The Lydian MindHarp – a tool which allows non-musicians to create their own music
Two musicians have developed an app to help enrich the lives of people living with dementia after experiencing the effects of the illness first-hand. Mark Smulian and Stewart Redpath, from Bristol, have created the Lydian MindHarp, a tool which allows non- musicians to create their own music. The Mindharp has been shown to help people with dementia engage with music and interact with people around them – having a long-lasting effect on their emotional well-being. Producer and bass player Mark, who has created Platinum and Gold albums for internationally successful artists, said: “We are excited by the MindHarp as we know it can enrich lives for both those affected by the condition and their carers. “When people can make their own music, it brings them into the present moment. The impact on the mind is much stronger than simply listening to music.” The MindHarp, which can be played on an i-Pad, enables users to enjoy making music without the fear of ‘getting it right.’ This is particularly important for people with dementia, who often feel self-conscious when aware of their condition. Mark, who has also used music and the MindHarp as part of a peace-making approach in Northern Ireland and the Middle East, saw how music helped his own father, who had Alzheimer’s. He said: “We played my dad’s favourite music and saw him become more animated. He started talking when he heard the music, which was fascinating to watch.” Mark’s father died the next day, at the age of 80, after a 10-year battle with the disease. But the memory of that day, and Mark’s conviction his passion for music could help others, lived on. Over ten years later he would meet Stewart, who had also seen the rapid decline of a family member due to dementia. Stewart had become aware of the scale of condition, which is set to affect over one million people by 2025, while following his son’s study at the University of Bath. His son, Kieran, worked on a course project for the Dementia Action Alliance (DAA) – and Stewart began to think of ways music could be applied to help the condition. Stewart, a guitar player, said: “It’s increasingly widespread and music is a way to help people – either those directly affected by the disease or those caring for them- to live better.” Stewart and Mark worked on the MindHarp for nearly four years. They visited the Peggy Dodd Day Centre, which supports people with memory loss, on a voluntary basis for seven months to develop the app with both carers and clients. The MindHarp includes eight different coloured buttons, of carefully composed musical sounds. It also includes atmospheric and associative sounds, such as a horse trotting or bells ringing. Several buttons can be pressed at once and it can be played alone or as part of a group – providing an endless range of music. Music stimulates the so-called ‘pleasure centres’ of the brain, releasing the happy hormones, dopamine and oxytocin and reducing the stress hormone cortisol. A report from the Commission Dementia and Music, in partnership with the independent think tank International Longevity Centre (ILC), has found evidence that music therapy also helps reduce behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia – such as agitation, depression, delusions and aggression. https://lydianhealth.com/
Clinically connected care homes could reduce NHS demand by £1bn
A large-scale project led by senior nurses to improve the health of care home residents in Calderdale, Yorkshire has reduced emergency admissions by 33 per cent with the help of technology-enabled care. Analysis1 commissioned by Tunstall, has indicated this type of care model could release £1 billion NHS capacity if deployed on a national scale. NHS Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has pioneered its clinically-led approach in partnership with Calderdale Council and Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust. In the first two years alone, the telecare supported programme made savings equating to approximately 7,000 hospital bed days and technology continues to be used for monitoring and risk reduction. Results will be revealed at the Health + Care conference in London this week (Wednesday 27 June 2018). The Quest for Quality in Care Homes initiative has involved 1300 care home residents over the past five years, with a multidisciplinary team and care home staff working to improve care and prevent avoidable emergency attendances and admissions – typically for urinary tract and respiratory infections, falls and fractures. Since 2013, care home teams have used Tunstall technology to support individual care plans for residents, enabling the prevention of incidents. Results of the project show reduction in emergency hospital admissions. In the launch phase (2014-2016) NHS Calderdale CCG: * Cut emergency admissions from care home residents by 33% * Made savings equating to approximately 7000 bed days * Reduced GP care home visits by 45% following the introduction of the Quest multidisciplinary team Telecare continues to help the CCG support care home residents and prevent falls. In the last year (2016/17 to 2017/18) emergency admissions relating to falls have decreased by 7.7% which has resulted in an annual saving through the Quest programme of more than £200,000. Katie Berry, a Quest Nurse from Calderdale said: “This type of technology is massively important. It has without a doubt enhanced safety for our vulnerable care home residents. For example, I worked with a lady who, before she became unwell, had been extremely active and enjoyed long walks. She had suffered many hospital admissions for injuries from falls. We advised giving her a falls detector, so that rather than restrict her in doing something she enjoyed, she still had the freedom to walk about the care home and grounds. Staff and relatives had the reassurance that if she did fall, they would be immediately alerted. “The technology is particularly essential in our intermediate care wards, where acutely unwell patients go to recover before being discharged. The technology has meant we are able to help more people return home rather than being readmitted to an acute ward because of a fall injury.” Liz Morley, Associate Director of Nursing, community services said: “I would absolutely recommend this type of technology to every care home, it enables a safer environment for residents, while enhancing the care we provide.” Dr Steven Cleasby, Chair of NHS Calderdale CCG said: “The Telecare service has been a really important part of what we have achieved through the Quest for Quality in Care Homes project. Our care homes have engaged with telecare and welcome the support Tunstall provide through equipment provision for residents and carers, with regular on-the-ground support. These have led to efficiencies in staff workload, reductions in falls and general improvement in the quality of care provided.” Calderdale is one of the care home initiatives demonstrating what impact clinically-led technology-enabled models could have on a national scale. Independent analysis commissioned by Tunstall revealed that the NHS could release nearly £1bn capacity annually using this type of approach – avoiding 226,000 emergency admissions and 2.5 million bed days. The study combined national government data and data from other regional initiatives that use telecare and telehealth enabled models, such as video-based remote consultation technology in care homes by Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven (AWC) CCG. Dr Belinda Coker, Clinical Director of Tunstall and a sessional NHS GP at the Hurley Clinic in South East London said: “Around 383,500 older people with multiple and complex long- term conditions reside in care homes. Although they represent just 0.7% of the population, due to their healthcare needs, they use a disproportionately large share of the NHS’s resources. That is why reducing avoidable admissions and prolonged hospital stays has become a priority for healthcare commissioners and STPs. We believe NHS Calderdale CCG has led the way in showing that proactive management by highly-skilled multidisciplinary teams using technology in care homes could deliver significant efficiencies and release major capacity while at the same time providing a high-quality service.” National analysis indicates that care home residents may represent 13.5 per cent of all acute bed days, 9.1% of emergency admissions and 10.7% of ambulance responses. Tunstall has created a reference model that allows the potential opportunities to be analysed at NHS England and regional (STP or CCG) levels. https://uk.tunstall.com/care-home-report/
The Beeches’ beach summer BBQ a hit with residents
The beach was brought to The Beeches when the care home’s staff threw a summer BBQ for residents. The Stockton-on-Tees based home created an indoor seaside with a paddling pool and sand pit for those unable to travel to the coast. There was also entertainment from Michaela Marshall from Musical Memories, which specialises in providing costumed, interactive shows for care homes. Michaela performed beach themed 1950s and 60s classics, including “Rum and Coca Cola”, “We’re All Going On a Summer Holiday”, and “Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside”. Volunteer and friend of The Beeches Care Home, Ruth Atkinson served up burgers and sausages from the BBQ, as everyone enjoyed the summer sun. Resident Gwen Baker said: “I loved having a dance and the food was delicious. I had to have a second helping of another cheeseburger.” Helen Wood, home manager at The Beeches Care Home, on Green Lane, said: “With the beautiful summer weather we’ve been having lately, we decided to throw a BBQ and bring the beach to The Beeches. “Many of our residents are unable to travel to the coast for medical reasons, so we wanted to give them the experience of a seaside BBQ by creating our own. “Everyone had a lot of fun and a good laugh and the residents are all looking forward to the next one.” The Beeches Care Home are part of the Hill Care Group. For further information visit www.hillcare.net.
Harvest Healthcare
At Harvest Healthcare, we help Care Homes by being part of a solution to their problems. Through working with Care Home groups, we have identified some key problems such as; price pressure, compliance, attracting and retaining staff, rising costs, improving clinical outcomes and occupancy rates. We believe that our ‘3 C’ approach, focusing on compliance, costs and care can help to solve these problems. Compliance We offer services to make sure you are complaint with legal standards. LOLER and PUWER testing make sure equipment is safe to use and complies with bed rail regulations. Help you to comply with the Care Quality Commission’s Key Lines of Enquiry. Planned preventative maintenance optimises safe and reliable operation Training of all key staff in the correct use of equipment protects residents from avoidable harm and ensures equipment is well maintained. We offer 24/7 technical support and 4-hour engineer call out to make sure that your equipment always remains safe and compliant. Costs Harvest Healthcare’s products can minimise lifetime costs, over 5 years we have been proven to reduce costs by 25%. Our products are designed for Care Homes so are neither over or under engineered, many come with a 5-year warranty as we believe in the quality of our products. We give careful product selection advice, resulting in the minimum possible spend whilst delivering the best outcome. Planned preventative maintenance maximises the life of equipment, reducing breakdowns and call-outs. If you do experience a breakdown, we train local maintenance people to carry out simple repairs or provide troubleshooting by phone. We offer a mattress exchange programme, reducing unnecessary call outs and never leaving you without a mattress, minimising costs and ensuring patient comfort. Care Harvest Healthcare can offer better clinical outcomes. Correct product selection minimises pressure ulcer development. Staff are trained to use the products correctly meaning the equipment performs as intended for longer. Our products are designed to help control infection using flush headboards and welded mattress seams and flaps. We have falls reduction products to improve safety. Our vigilant system alerts staff when residents are out of bed via the nurse call system. The motion activated under-bed light gently illuminates the floor to help residents and carers to see when moving around at night. The Woburn Ultra-Low bed goes close to the floor, so if a patient rolls out of the bed they roll safely onto a crash mat. For more information, please contact James Brookes at james.brookes@harvesthealthcare.co.uk www.harvesthealthcare.co.uk
Innovative and End to End Care Software Solutions
First established in 2014, Care Software Solutions began trading in 2016 under founding director Cheryl Kenealy’s management. The company was initially set up to replace the paper-basedcare file in a multitude of environments such as the client’s home, the care home and community-basedclinics and centres that provide outreach nursing and care services and support services to adults. Since their humble beginnings, the company has progressed immensely and are now well-renowned as a recognisable, leading brand due to their high-quality, mobile, care management software solutions.Their bespokecare software solutionsprovide comprehensive, easy-to-use, digital end-to-end care management solutions for both care homes and home care agencies.Specialising in providing services for care planning, assessments and clinical information, as well as Rostering, eMAR, HR, and IOT, their mobile, web-based care, medical and monitoring solutions address the care plan management problems associated with laborious, inefficient and unreliable paper-based patient records for the healthcaresector. Designed by nurses for nurses, using their knowledge, skills and experience in the care sector, Zuri has revolutionised the way clients can operate their businesses, by having all the real-time information the client needs ready at their fingertips, whereverthey are. As the healthcare industry moves from analogue to digital, the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) is a convenient tool with several applications, from smart sensors and remote monitoring of movements to medical device integration that monitors vital statistics such as heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen saturation. These devices, which can be embedded in the physical things around us, can gather and share valuable information directly with each other and the cloud, making it possible to collect, record and analyse new data streams faster and more accurately, improving the entire system of client care, not to mention the client experience. Zuri areleaders in providing care agencies and residential care home owners with the technology they require to optimise the care service they offer to their clients in a virtual environment. Their end-to-end care management solutions offer family members peace of mind knowing that their loved ones are not only being cared for by their carers using the latest, market leading care management software, but their daily care, medication needs, and activities are being monitored by cutting edge, innovative IOT sensory technology. Care agency and care home ownerscan take advantage of this technology to optimise the care service they offer to their clients by being informed of all their clients’ activities in a virtual environment. They can then allocate care workers more efficiently based on carefully analysed human behaviour rather than rigid time slots, creating a more person-centred environment. Their certified GDPR checked solutions can help provide you with the care plan management tools you need in order to successfully run and improve your care business management. Zuri ensures excellent customer service with their highly skilled and experienced team, who are happy to provide clients with any support that they may need with their management software solutions. If you would like to get in contact withZuri to find out more about how their many specialist digital services can help benefit your care facilities, then don’t hesitate to pick up the phone today. More information can also be found by visiting the website below: 08002100094 www.zuri.care
Frank Foster House celebrates Outstanding CQC Status
Frank Foster House care home in Theydon Bois, Essex, held celebrations on Thursday 28 June 2018 to mark their new ‘Outstanding’ status, recently awarded by the Care Quality Commission. The 80 bedroom residential care home, situated in Loughton Lane, now falls within the top 2% of care homes in the country with an Outstanding status. The team at Frank Foster House are delighted to be recognised for the high level of professional care it provides for its residents. Home Manager, Cheryl Wright,commented at the event, “I am so proud to be the manager of Frank Foster House; this achievement is absolutely fantastic for us. My team are passionate about providing the best level ofcare and a wonderful living environment for our residents. I’d like to thank our guests for attending today to help us celebrate – the residents have all loved it too.” Frank Foster House provides residential care for older people, including those living with dementia. This top care home also offers short stay and respite care for those looking for temporary assisted living care. For all enquiries, please call Frank Foster House in Theydon Bois, Essex, on 01992 812525. At the celebrations were, from left, Barclays Relationship Director,Richard Bacon; Runwood Homes Director of Marketing, Sue Smith; Mayor of Epping, Cllr Nigel Avey; Runwood Homes CEO, Gordon Sanders and Home Manager, Cheryl Wright. The Mayor of Epping, Cllr Nigel Avey, presenting a Barclays celebratory award to Frank Foster House Home Manager,Cheryl Wright. The Theydon Bois care home, part of Barclays client, Runwood Homes, were celebrating their Care Quality Commission rating of ‘Outstanding’. Frank Foster House management, staff, residents and guests all enjoyed the CQC Outstanding celebrations held within the home. Frank Foster House is part of the Runwood Homes group of residential care homes, with over 70 homes across the UK – www.runwoodhomes.co.uk.
BB Training Academy
BB Training Academy is an award winning training provider offering a lifetime of support to the care sector. You will love why we are different · We are an award winning training provider specialising in delivering quality training to the care sector · Innovative delivery models which incorporate the latest thinking and practices · Our experienced and professional sector-specialists will work with you to create a bespoke training, qualification and recruitment package that is tailored to meet the needs of both the learner and the setting · We strive to help our learners to succeed with the support of highly skilled training officers with extensive and current sector experience · Our success rates sit 30% above the sector average · Our bespoke training aims to develop our learners’ knowledge, skills and behaviours that we know employers within the sector are looking for from their employees. · Our apprenticeship programmes form part of a wider talent management strategy and have a positive effect on staff retention and morale and adds a competitive edge https://www.busybeestraining.co.uk
Soldiers visit elderly veteran on Armed Forces Day
Elderly Army veteran Bill Lyons received a special visit from fellow servicemen on Armed Forces Day. The 74-year-old resident of Bannatyne Lodge Care Home, in Peterlee, was thrilled to meet two soldiers from the Yorkshire Regiment. Sergeant Stephen Row of the 1st Battalion and Lance Corporal Christopher O’Callaghan of the 2nd Battalion paid a visit to Bill after hearing he was physically unable to attend the town’s Armed Forces Day parade. Originally from Newcastle, Bill spent nine years in the Durham Light Infantry, where he rose to the rank of Corporal. The care home’s activities coordinator, Dawn Minto, contacted the Armed Forces Careers Office in Middlesbrough to arrange the visit. She said: “Bill isn’t able to mobilise well, so I asked if any of the soldiers could come and visit him. We were all thrilled when they agreed but especially Bill. “He was delighted to talk to them about Army life. He hadn’t talked as much for months.” After a coffee and a chat in the home’s garden, Bill said: “It was nice to meet someone in uniform.” Sergeant Row said: “It was great to talk to Bill about Army life. “It was a sunny day so we went out into the sunshine and talked to the ladies about their fathers and family members who had been in the forces as well.” Bannatyne Lodge Care Home are part of the Hill Care Group. For further information visit www.hillcare.net.
Armed Forces Day brings back World War memories
Wartime memories and songs were shared at a Chester-le-Street care home as part of Armed Forces Day celebrations. Elderly residents at Pelton Grange Care Home, on Front Street, Pelton, told stories of the Blitz, blackouts and listening to the BBC on “the wireless” for updates. They also joined in a singalong with entertainer Janie St John, who dressed in an authentic 1940s uniform. “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary”, “Pack Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag”, “We’ll Meet Again” and “Keep The Home Fires Burning” were just some of the favourites. One resident with advanced dementia was able to recall all the lyrics from songs she used to sing as a girl with family and friends. A family member of another resident said his father and friends used to sing songs at the club to cheer themselves during the War. One of the home’s oldest residents, 100-year-old Mabel Fenwick, recalled: “The wardens would come around during the blackout and make sure there were no lights showing from the houses. “We were only allowed to use one candle to illuminate the room as you didn’t want the bombers to know where to drop their bombs.” Another residents, Margaret Waggett, 78, said: “The songs reminded me of being a wee girl sitting with my mum listening to the radio and the posh man with the BBC voice during the black out.” Chris Hogan-Hind, home manager at Pelton Grange Care Home, said: “Everyone had a fantastic time at the Armed Forces Day celebration with entertainer Janie St John. “She put on a brilliant performance and the residents thoroughly enjoyed singing along and talking about their memories from WW2 and the stories their parents told them about WW1. “It was obviously a dark time but our residents have a lot of shared and fond memories and the benefits of reminiscence events such as this are profound. “Increased sociability, mobility and an improvement in overall mood are just some. Everyone is in high spirits for days afterwards.”
