Springhill Care Newsletter January 2015

Six steps take staff to another level

Eight members of staff at Birch Green have

started the Six Steps NHS End of Life Care Programme aimed at improving quality of life

for older people.

The steps taken by colleagues at the home cover

areas including discussions with individuals, assessment of needs, co-ordination between

agencies, delivery in different settings, care during the last days and support for relatives.

A number of agencies have already endorsed the programme and action taken by Birch Green staff including the Queenscourt Hospice, Southport.

Birch Green general manager Carol Nickeas said: “We think it is important for our

staff to acquire further knowledge in the field of end-of-life care in an ongoing way, and this programme provides that in a relevant manner.

We are always trying to improve the quality of life of our residents and this is another

way of us achieving that on their behalf.”

The Six Steps programme sets out to ‘bring about a step change in access to high quality care for all people approaching the end of life.’

The programme supports social care staff to provide consistent care in all settings

whether at home, care home, hospital or a hospice.

Birch Green has been awarded a number of prestigious awards, including the NHS-

backed ‘Gold Standards Framework’ (GSF) for which it received 'excellent' in five of the standards.

Tom's 21st Birthday

Tom celebrated his 21st Birthday in December. Everyone had a really great time at his party - Thanks Tom and we hope you

had a really Happy Birthday.

Christmas at Affinity

One of our services hosted a party at their house, inviting all the staff

and people we support from other services across the group. Everyone was asked to wear something festive, and all contributed to the food

with a ‘Jacobs Join’...

A group of people we support and staff, all went out for a meal at The Gamecock for a

Christmas carvery...

And another one of our services had a wonderful

Christmas Day opening their presents and having Christmas breakfast and Christmas dinner together.

To read more of Affinity Supporting People's recent news articles, please view our website www.affinitysupport.org

Christmas at Birch Green

Birch Green Care Home enjoyed two Christmas parties

recently.

All our residents across both floors at Birch Green have enjoyed the fun of the celebrations, which featured a visit by popular

local entertainer Kevin who is a regular visitor.

Decorations, food and drink rounded off the events which were thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended.

Now we’re winter warriors

Birch Green backed an initiative to

help the old and lonely this winter across the region by opening their

doors and welcoming people who would otherwise spend Christmas

Day on their own to join us at

Birch Green Care Home for Christmas dinner.

We supported the cause after figures

revealed that last year more than

18,000 older people died over the winter period.

Through the Connect4Life 'Lancashire

Winter Warriors/Friends

Campaign', the adult, health and wellbeing department of Lancashire

County Council asked people to informally adopt last year's NHS

England's Winter friend pledge of

helping an elderly or vulnerable neighbour.

#Connect4Life works in partnership

with GP surgeries, district councils,

voluntary sector providers, local communities and individuals across

Central Lancashire. The Winter Warriors campaign is

highlighting five ways to provide

practical help including:

Setting some time aside to drop in on an older neighbour or friend once a

week, more often if the weather turns

very cold.

Check the home is warm enough. The

main living area and bedrooms should be around 18°C (65°F).

Make sure the person you are looking in on is eating well and has some non-

perishable foods in the cupboard that they can heat up in case they can’t

leave the house for a few days.

Ask if there is anything you can do to

help - picking up a prescription or giving them a lift to the GP. And if you

are unwell, take real care not to pass

it on.

It is also important for people to keep active and get out if they can. Make

sure the person you are helping has

warm shoes which grip the ground and a good coat, hat and gloves. Offer

to walk with them if they are not confident alone.

Birch Green general manager Carol Nickeas said: “We wanted to do

something practical for older people this winter in the community and we

thought this was a worthwhile project

which deserved our support.”

The Winter Warriors initiative is also offering competition prizes of £150

and £250 for individuals or groups

who help older people or vulnerable neighbours in a number of ways such

as clearing snow for a care home, visiting someone once a week to

check they’re okay, clearing snow from a neighbour’s path or driveway

and helping someone to get around

during the winter.

To read more of Birch Green Care Homes recent news articles, please view our website www.birchgreencare.com

Christmas at

Riversway

Residents enjoyed an

afternoon sing-a-long

when we popped on

some Christmas CDs

and got the

tambourines out, while

looking very fetching in

reindeer antlers and

Santa hats (any excuse

to dress up). Some had

a bit of a dance too, a

favourite pastime for

many.

We also held a church

style service and sung

some Christmas carols.

It was a lovely

reminder of the

traditional message of

what Christmas is all

about, as well as a

chance for reflection.

A relaxing

afternoon with

Jakki

Jakki, who leads our

dementia services

team, provided a

relaxing afternoon of

entertainment for

residents last week.

Everyone enjoyed

listening to poetry, with

resident David even

getting involved by

offering to read a verse

to the group himself.

Jakki also played

soothing music and

sang to the group, an

activity always

welcomed by our

residents.

It’s nice to sit back and

unwind and Jakki’s

sessions are the perfect

way to do so.

Deal or

No Deal?

Our residents became

stars of the small screen last week when

they took a trip to the television studio where

channel 4 programme

Deal or No Deal is made.

Babs, Marianne and

Frank made the short

trip to the studio, which

is right on our doorstep

here in Bristol, to be

part of the audience for

the filming of an

episode of the

programme.

To read more of Riversway Care Home's recent news articles, please view our website www.riverswaycare.com

Christmas at Springhill

At Springhill we had a party for residents, staff and families.

We played host to local entertainer Johnny Solo, and had a

visit from Father Christmas who made sure everyone got a

present.

Among the Christmas decorations lining the walls, w e tucked

into a buffet, and staff made sure to wear their festive

jumpers.

A special Christmas visit

Pupils from St Peter’s School Choir in Accrington

visited us at Springhill Care Home to wish us a

Merry Christmas recently.

The group stopped by to deliver hand-made

cards to our residents and sing some festive

carols.

It was a lovely visit and another reason why we’re proud of our strong links with

the community here in Accrington.

An Accrington Academy Christmas

We jumped at the chance when Accrington

Academy invited us to attend a special Christmas

celebration.

Staff, along with three residents, attended the

event organised by the school’s pupils and

featuring singing, dancing, playing instruments

and bingo.

It was a fantastic occasion enjoyed by all, and the pupils did brilliantly to arrange

it and play host to community members in this way.

To read more of Springhill Care Home's recent news articles, please view our website www.springhillcarehome.com

Photos from around the group from our

social media pages

We value your feedback Whether residents, their families and friends or our staff members, we like

to hear what you have to say about the way we work, and importantly, act

upon your comments or concerns.

Many people already provide us with valuable comments through letters, e-mails and

cards which we are proud to receive, and we have also been

encouraging people to add comments to

the www.carehome.co.uk website – a ‘Trip Advisor’ for the care

home sector or through NHS

Choices .

We have also used regular one-off surveys, focus groups and meetings to gather

feedback on what is working well and what can be improved.

Recently The Care Quality Commission (CQC)

introduced a new inspection process which will collect

survey data from residents, relatives and staff and

social and healthcare professionals prior to an

inspection visit (Visit the CQC website for further details)

Due to this new process being introduced, we are formalising the way we collect

information and have worked in partnership with an independent company to develop

surveys relating to each of our homes which will be available online.

There are a number of ways to access these surveys – on-line or by printing them off,

and our staff members will have a hand held tablet available to enable people to fill in

the questionnaire at their leisure.

We would appreciate your help and we will encourage people to fill these

surveys in at any point in time.

These surveys are not intended to replace a simple conversation, so don’t forget, our

managers also welcome comments and suggestions in person. Any concerns or issues

that require immediate attention, please raise with the general manager or a senior

team member.

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This newsletter is from Springhill Care Group Limited.

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11 Cannon Street

Accrington, Lancashire BB5 1NJ

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