Impressing the inspectors at Jackson Gardens

Richard Wheatley, Regional Manager – North West, has asked us to share a special ‘well done’ to Michele Johnson and her team at Jackson Gardens for their amazing achievement on receiving their overall good rating with their first CQC Inspection.

Richard told us, “It was a pleasure to read such amazing comments about the care that is delivered by the onsite team and how the scheme is managed. Michele is newly in post at Jackson Garden and has made such a difference is a short space of time”.

Some comments from the report included “Kind and Caring”, “Marvellous” and “Out of this World”.

Richard added that “it has been a pleasure to get this feedback from service users and care staff. And it is amazing to see such a warm culture at Jackson Gardens. Well done Michele and team, your hard work and dedication does not go unnoticed.”

Becci’s going the extra length for breast cancer

Hazel Richardson, one of our Complex Community Nurses has shared a story highlighting her colleague Becci’s charity swim to raise money following her sister’s cancer diagnosis in December 2021.

Becci’s sister, Toni a young Mum with two children, was diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer late last year. TNBC is a type of Breast cancer whose cells don’t have hormone or Her2 receptors, and accounts for 15-20% of Breast Cancer diagnoses, and is more common in women under 40. Toni is part way through her treatment plan, including 11 chemo cycles and an operation. She has rung the bell on Chemo and is awaiting Radiotherapy next month. Becci told us “She has fought it like champ and as a family we are so very proud of her for not only fighting this disease but for also doing it as a single mother and not letting her treatments affect the children”.

Toni’s determination and strength has inspired Becci to take on her own challenge to complete a 10 mile swim to raise money to support all other warriors, but mainly for her sister. To complete this challenge Becci needs to swim 895 lengths of her local 18 metre pool, and has under 200 lengths to go with three swims planned for the remainder of this week and is on target to complete it! Becci said “I’ve swam at every opportunity I can, around shifts and my children”.

Hazel commented “Becci works full time on one of my ICCM packages in Cheshire and is a great asset to her team – to see her completing this outside of work and with her own family to care for is amazing and warrants sharing. Hopefully our colleagues will donate to this worthy cause and congratulate one of our hard-working team members for completing such challenge.”

You can find out more about Becci’s challenge and make a donation on her Facebook Fundraisers page.

The Advantage Healthcare team excels in Cardiff

Congratulations to Theresa Giles, our Advantage Healthcare Branch Manager in Cardiff on her successful CIW Registration! Theresa joined Advantage Healthcare in August 2020 as a Client Manager, and progressed to Branch Manager in September 2021 when Leanne Henderson, the previous Branch Manager, took a new role in the Governance Team for the Complex Care division.

Rachel Davy, Head of Operations who shared the news, said “Congratulations Theresa, this wasn’t an easy journey but your passion, commitment and hard work paid off. Well done and keep believing in your ability to be the best!”

This comes on the back of another significant achievement for the branch regarding a young man with a family who had suffered a spinal stroke in 2020. The Cardiff team were first approached in November 2020 to support this client and after a very challenging and carefully phased discharge he was finally fully discharged last week! This package required a very large team of 10+ staff presenting several recruitment challenges in an already tough market and was significantly disrupted by the ongoing and changing COVID 19 restrictions and continuing lockdowns.

The team worked closely with the multi-disciplinary team meeting – a regular meeting that takes place between health care professionals to discuss the client’s case – including consultants and ward staff. Theresa, Nurse Andrew Pettey and Care Service Manger Vera recommended trialling a phased discharge strategy, enabling us to build the right team around the package and prioritising safety. It worked! That strategy has exceeded all expectations and is a model which has impressed the lead consultants who are considering rolling it out on a large scale for their future complex care patients.

Today Theresa’s client is home with his three children and partner Sam, after three long years in hospital.

Vera Robinson the lead Care Service Manager leading on the mobilisation wrote “This couldn’t have been achieved without the hard work of the previous manager Leanne Henderson and Theresa, who transitioned into her new role as Branch Manager whilst maintaining the ever changing rota and the challenges this care package brought. Thank you Theresa and Andrew for those long hours spent on recruiting and keeping engaged the current staff who are all now part of a large and successful team that have brought this client home to his family. The challenges have been from every side, and you have done a fantastic job!”

A fantastic festive round-up

 

Happy New Year everyone. It was a busy festive period for our teams across the UK, but so many of you still found time to get into the Christmas spirit. Whether it was to recognise the hard work and dedication of staff or to help our service users get involved with the celebrations, thank you to everyone who shared your activities with us over the last few weeks. Here’s just a small selection of what was happening across the City & County family.

Firstly, Danni Russell has asked us like to say a massive ‘thank you’ to Amanda Brown. Danni tells us that Amanda has been part of the Berwick team for nine years and is loved by all of her service users and colleagues. In Amanda’s spare time, she has devised a small craft page on Facebook where she makes gifts to order. Every year Amanda’s service users receive a small gift from her, and this year she has excelled herself crafting these truly heartfelt gifts and handmade Christmas cards for all of her service users.

 

Danni finished by saying, “Amanda, these are absolutely beautiful and you have made some of our service users extremely happy this Christmas”. We couldn’t agree more – thank you Amanda.

Meanwhile, Chris Noble has let us know about a fantastic festive initiative by the HSG team in the North East. Each year Middlesbrough’s HSG office staff put together two hampers, one for staff and one for service users. After all of the names are put in to a raffle, two lucky winners are drawn.

Congratulations to Serena Westwood who won the staff hamper

Well done to the Bradshaw family who took home the service users’ hamper

Such a fantastic idea Chris, we hope you all enjoyed your treats. And, that’s not all from the amazing HSG team in Middlesbrough! The staff also donated items to their local food bank – and they definitely looked the part when they delivered the donations too.

Finally, Joanne Brannan shared this terrific collage from the Careline Homecare team in Tameside. Two of their care workers, Shelley Townsend and Seemab Ali, took time to visit service users and deliver Christmas presents in full costume.

Joanne told us that the service users were delighted with the visit from the care workers. We’re really not surprised that they loved the visits – Shelley and Seemab look fabulous, and thanks for sending in the ‘elfie pictures too Joanne!

Let’s Talk About… physical health 

As part of our Let’s Talk About Wellbeing campaign, we’ll be tackling a wide range of wellbeing topics across the year.

Our next quarterly theme, which will run through January, February and March, is Physical Health and Wellbeing.

Physical Health

When experts refer to physical wellbeing, they look at things like whether you feel healthy and full of energy. Taking care of your physical health is good not only for your body, but also for your work, life, relationships, and emotional wellbeing.

From diet to exercise to sleep, over the next three months we’ll be providing tips and strategies to help make taking care of ourselves, a priority every day.

You tell us what matters

We are building an approach to wellbeing that works for you. To do this, we want to hear from you to help shape the campaign over the coming months. Email us at communications@candchealthcare.co.uk to tell us what matters to you, what concerns you have and any tips you’ve discovered which you would like to share.

Walk your Dog Month – January

Did you know that almost 12% of the dogs owned in the UK are overweight?

Walking is amazing for humans and dogs, both physically and mentally. Why not kick off the New Year with a fun challenge this January, try the following:

• Change your dog walking route – change the route to create more excitement
• Walk your dog with style – treat your dog to a brightly coloured lead or collar
• Teach your dog some new tricks – spend time together and burn off some energy

Don’t forget to send us photos of you walking your dog this January to communications@candchealthcare.co.uk.

Wonderful words in Westminster

One of our regional managers in London, Kasia Brzyszcz, received a moving thank you this week from the family of someone cared for by the team in Westminster.

Through the pandemic, their normally socially-active relative, Mitzi, couldn’t be with those the loved, but the dedicated staff at London care stepped in to be there for her. The family wrote:

“On behalf of Mitzi’s friends and family, we thank you for the excellent care you and your team provided during the las year of her life.  Sadly, the majority of us were unable to visit during this time due to the COVID pandemic.

“Mitzi was a hugely generous and very special lady. In normal circumstances, her flat would have been full of visitors in the course of a week – plus outings to local eateries! However, I know that in the absence of her usual visitors, Mitzi so enjoyed the company of her carers – especially Maria and Hanna. She spoke of hem with great affection when her friends and family called by phone.

“Please thank everyone who was involved in Mitzi’s care.”

A huge ‘well done’ to everyone in Westminster, but especially to Maria and Hanna. You were there for Mitzi when others couldn’t be during her final days, and have clearly made a big impact on her friends and family.

Applauding the team at Abbotswood

Sarah Thomas sent us a fabulous message from the family of a service user at the Abbotswood Extra Care scheme in Littlehampton. After she recently passed away, the service user’s family got in touch to express just how much of an impact the London Care team had made on their lives, writing:

“Words aren’t enough to express how we as a family feel in the wonderful care that you gave her.  You weren’t just carers you were all her friend and nothing was ever too much trouble.

“Your care during COVID last year was outstanding especially as family members were not allowed into the building, I knew Mum was in safe hands and looked after so well.  We knew she wasn’t well from August 2020 when we discovered she probably had colon and bowel cancer along with breast cancer.  But as usual, all your wonderful individual personalities along with all your caring nature gave her the inspiration to start painting, with her left hand as she had had a stroke some years before. She was so pleased to be able to paint small pictures for a lot of her special carers such as yourselves.

“All the carers took their time to chat with her and make her feel so loved whether it was when they came in in the mornings to wash her, or lunch time to serve her meal or at her tea time call or bed time call, nothing was every too much trouble. As we know, Mum was always putting the carers first and hated troubling you all or pressing the buzzer if she felt unwell but towards the end she realised she could do this and would be greeted with such lovely smiley, loving faces who became part of the family.

“Right up until the end, you were there for Mum and us as a family and I can’t fault the care you give at Abbotswood, you all need gold medals for what you do and the service you provide, you are all professionals and amazing. You are not just staff or carers you are part of the families and I know I shall miss you all and seeing all your smiley faces.”

Thank you so much to the team at Abbotswood for the diligent care compassion you showed to this family through an incredibly challenging time. It’s reassuring to know that the care and reassurance you provided to this service user and her wider family will have such as lasting impact.

Latest contract wins

Our Bids and Contracts team are hard at work – supported by our operational teams – securing new contracts across the country for City & County. We’re very pleased to confirm two recent success in England.

Firstly, Guardian Homecare will be delivering a block-hours reablement service contract for around 1700 hours per week. The Guardian Homecare team in Blackburn will be stepping up to the challenge, coving the East Lancashire area from July. Nicky Tucker, with Margaret McDonald and Ross McCrann wrote this bid with true co-production, and we’re delighted with the outcome.

Secondly, we’ve secured an advance Healthcare contract with Walsall Council for a block-hours night responsive service pilot. The scheme will run for six months, starting in June. Phoebe McKeon and Celia Fleming managed this bid, and wanted to pass on huge thanks to David Percox at Advance Healthcare for his support.

A huge ‘well done’ to everyone involved.

Our teams get involved in Dementia Action week

This week is Dementia Action Week, organised by the Alzheimer’s Society, recognising the nearly one million UK families who are struggling to care for their loved ones with the dignity and support they deserve.

A focus this year is on reforms to the social care system to improve the lives of those with dementia and the families who support them. The Alzheimer’s Society are calling on the Government to cure the care system by committing to publication of a clear plan for social care – with reform underway this year – and ensuring their reforms consider not just funding, but also improving the quality of care that people receive. You can find out more and sing their petition here.

One of our own care workers, Ashley – a Comfort Call care worker at the Meadow Court scheme in Croxteth, has gotten involved by doing an interview with Onward Housing, which you can read here. In the interview, Ashley talks about the importance of supporting people with the condition as well as some practical tips for anyone who thinks they, or a relative, may have early onset dementia.

Also Paul Kershaw, Regional Trainer in the North West is holding a Dementia Awareness day in Poppy House today. Paul will be will issuing badges and certificates for those attending the day to recognise their role as a dementia champion. The team are also having a raffle to raise funds for the Alzheimer’s Society.

Changes at City & County

We wanted to update you all on a new face in the City & County family.

We are delighted this week to welcome Helen Storey, who joins us as Group Legal Counsel, meaning that for the first time we have our own professional legal resource within the organisation.

Helen will be focusing much of her energies on employment law, providing invaluable support to the HR team, but will also perform a generalised legal advisory role from contract and commercial matters to data protection. We are sure you will join us in welcoming Helen to the City & County family.

Appreciating an assist at Amblecote Gardens

Joanne Brannen, Regional Manager – North West and West Yorkshire sent us some fantastic feedback for Maria Giverin and the Comfort Call team at the Amblecote Gardens Extra Care scheme in Manchester.

One service user had experienced a particularly difficult period due to a water leak in his apartment – thankfully quickly resolved by the housing provider – and wanted to acknowledge the support that our care team had given, writing:

“My reason for writing is to acknowledge the care and comfort afforded by your staff. The Care Manager Maria Giverin and her team were exceptional in ensuring my needs were met, making certain I was not deteriorating, offering every assistance and making regular checks at a time that was most distressing for me.

“The commitment, professionalism and genuine concern for my wellbeing was exemplary and exceptional from all the care staff and they showed themselves to be a commendable credit to Comfort Call. All too often the care workers are under appreciated and rarely acknowledged, never mind given a simple ‘thanks’. It should not go without comment that the past 14 months have been a significant challenge for your profession.

“Please thank Maria and her staff for the sterling work they have done to make me comfortable and safe and assure them of my wholehearted support in these appalling circumstances.”

Thank you to Maria and the team for making sure that this vulnerable service user was kept comfortable and safe during what must have been a challenging time for everyone involved. As the service user states, it’s often the smaller things we all do that can go unappreciated, but his gratitude for your help is clear to see.

Kent County Council share a story from Bowles Lodge

Magdalena Trepczynska, Regional Manager – South shared with us an article written from the perspective of a service user, Constance, at the Bowles Lodge Extra Care scheme in Kent.

Featured in Kent County Council’s communications – including their Adult Social Care Provider Bulletin – the story is seen through the eyes of Constance’s daughter, Margaret:

Constance had been living in her own house in Hawkhurst for 40 years and her daughter Margaret lives nearby. Over time, she became very dependent on Margaret’s support, time and help at all times during the day and night. She would often call her during the night because she was scared or frightened.

Constance was very depressed and would often tell Margaret that she couldn’t cope and didn’t know what to do and there was no point in being here. She also stopped going out on her own and would only go out if Margaret took her out, so she became quite isolated as well.

In July 2020, Constance was offered a one bed flat at Bowles Lodge in Hawkhurst which she accepted. Constance suddenly became very unsure of everything and nearly didn’t accept the tenancy. The scheme assistant offered some solutions to help Constance and her family consider the situation for her and Margaret was very grateful for the way in which this was handled which resulted in Constance signing her tenancy agreement and starting her tenancy at Bowles Lodge.

Since then: Here is the turning point, Margaret says her mum is now very happy and moving into her new home at Bowles Lodge has made all the difference. Constance can move around her flat with ease which has enabled her to become more active. She enjoys a walk around the scheme, safe in the knowledge that there is a proper path that she can follow, and she can enjoy the garden and say hello to people in passing. She is making new friends and enjoys eating in the restaurant and has also taken to doing a bit of cooking herself, which she hasn’t done in a while. Margaret says that she is now wanting to do things and to be independent. She has also started knitting again. Margaret says the move to Bowles Lodge has given her mum her life back and her confidence is returning too, and she is enjoying life.

Constance loves living at Bowles Lodge, she says the setting is so nice, and views are wonderful including the view of the church steeple which are important things to her.

From Margaret’s point of view, her mum’s move has now given her a new direction. As she says she loves her mum very much and when her mum was living in her house, she put her mum first, but now she is safe in the knowledge that her mum is safe and happy and she now has time for herself and spending time with her mum is a real pleasure all the time. In the words of Margaret, she has got her mum back!

Thanks for sharing Magda. This story really brings home the independence and reassurance that living in an Extra Care scheme such as Bowles Lodge provides to people like Constance and Margaret.

Joanne is taking on ‘The Wall’ for families affected by suicide

Joanne Brannen contact us this week to tell us about her upcoming charity challenge in aid of the If u Care Share Foundation, who provide prevention, intervention training and support of those affected by suicide. 

Joanne explained her very personal reason for support this cause, telling us, “As some of you know my nephew, Jamie committed suicide last month. He lived with post-traumatic stress disorder after the death of my sister, Kelly which he was witness to. If U Care Share Foundation have been in contact with my devastated family and have offered to support them with the necessary help they desperately need.”

Joanne continued, “I want to help the charity with some fundraising. I am taking part in ‘The Wall’ ultra-marathon this year which is over 70 miles long – and every single step will be in memory of my nephew who simply missed his Mam.”

You can read more about Joanne’s challenge and support with a donation on her Just Giving page.

Joanne finished by saying, “Everyone has already been so kind and generous but if you can just spare £1 I will be eternally grateful”.

Time for tea in Wigan

Richard Wheatley, Regional Manager – North West, has asked us to pass on a big ‘thank you’ to Janice Barber, branch manager in Wigan. 

When a service user had her 80th birthday approaching, Janice did everything she could to mark the big occasion. Inviting the service user in to the office to celebrate, Janice and the team arranged a fabulous birthday tea party – COVID-secure of course.

 

Richard told us, “It is great to see how passionate the team are about making a difference to someone’s life, especially given these unprecedented times. Well done Team Wigan!” We couldn’t agree more.

 

Bringing back memories at Westbourne Park Day Centre

Finally, Joanna Budhu, Day Centre Coordinator for London Care, has asked if anyone has any vintage objects that could help service users reminisce at Westbourne Park Day Centre.

The specialist dementia day centre is looking for any 1945 – 1965 objects that could be used for reminiscence activities, manual handling, and sensory sessions. These could be old appliances, postcards, objects of everyday use, packaging from branded products or anything that could bring back memories from those years.

Please contact Joanna at Joanna.Budhu@cchmail.co.uk if you have anything to donate.