Sally Magnusson announced to chair Future of Care Conference 2019
The organisers of the Future of Care Conference are pleased to announce that BBC broadcaster and dementia charity founder, Sally Magnusson has been confirmed to chair the second annual event taking place on 19thMarch 2019 at The King’s Fund in central London. Sally has presented a range of programmes for the BBC over the years, from Breakfast Newsand Reporting Scotland to a range of documentaries and investigations, including Panorama. She is also the author of ten books to date, including the best-selling memoir, Where Memories Go: Why Dementia Changes Everything, and founded the music and dementia charity, Playlist for Life in 2013. Explaining how she first became affiliated with the care sector, Sally said: “I helped to care for my mother during the many years she lived with dementia, and I wrote Where Memories Go out of a passionate desire to raise the standards of elderly care. After her death, I founded the music and dementia charity Playlist for Life. For all these reasons, I’m delighted to be chairing the Future of Care Conference this year.” The Future of Care Conference will see a selection of leading experts and reputable names from across the care industry come together to present the latest updates and ideas shaping the forefront of the sector, with key speakers including Chief Executives from Care England, the Care Quality Commission, the Alzheimer’s Society, Age UK, the National Care Forum, Skills for Care and many more. Commenting on the upcoming event, Sally added: “I’m particularly interested to hear the latest updates and experiences of those working within the industry, and am looking forward to discussing what’s next for the sector.” For more information or to take advantage of the early bird discount before time runs out, book your conference tickets today by visiting www.futureofcare.co.uk or by calling 01425 838393. Places at the conference are limited, so early booking is advised to avoid disappointment.
Social Care provider celebrates two glowing CQC reports
A social care provider is celebrating after two of its services – a rehabilitation team and a care home – both received 100% ‘Good’ reports from UK’s health watchdog. The Optalis support and rehabilitation team, who provide short-term care and support to people in their own homes across the Windsor and Maidenhead area, was rated as ‘Good’ in all five categories of the CQC report, published on the 8 January. Delivering support to around 30 to 40 adults per month, the service provides personal care and rehabilitation on a short-term basis to customers recovering following a hospital stay, ensuring they are able to get back to leading an independent life as soon as possible. In the report, the CQC said: “People were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care. “Staff we spoke with knew people’s preferences and used this knowledge to care for them in the way they wanted.”One relative told the inspector: “It’s an amazing team” and “ The service has been an absolute inspiration to me.” The report added that people’s needs were met through good organisation and delivery of care. “Some people had very complex needs, and staff recognised the need for alternative methods of communication with them. “People said they were encouraged with their independence. We saw from care plans that people were empowered to make choices and have as much control and independence as possible.” In addition, 5 Winston Court, a care home run by Optalis in Maidenhead also received a 100% ‘Good’ report, which was published in December. The 8-bed home provides residential care for young and old adults who have a physical and/or learning disability. Assistant Director of Provider Services at Optalis, Helen Woodland, who is responsible for both services, commented: “Congratulations to the teams on their 100% positive results. Their dedication and motivation has ensured that they are delivering truly person centred care and support. “We are dedicated to listening to the needs and wishes of our customers and will continue to invest in quality so that we are able to go above and beyond minimum requirements.” Four Optalis’ services that were inspected by CQC teams over the last six months have been rated as “Good”, and three of them have improved from ‘Requiring Improvement’, successfully delivering part of Optalis’ strategy to improve the quality of care and support provided across the organisation. Optalis now has 100% ‘Good’ scores in the key categories of Caring, Responsive and Well Led in all of its CQC reports. The CQC is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. They ensure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and encourage care services to improve.
Y/Our Future Recruitment campaign welcomes health and social care professionals to Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland
Y/Our Future is a new recruitment campaign launched today that unites five major health and social care employers – University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, LOROS Hospice, Rutland County Council and Leicester City Council – in a bid to recruit doctors, nurses and health and social care workers to work in hospitals, hospices and in communities across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. Together, the partners have a 38,000-strong workforce. Y/Our Future aims to promote Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland as a leading career destination for health and social care professionals, with great career and lifestyle opportunities. While each of the partners has individual recruitment needs, by joining forces their vision is for recruitment to be more effective and affordable. The initiative also creates an attractive opportunity for recruits to build their careers across the partner organisations and for the partners to deliver more joined-up services to local people. A multi-media campaign will support the launch, together with a dedicated website (www.your-future.co.uk), which will be a central hub for signposting job advertisements from the partner organisations. Job seekers visiting the site can view the complete range of health and social care opportunities across the entire region. News and Y/Our Future case studies will also be featured on the website, highlighting successful healthcare professionals living and working in the region. The campaign aims to help address the UK-wide skills crisis in healthcare. Figures published by NHS Improvement[i] this year highlighted that one in 11 jobs across NHS hospitals, ambulance and mental health trusts are vacant and the nursing shortage is at a record high. Social care providers across the UK are struggling to recruit and retain qualified staff. The 2018 Skills for Care report estimates that 8.0% of roles in adult social care are vacant, an average of approximately 110,000 vacancies at any one time. The vacancy rate also rose by 2.5 percentage points between 2012/13 and 2017/18. The rate of staff turnover of directly employed staff working in the adult social care sector was 30.7%, which equates to approximately 390,000 people leaving jobs over the year. Dr Peter Miller, Chief Executive, Leicestershire Partnership Trust says, “Y/Our Future is a strategic and collaborative campaign to attract health and social care workers to Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. Located in the heart of England, the region offers a fantastic place for them to enjoy fulfilling careers, an excellent standard of living, with affordable housing, central transport links and great schools. We have a wide range of benefits and working options, strong relationships with our local universities, and an extensive learning and development offer.” So what career opportunities are on offer? Leicestershire Partnership Trust (LPT) provides a range of health and wellbeing services. It serves one million people and employs almost 5,500 staff, providing services in adult mental health and adult learning disability services; families and young people and children’s services and community health services. Its goal is to recruit qualified nurses, some speciality doctors, good quality apprentices and people who want flexible bank contracts. The University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust is one of the largest, acute teaching hospitals in England, with a 15,000 strong workforce. It offers an extensive range of education, learning and practice development opportunities. Currently, there are vacancies for Consultant Radiographers, junior grade doctors in Maxillofacial, doctors specialising in Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT), Nurses, Theatre staff (ODP and TSA) Radiographers and Physiotherapists. Hazel Wyton, Director of People and Organisational Development at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust says, “We hope that by working together Y/Our Future will allow us to promote the benefits and job opportunities in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. We offer great career paths, education and development opportunities, whilst helping our staff to strike the right balance between their work and personal life through a range of working options – from part time to term time contracts and job shares. With hospitals up and down the country competing for a finite number of staff, it is important for us to really sell the benefits of living and working in the heart of the country.” LOROS Hospice is a local charity that cares for 2,500 people across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. It provides free, high-quality, compassionate care and support to terminally ill adult patients, their families and carers. The Hospice is looking for clinical nurses, AHP as well as administrative staff and a wide range of volunteers. Ruth Auton, Director of Education & Workforce at LOROS says, “We are an adult hospice providing in-patient, day therapy and community care. As a charity we offer a breadth of careers unique to healthcare providers, ranging from nursing associates to nurse specialists; porters to physiotherapists; housekeepers to healthcare assistants; social workers to shop managers; fundraising to finance roles; complementary therapists to chefs, chaplains to councillors.” Leicester City Council is one of Leicester’s largest employers with more than 12,000 staff, responsible for delivering all local government services to people living in Leicester. They are looking to recruit health and social care professionals committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults and are particularly interested in recruiting social workers. Steven Forbes, Strategic Director Social Care & Education at Leicester City Council, says, “We are incredibly excited to be part of the collaborative Y/Our Future recruitment campaign, as Leicester is a great place to kick start or progress your career. We welcome new recruits into a supportive team environment where they can receive good quality training with opportunities for both personal and professional development.” Rutland County Council serves a population of roughly 38,000 people, a large proportion of whom have increasingly complex health and social care needs. The local authority is regularly listed among the country’s top performers for health and social care – success that has been driven by innovation, a clear focus on providing personalised care and empowering its staff. Mark Andrews, Strategic Director for People at Rutland County Council, said: “We’re extremely pleased to be part of Y/Our Future recruitment campaign and offer people the chance to join our social care teams. We operate in a
Dulux Trade partners with BRE in flagship Dementia project
Dulux Trade has furthered its work with the Building Research Establishment (BRE) to deliver evidence-based principles to help improve environments for people living with Dementia and their carers. Chris and Sally’s House, a project designed to develop solutions for an ageing population, has been created using insight from academics, design experts and people with first-hand experience of living with, or caring for someone with Dementia. It is estimated that some 850,000 people in the UK live with Dementia and 70-80% of those continue to stay in their unadapted homes rather than in any specialised form of housing or dedicated care environment. Working with the BRE Trust, BRE, Loughborough University, Halsall Lloyd Partnerships and Liverpool John Moores University, Dulux Trade has supported the development of a demonstration home to present evidence-based approaches to adaptation and support solutions that allow people to age well at home. The number of people living with Dementia in the UK is set to top 1million by 2025 and double to 2million by 2051. The aim of the project is to enable people to stay in their own homes for longer and furthermore, to provide an enhanced environment for people living with Dementia in care homes across the UK. The Dulux Trade colour schemes used within Chris and Sally’s House have been developed as part of a holistic occupant-centred design consideration, evidencing how wall coatings are able to transition from simply delivering core functional performance or aesthetic requirements, to making a valuable contribution to the wellbeing dimension of a specification brief. Inclusive design encourages the application of colour to enable occupants to more readily identify different areas of the entire living space – balancing their needs alongside the needs of their carers or family and giving them greater confidence to move independently within their living spaces. Careful consideration of colour combinations are also central to the set of accessibility design features. Colour has also been used within the design solution as a way of reinforcing positive personal connections and to provide stimulation within the space. Dulux Trade is participating in this BRE-led project as part of its commitment to gathering evidence on how colour and design can transform spaces and therefore the lives of the people who use them. This BRE innovation project aligns with the aims of Dulux Trade to understand how to impact users through colour and design frameworks developed with specific places or sectors in mind. The ultimate aim is to tailor adaptation to match the building owners’ objectives, the building’s function and importantly, incorporate occupants’ needs. Paul Fleming, Commercial Services Manager for Dulux Trade, says, “As market leaders we are proud to work with BRE, particularly on this project, which resonates with so many as it is addressing one of the biggest social challenges of our time. “We have been investing substantially in research, working to develop frameworks for different spaces and demonstrate, with tangible results, just how powerful colour and design is in the built environment. This Dementia-friendly demonstration house is a perfect example of this and the project has allowed us to develop insight that means we can help people in the built environment across the UK. One in three people born this year will develop Dementia in their lifetime, so now is the time to think ahead. We hope the results can lead to real change in the way we consider our built environments for long-term occupation.” Dr. David Kelly, Group Director, BRE comments, “Dulux Trade and its colour experts have been instrumental in this project, which we hope will deliver evidence-based results to provoke real, lasting change in the way our environments are designed across residential and healthcare spaces.” www.duluxtradepaintexpert.co.uk
Lincoln care home grants resident’s wish
A resident at a care home in Lincoln had her wish come true when she was surprised by a new hair salon at the home. Yvonne Radford, who is a long-term resident at Bernadette House, in South Park, has always enjoyed visits to the hairdressers and a dream of hers was that the home would have their own salon one day. After undergoing refurbishment, Bernadette House wanted to fulfil Yvonne’s wish, so they decided to build a salon in the home. “I’ve always loved having my hair done, said Yvonne, “and now it feels even more exciting. Everyone loves the salon.” Elizabeth Stephens, owner of Bernadette House care home, commented: “We’ve wanted to build a hair salon for some time, but it was always a question of space. “Adding en-suites to all the bedrooms enabled us to convert a communal bathroom into the salon.” Staff and residents at Bernadette House chose the colour scheme. They opted for grey brick effect walls and wood effect vinyl flooring, giving the salon a contemporary feel. Hairdresser Diane Bird has been cutting resident’s hair at Bernadette House for six years and is delighted with the new salon. She said: “The salon is lovely. It has the feel of a real hairdressers and has all the features you need to ensure residents living with dementia feel comfortable.” Bernadette House has recently been extended with three new bedrooms and a new lounge. The 35-bedroom period care home is situated in an acre of gardens to the south of Lincoln city centre. For more information about the home, and to organise a tour to view the new extension, call Bernadette House on 01522 521926.
Inaugural #GladtoCare competition successfully brings the care sector together
Carers from across the UK were invited to take part in a photo competition run by Person Centred Software and The Care Workers Charity. Alice Taylor, the cook at Primrose Lodge Southbourne care home in Bournemouth, won a Haven holiday in the #GladtoCare competition. The winning entry features a photo of Alice cooking and her message: “I’m #GladtoCare making home cooked food daily for my residents and have been for seventeen years.” The esteemed panel of judges including David Brindle, the Guardian’s public services editor, Professor Martin Green, Chief Executive of Care England, Vic Rayner, Executive Director of the National Care Forum and Alex Ramamurthy, former-CEO of the Care Workers Charity, selected the winning entry. Vic Rayner says, “I really liked Alice’s entry as I felt that it gave you a real sense of pride, commitment and long-term career. Here is someone who has provided one of the key components of great care – good food – for seventeen years – and at the end of that time is not only still smiling – but is #GladtoCare – inspiring.” The #GladtoCare competition was designed to boost the profile of carers, who work extremely hard with very little public recognition. It aimed to show carers that they are appreciated and to raise their morale. Carers were invited to take a photo of themselves doing something that makes them ‘glad to care’, along with a message describing their photo. Person Centred Software received many entries from carers who were delighted to share their skills, creativity and dedication. The finalists can be viewed on Person Centred Software’s website at https://personcentredsoftware.com/gladtocare/ Primrose Lodge Southbourne, part of the Affinity Care Management group, has been using Person Centred Software’s Mobile Care Monitoring system to evidence care and support since January 2016.
Mayor serves new year tea party for Peterlee elderly
A MAYORAL afternoon tea was enjoyed by residents from a Peterlee care home. Town Mayor Councillor Scott Meikle invited residents from Bannatyne Lodge Care Home, on Manor Way, to the annual over 60s new year tea party. Hot drinks and snacks were served throughout the event, at Shotton Hall, while the visitors enjoyed entertainment, bingo and a raffle. Dawn Minto, activities coordinator at Bannatyne Lodge Care Home, said: “We have been attending the Mayor’s new year afternoon tea for over 10 years. “It is a highlight of our calendar in January and the residents always look forward to it. “The event was very well organised and everyone had a great time. We’d like to say a big thank you to Mayor Councillor Scott Meikle for the invitation.” Bannatyne Lodge Care Home is part of the Hill Care Group. For further information visit www.hillcare.net.
Book explores how to enable older people to live independently for longer
A new book, exploring the increasingly important area of reablement services in community care, has been written by health and social care professionals at the University of Chester. Led by Valerie Ebrahimi, Programme Leader for the MEd in Professional Education, with Dr Hazel Chapman, Senior Lecturer, the book entitled Reablement Services in Health and Social Care, is a guide for both students and support workers. Valerie’s role as a senior lecturer also extends to teaching on a BA in Health and Social Care and her expertise lies in the field of ageing. Hazel’s background is in adult and learning disabilities nursing as well as psychology. Her doctoral thesis was on the experience of people with learning disabilities in healthcare. Both lecturers are based in the University’s Faculty of Health and Social Care. Reablement is a service which involves facilitating people with a long term condition, disability or impairment, to carry out their own personal care and other daily living activities. This takes place over the course of six weeks, to enable people to develop the confidence and skills to carry out their chosen activities independently. For many, it also means that they can continue to stay in their own home. Paid care is one of the greatest financial burdens across the health and social care sector. Reablement services can therefore help to reduce this need. The book introduces the theoretical underpinnings and practical considerations of reablement. It advocates placing service users at the centre of the service; promoting autonomy, as well as exploring how advances in technology can help, but also hinder participation. The chapters include contributions from a number of professions, namely occupational therapy, social work, nursing and physiotherapy, and encourage disciplines to work together effectively, whilst promoting the value of co-production. To this extent, the book offers perspectives from service users, carers and support workers, to give a rounded introduction to effective reablement practices. With a background in occupational therapy, Vala wrote the proposal for the book after recognising that this was an area of service growth across the UK. Vala said: “Reablement is an emerging trend across the country, but there is not enough robust evidence to support it. This was surprising given the investment. “Reablement can bring about cost benefits when people are able to look after themselves at home rather than paying for care. For those reliant on state funding, it can help to reduce costs in the interim, even if the individual needs paid care at a later date. “It is an area of service growth that will be of interest to GPs (commissioning) and nurses through to social workers, care workers and occupational therapists.” Vala is now working with an Australian researcher and the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) on further projects relating to reablement. A workshop critical discourse proposal in January 2019: “Re-thinking reablement services: are we supporting people as social participants?” has just been accepted by the RCOT. Furthermore, Vala is presenting at the Ageing and Social Change: Ninth Interdisciplinary Conference in Vienna early in September 2019. The book is published by Macmillan International Higher Education. For more details visit https://www.macmillanihe.com/page/detail/Reablement-Services-in-Health-and-Social-Care/?K=9781137372642
Mabon & Ray specialise in healthcare businesses
Mabon & Ray is a business and consultancy agency specialising in healthcare businesses. Mabon & Ray has been founded by former care home owner, whose ultimate aim is to ensure both parties are guided through the whole process to ensure it runs smoothly. Rachel said she is drawing on her own experiences of buying and selling her care home to help others. When buying and selling a healthcare business is very different to other businesses due to regulations and the reliance on the purchaser having the registration in place and are able to buy the business. Mabon & Ray are currently developing technology to help support the process of selling a care home to be more efficient and provide a much information to the seller and buyer. The specialised agents will support sellers and buyers through out the whole process up to completion. The consultancy service at Mabon & Ray specialise in homes that have received a ‘Requires Improvement’ or ‘Inadequate’ rating. The consultants act quickly and will work with the home to improve the rating. The consultants are here to support and guide providers throughout the whole process. For further information visit http://mabonandray.uk or call Rachel Nemchand on 0203 488 3013.
