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Steepleton Manor Open Day 6th October

On the 6th October 2018, between 12pm and 4pm we are opening our doors at Steepleton Manor care home to celebrate 30 years as a family business in care.

Steepleton Manor is our luxury care home, specialising in assisted living and residential care, set in the picturesque village of Winterbourne Steepleton near Dorchester. Surrounded by six acres of mature landscaped parkland, it features its own walled kitchen garden where residents can grow their own produce. At Steepleton Manor you will find a vibrant living environment with a range of social and exercise activities, a library, tailored nutritional food and therapies to support a healthy and high quality lifestyle.

We want to celebrate our commitment to providing quality care for 30 years and demonstrate what life at the Manor is really like by opening our doors for the day. The event will feature information on the events programme we run, a tethered hot air balloon, classic car display, nutrition information and catering, music sessions, and some freshly made cakes and cream teas to enjoy. Plus, there will be an opportunity to have a look around the manor and learn more about what we do to provide a family feel with our care environment.

For more information, please call us on 01305 300 161.

Steepleton Manor,
Winterbourne
Steepleton
DT2 9LG

Continuity is critical to long term sustainability of the care sector

In December 2017 the CQC published an interim report based on system reviews of health and care services for older people in six areas. It won’t surprise anyone that the picture that emerges is one of a fragmented service with people working very hard to make things work, in spite of systems and conflicting priorities that don’t always help them.

If and when we implement better systems for assessing care needs and transferring people between health and care providers, the question remains about whether this will be enough. With current funding levels and arrangements will we ever see a joined-up service that consistently delivers on continuity of care?

Right now, continuity of communication, never mind care, can be an issue. Throughout the care service we see short term funding, short term or zero hours contracts, and a workforce with a high turnover of staff. These conditions are largely economically-driven and not ones in which a joined-up service will flourish.

Better software tools are helping. It is becoming easier to capture complex care needs, broker the necessary care packages and ensure full details of the service user and their needs flow through the system.

Disconnects can, however, still occur when the funding for initial care packages runs out. The process of re-assessing needs and brokering suitable care can still take too long. And without long-term funding it is hard for care providers to deliver long-term continuity.

We know that what people want most of all is to see a familiar face. Continuity of care is a very human issue. If funding is interrupted, the familiar care worker may have to be reallocated or may finish the short-term contract they were employed on. If we want to ensure continuity of care, we need continuity of funding.

Funding continuity will help ensure that service users never feel they are telling their story ‘over and over’ to different people and wondering whether anyone ever talks to each other.

The care workforce makes a fantastic effort and achieves so much in difficult circumstances. We need greater certainty over future funding to guarantee that this dedicated support will always be available when we need it.

Exposing the Myth – What is the Care Sector Really Like?

From the outside it’s easy to have a distorted, or even gloomy, picture of social care. The stories that make the press are the ones where standards of care have fallen way below the acceptable, or of care homes in severe financial difficulties.

These stories are obviously a concern, and there’s no doubt that the sector faces challenges. But the real picture of day-in, day-out care is more cheerful and optimistic.

There are nearly 1.6m people employed in adult social care. The stories that make the press represent a minuscule fraction of that workforce. People are not drawn to the sector because of the financial rewards, they do the job because they are caring and motivated by wanting to help people.

A healthy and functioning society can rightly be judged by how well it takes care of its vulnerable and less able members. The care workforce is the vital part of the infrastructure that delivers this support. They often work in difficult circumstances and deserve our respect.

As people live longer we cannot have a functional society that claims to be compassionate without a healthy and properly funded care service. It really is time that both central and local government took a serious look at the level of fees they need to pay to ensure we can deliver sustainable, high quality and person-centred care for everyone who needs it.

Some recent day to day activities