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A new baby at West Moors

Congratulations are sent to Tom Callingham from Care at Home, West Moors, and his lovely wife Rachel, who gave birth to their first baby last week.  The proud new parents have a beautiful daughter named Genevieve.

Fun and Celebrations at Sherborne House

Residents at Sherborne House celebrated the Royal Wedding with a street style afternoon tea party complete with bunting and flags. They also took part in some ‘Jive’ dancing with some local dance teachers who managed to get both residents and staff moving to the music!

Complex care needs require more flexible options

As the population continues to age the number of older people with multiple health issues and complex care needs is increasing. Understanding the different care and support options that are available isn’t always easy. Rules regarding funding of long-term nursing care are not straightforward.

In addition to a range of physical and mobility related needs, complex care can include conditions such as dementia, Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, strokes and behavioural difficulties arising from a loss of mental awareness.

Care planning has to reflect the highly individual nature of each person’s health issues and needs. Better understanding of the care available will help to alleviate issues of older people remaining in hospital despite being medically fit for discharge. Equally, it is clear that many older people are discharged without having an appropriate care package agreed and are left to struggle on at home as best they can.

Nursing Care

For many, a care home represents an opportunity to get the specialist nursing care they need to live a more fulfilling life. Sometimes this can be a temporary arrangement as they recover from a fall or an operation and sometimes it is longer-term. The important thing is that their needs are assessed carefully, and an appropriate care package is devised.

In other cases, receiving nursing care in their own home is the person’s preferred option. Some people benefit from the greater sense of independence and home care also removes the need to fund the residential element of care home fees.

There is no single solution that suits everyone, which is why we make care for people with complex needs highly individualised and as easy as possible to access.

Throughout our care homes we offer access to a qualified care team 24-hours a day, covering a range of specialties. We also offer high dependency care and help with reablement in people’s own homes. It’s all about fitting the care package and the setting around the needs of each individual.

For more information on our available care options, click here.

 

 

 

Sharon wins five year service award

Congratulations to Sharon Curtis from Care at Home, West Moors who was awarded her five year service badge in May. Sharon is a valuable and much loved member of the team.

Employee of the Month – May

We are delighted to reveal our Employees of the Month for May for each of our care homes. Each month, care home managers at Sherborne House, Steepleton Manor and Weymouth Care Home will hand pick team members who demonstrate a passion for their role and go above and beyond to provide excellent standard of care and support to residents.

Our Employees of the Month for May are:

Sherborne House

Sherry Powell

Sherry has just completed her Level 3 NVQ qualification and is always on hand to listen and assist with any work issues. Sometimes known as everyone’s ‘second mum’, Sherry is much appreciated for her good advice!

Weymouth Care Home

Kelli Skinner

Kelli has continued to work hard despite having to change her routine and meet the needs of raising a busy family! She always has a smile and is keen to help.

Steepleton Manor

Ana Marie

Ana-Maria is a valued member of staff who always has a smile and is happy to help.  She demonstrates great flexibility and commitment whilst working hard.

Congratulations to all Employees of the Month!

Stacey wins Long Term Service Award

Congratulations to Stacey Williams at Weymouth Care Home who celebrated a Long Term Service Award with her colleagues recently. Stacey (Head of Care), is sent a big hug from everyone in recognition of her award.

A Smoother & Faster Reablement Pathway from Hospital to Home

‘Bed blocking’ in NHS hospitals is a major problem. According to NHS England around 5900 beds are occupied by older people who are medically fit for discharge. They remain in hospital because they don’t have a suitable package of care in place to allow them to return home. That adds up to over 170,000 days of delays for people with a medical need for those beds.

And for too many older people the next stage after a stay in hospital is long term residential or nursing care. This isn’t always what they want and may not be their best long-term option. Happily, it now isn’t inevitable.

Often, what is needed is an interim phase of assessment, support and therapy as a stepping stone between hospital and home. Working with Yeovil Hospital Trust, Altogether Care has been chosen to introduce a new Home First approach at Sherborne House.

Home First is a support and reablement programme involving the NHS, local authority and the voluntary sector. It offers short term reablement support, either at home or in a care home setting. The aim is to help older people recovering from an operation or health trauma to regain the mobility and capability to live more independently.

In late 2017 we opened a 10 bed Home First unit at Sherborne House. It offers ‘Pathway 3’ support (the highest level of Home First support) for up to 28 days.

During their stay the temporary residents receive intensive support from a multi-disciplinary team involving physiotherapists, occupational therapists and other specialists to aid their recovery as they progress to the next stage of their care.

Residents are fully involved in planning the reablement support and in deciding their preferred destination at the end of their stay.

A Success Story

Since the unit opened we have helped 60 people. We are proud and delighted that 33 of these have fulfilled their wish to return home, with whatever ongoing support they need.

“Home First is about giving people options,” says Caroline Sharp, manager at Sherborne House. “Without the reablement support we are able to offer most, if not all, of these people would have gone straight to residential care or remained in hospital using a bed that is badly needed. They may have been stuck in hospital because they were not immediately able to look after themselves at home.”

Home First helps to speed up the discharge from hospital for many patients. This is vitally important because the longer older people spend in a hospital, the more likely it becomes that long term residential or nursing care becomes the only viable option.

“Feedback from our NHS partners, residents and families has been overwhelmingly positive. For everyone at Sherborne House it’s incredibly motivating to be making such a to the quality of life in people’s later years” added Caroline.

Further feedback from Somerset County Council has also proven that the programme has been a great success, as the results of this Home First trial were recently presented to the council’s health and wellbeing board by the strategic manager for adult social care, Tim Baverstock. Tim says that as a direct result of the programme, current residents have become more active. He adds “without getting these people out of hospital, the system in Somerset may have broken”.

For more information on the Home First programme at Sherborne House, please contact us.

A warm welcome to new Weymouth Care Home manager

Say Hello to Samantha Hansford who has recently joined Altogether Care as Manager of Weymouth Care Home.  We caught up with Sam and asked a few questions about her new role.

What are you most looking forward to in your new role?

I am looking forward to working within an established team to provide person centred care and maximising the quality of life for our residents.

What attracted you to working in the care industry?

I have always been someone who enjoys working in a team environment and when I had my first ever job in the sector I realised how much I enjoyed making a difference to people’s lives.

What do you think are the modern day challenges for care homes?

Modern day challenges for homes is keeping up with technology and the ever changing world of health and social care.  It is very refreshing to work with a company that is continually moving forward with both technology and ethos.

What is the most positive thing you have discovered about Weymouth Care Home?

The team are positive, caring and provide dedication to ensuring our residents have a positive living experience.

 What did you do prior to working for Altogether Care?

My previous experience has been in the Health and Social Care field. I have been a registered manager in the local area and more recently, I was working in Somerset then Liverpool registering Provider companies and providing support to registered managers.

A warm welcome is extended to Sam on behalf of everyone at Altogether Care.

 

 

Myths Exposed: There Are More Good Care Homes than you Might Think

Bad news always travels faster than good. And it grabs the headlines. Because of high profile stories in the national press you could easily get the impression that good care homes are hard to find. The reality is different, and much more positive.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspects all adult social services providers. Findings are categorised into four levels: outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate.

To be rated as good or outstanding, care homes must demonstrate high standards for how they are run, the capabilities of the care team and standards of person-centred care they deliver. Over 80% of residential care homes are rated as good or outstanding.

Smaller Homes Perform Better

The other common perception is that care homes are run by large faceless companies. Some are, most are not. There are thousands of smaller homes that are often family run businesses owned by people take great pride in the standards of care they deliver.

CQC data shows 85 percent of services catering for 1-50 people were rated as good or outstanding, compared with 73 percent of larger services for 101-250 people.

The size of the care or nursing home seems to make a significant difference to the standard of care you could expect to receive.

This is probably because a smaller number of residents makes it easier to shape services around each individual. For example, therapies can be incorporated into care programmes to help individual residents lead fuller lives.

This extends to activities that help residents remain active and engaged; these are essential for promoting physical and emotional wellbeing.

It might also be that in smaller homes we have more time to interact with each individual. We are better able to notice any changes to their state or mind or health and to make changes to their care plan accordingly.

If you are looking for residential care for yourself or a relative the news may be better than you imagine. There are many good care homes and there’s plenty of information available online to help you make the best choice.

Verwood Ladies Football Team goes from strength to strength

Verwood Ladies Football Team is positively thriving after recent media coverage and sponsorship from Altogether Care, Minster Partnerships and Warborne.

The team welcomed both a new manager and several new players this season and are looking forward to winning games and maintaining their positive outlook.

Karla Jordan from the team said, “On behalf of the team we’d like to thank our sponsors who have made all the difference with their generosity”.

Employee of the Month – April

We are delighted to reveal our Employees of the Month for April for each of our care homes. Each month, care home managers at Sherborne House, Steepleton Manor and Weymouth Care Home will hand pick team members who demonstrate a passion for their role and go above and beyond to provide excellent standard of care and support to residents.

Our Employees of the Month for April are:

Sherborne House

Amy Trowbridge-Smith

Amy has been in her role for a year now and within the last three months has been awarded two promotions. Amy cares about each and every resident, staff and family members and goes above and beyond her call of duty.  She is a true asset to Sherborne House.

Weymouth Care Home

Corina Manoliu

Corina demonstrates flexibility, hard work and great commitment to ensuring the continuity of care within her role.

Steepleton Manor

Tiiu Piller

Tiiu goes to great lengths to help residents and staff and is a valued member of staff.

Congratulations to all Employees of the Month!

It’s a boy!

Congratulations to Hazel Bailey on the birth of her son Archie who was born five weeks early in April instead of May.  Archie will be a little brother for Dillan.  Everyone at the West Moors office was delighted to see the beautiful new arrival!

Photo: Hazel (far right), with the West Moors team, Archie and Dillan.

Donkey drops into Sherborne House

Residents had a special visitor this month when Willow the donkey called in to spend some cuddle time with residents and staff.

Willow is one of the donkeys from Sidmouth Donkey Sanctuary.

How Care Management Software Helps with the Human Touch

Technology plays an increasing role in social care, as it is in many aspects of life. But good care is still largely about human interactions. The key issue for care management systems and other care technologies is how they support those interactions.

At the end of 2017 we rolled out a new care management system across our homes. When we evaluated the options the important questions were around what the proposed solution would mean for our residents and our team.

Our new real-time mobile care management software brings complete transparency. Care activity reports track delivery against each resident’s digital care plan, including an audit trail for all fluids, nutrition and medicines. Events and inputs are logged as they happen so there is one, constantly updated source of information about the care each resident receives.

Where, for example, nutrition or fluid intake needs to be adjusted the system can automatically calculate and record the required changes. Because all of this happens efficiently there is more time for our care team to interact with residents and ensure we are looking after their overall wellbeing.

Because data is so easy to collect, we can use more of it. Procedures are driven by individual care plans and aligned with CQC standards. This means we have consistent and comprehensive care reporting records for each resident and can reinforce best practice continuously.

External Links

The care management system is intelligent and synchronises with the pharmacy to ensure medications are administered correctly, sourced cost-effectively and always available.

Secure external links are provided so that digital care plans and information can be shared with health professionals to streamline patient care. Family members also have a secure gateway so they can input suggestions to the care plan and see what is happening with the wellbeing and care of their relative.

Benefits

The system helps staff work more efficiently and to deliver better care. There’s more time for carer and resident interaction and more control for the service users and their relatives.

The transparency that comes with realtime care tracking has several advantages:

  • Relatives can instantly see how we interact with and care for our residents.
  • Care needs can be more accurately determined and demonstrated.
  • Greater continuity and consistency of health and care provision is facilitated.
  • There is hard evidence to support the care and funding needs for each resident.

The technology is helping us to work more efficiently and provide the best care possible. It also gives family members important reassurance that their relatives are being well cared for and encouraged to lead an active and fulfilling life.

Find out more about how we use technology to track and improve the care we deliver.

Care Homes Open Day at Altogether Care

Altogether Care will be taking part in National Care Home Open Day this Saturday 21st April.

The nationwide Open Day event is a chance to celebrate all the different people, cultures and relationships in local areas, and show the community that care homes are friendly, happy and exciting places to be.

Our Care Homes – Sherborne House in Yeovil, Steepleton Manor near Dorchester, and Weymouth Care Home will open their doors this Saturday with an array of activities, information and events available.

Activities include:

  • High tea
  • Live music
  • Care Home tours
  • Singalongs with the residents

And much more- so what are you waiting for? Come along and meet our residents and staff and to find out why we have been supporting the local community for 30 years.

Social Care Partnerships are About Culture as well as Contracts

Some challenges are too big to tackle on your own. And taking care of the increasing care needs of an ageing population is probably as big a challenge as you can ask for. But what sort of social care partnerships would be needed to deliver a sustainable solution?

Currently we have too many older people stuck in hospital beds because there is no suitable care they can be transferred to. Either that or the process for commissioning that care doesn’t work as well as it should.

While we have more people needing more complex care outside of hospitals we also have care homes closing. Some owners struggle to meet the demands of CQC standards and the expectations of funders and residents and still make even a modest profit to remain viable and re-invest in the changing needs of clients.

Historically, relationships between health services and local authority commissioners, and the largely private organisations that deliver care have been too ‘insular.’ At the same time financial pressures have led to care commissioning being ‘commoditized’ rather than being planned and delivered in partnership.

Thinking Differently

Whatever structures and systems we put in place they can’t be fully effective unless we also create a different culture; one in which we collaborate openly and make the best use of our collective resources and expertise.

Care homes need the input of health specialists to make sure we provide for all the physical, emotional and mental needs of our residents. Supporting a healthy care sector will also help ease the pressure on hospital beds and speed up the transfer of care to either residential or domiciliary provision.

The more we collaborate and communicate the better we will understand each other’s issues and objectives. This is the vital first step towards finding joint solutions and making better use of everyone’s scarce resources.

For care users there should increasingly be one conversation that leads to the right care and support being provided by the right person at the right time. This won’t just improve quality of life it can also save repeated or emergency hospital admissions that further drain resources and cause distress.

In running our care homes in Dorset and Somerset we always remember that we don’t have the monopoly on good ideas. Our culture is to work collaboratively with a wide range of partners in health services and other organisations to meet the diverse needs of our residents, to help them stay happy and healthy.

Open Day at Steepleton Manor

An open day will take place at Steepleton Manor on Saturday 21st April from 10.30am.  Residents will enjoy an art session with Sarah Jane which has an Australian theme and a special buffet will be served with foods from Australia, New Zealand and India.

During the afternoon an afternoon cream tea will be served to mark the Queen’s birthday. Songs with the lovely Christina will start at 2pm and a recruitment and cake stall will be present throughout the day.

A trip down memory lane

Residents at Steepleton Manor enjoyed a Memory Box session last month. Helen got the chance to read an original school annual from 1958, whilst David enjoyed seeing a photo of a Triumph Herald 1959 model.  A collection of cards with ‘famous faces’ on also gave residents the perfect opportunity to reminisce.

Egg-stra Appeal from Care Home

Steepleton Manor Care Home have collected and donated 40 Easter Eggs to the Wessex FM Easter Appeal.  The eggs will be given to local children who would not normally receive an egg.

The care home which is based near Dorchester wanted to collect the eggs so that young people can receive a treat this Easter.

 

Employees of the Month – March

We are delighted to reveal our Employees of the Month for March for each of our care homes. Each month, care home managers at Sherborne House, Steepleton Manor and Weymouth Care Home will hand pick team members who demonstrate a passion for their role and go above and beyond to provide excellent standard of care and support to residents.

Our Employees of the Month for March are:

Sherborne House

Linda Vitina

Linda always has a smile and a friendly greeting for everyone. She is liked by all and nobody brings up the whites as good as Linda!

Weymouth Care Home

Kayleigh Phillips

 

 

 

 

Kayleigh is a valuable asset to the team and tackles many challenges within her role.

Steepleton Manor

Adriana Panta

Adriana has great dedication to her job as a nurse, she is always happy and the residents enjoy her company.

Congratulations to all Employees of the Month!

Some recent day to day activities