon sprucing up the garden
  
• Ty Eirin Care Home in Port welcomed in local school children and councillors for a fun filled afternoon
  
• A Jazz band kept everyone entertained in Pontypridd at Ty Gwynno Care Home
  
• It was a more sleepy affair at Whittington Care Home in Chesterfield as the team turned up for work in the PJs before having lots of fun with residents, relatives and visitors to the home
  
• Music and dancing was definitely on the cards for many of our homes as Benarty View Care Home in Kelty, Gotton Manor Care Home in Taunton, Benholm Care Home in Forfar and Laurels Lodge Care Home in Woodside, all had musical entertainment (and an assortment of other activities) for their guests
  
• Campsie View Care Home in Glasgow had their own petting zoo for everyone to enjoy
  
• The Laurels Care Home in Hetton-le-Hole held a country and western themed day which everyone thoroughly enjoyed
  
• Jazz was the music of choice at The Cedars and Larches Care Home in Ilkeston’s festivities.
  
• Redwell Hills Care Home in Consett, remembered the friends they’d sadly lost and released some balloons with messages in their honour.

The photos you can see above are just a snap shot of what happened at our homes during Care Home Open Day. It’s great to see from the pictures that everyone had lots of fun.

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

Many people start their career path doing something they love, and they yearn to develop, grow and blossom in their profession.

Here at Four Seasons, Care Assistants can up-skill themselves on the organisations Care Home Assistant Practitioners (CHAPs) programme.

On Tuesday 20^th December 2016, a graduation ceremony was held at Shawcross Social Club in Wigan, celebrating the achievements of 41 newly qualified CHAPs.

Rachael Junge, Four Seasons Northwest Managing Director said: “Everyone is really proud of every single CHAP and nurse who mentored them through the programme. We’re often really busy, and forget to recognise the hard work people put in, but this graduation ceremony is our way to reward and recognise you all. The journey is a long one; it takes a lot of dedication to complete. You can all wear your uniform with pride, and know that we’re all extremely proud of you. Well done everyone and congratulations once again.”

Mike O’Reilly, Risk Management Director for Four Seasons Health Care, said: “It’s a real privilege for me to attend ceremonies like this. The CHAPs programme is very innovative, and it really does make a difference to our residents’ lives as it provides continuity for them. I want to echo Rachael’s statement of congratulations to everyone who graduated and those who supported them.”

A total of 41 CHAPs graduated from the programme and will be working in 16 homes across the Northwest. The homes benefitting from the CHAPs skills are:

• Ashcroft Care Home in Chesterfield
  
  
• Bamford Grange Care Home in Stockport
  
  
• Bebington Care Home in the Wirral
  
  
• Holbeche House Care Home in Kingswinford
  
  
• Laburnum Court Care Home in Salford
  
  
• Meadowbrook Care Home in Oswestry
  
  
• Morcambe Bay Care Home in Morcambe
  
  
• Park House Care Home in the Wirral
  
  
• Preston Glades Care Home in Preston
  
  
• Riverside Court Care Home in Maryport
  
  
• St Catherine’s Care Home in Bolton
  
  
• The Gables Care Home in Oldbury
  
  
• The Heights Care Home in Chesterfield
  
  
• Victoria Care Home in St Helens

The newly qualified CHAPs are now able to provide some general nursing duties such as medication rounds. This benefit’s the home as it enables the nurse to deal with more complex issues.

Would you like a career in care? Take a look at the current vacancies we have available at the moment.