Caring Times - Nov 2022

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Care Provider Alliance’s

chair Nadra Ahmed talks about the

this year’s

10 LEADER’S SPOTLIGHT

Ben Allen reflects on the milestones of his six years as chair of The Care Workers’ Charity

18 CT ON THE ROAD

We visit Macc Care’s pioneering new Blossomfield Rose care home in Solihull

No time for a political circus

The dizzying pace of recent political events has left social care leaders desperately looking for some degree of certainty in a rapidly shifting landscape.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak replaced Liz Truss after she became the shortest PM in UK history after 45 turbulent days.

The PM’s sudden resignation left the social care sector facing further uncertainty over the future of government funding and social care reforms.

With the chancellor having confirmed the scrapping of the 1.25% hike in national insurance to pay for health and social at the time of writing it remained unclear how the government will fill a £13 billion gap in funding as we prepare to enter a new age of austerity.

With the Boris Johnson administration having previously finally grasped the nettle of social care reform after decades of dithering, this is no time for faltering.

A government with the stability and mandate to deliver on social care reforms

and to implement a sustainable social care system through the provision of adequate funding and a long-term workforce strategy is urgently required with half a million people current awaiting a social care assessment and hospital beds clogged by people who cannot be discharged into care homes due to staffing shortages.

With care homes struggling to meet rocketing energy bills, the government should also confirm how the sector will be guaranteed support beyond the current April 2023 deadline so that providers can plan ahead with some degree of certainty.

With 165,000 vacancies and the soaring cost of living, these are critical times for many care homes with the distraction of a political circus a luxury the sector cannot afford.

Lee Peart Editor-in-chief Caring Times

CT ON THE ROAD

We

20 KNIGHT FRANK AWARDS

Knight

22 PEOPLE MOVES

FOCUS

News in brief

The National Care Forum has called on Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to make good on the government’s pledge to provide £13 billion for social care. The open letter to the chancellor from NCF chief executive, Vic Rayner, follows the emergency statement in which Hunt pledged to retain a commitment to scrap the national insurance hike for health and social care but failed to map out how the sector will be funded going forward.

A new partnership was launched to tackle infections in care homes and learn lessons from the pandemic. The initiative by Care England, University College London and The Outstanding Society builds on the national Vivaldi study where researchers and care providers worked together to produce evidence rapidly, which directly informed care home policy on Covid-19.

All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing.

A cashless solution for adults with learning disabilities designed to support independent living was selected as the winner at this year’s Care Innovation Challenge. Team CHIP will receive £1,000 in prize money, media coverage and further mentoring to develop its idea after beating four other finalists following a public vote at The Care Show.

experiencing financial hardship.

A record £2 billion was invested in the UK senior housing sector in 2022, Knight Frank revealed. Launching its Seniors Housing Annual Review, Knight Frank said it expected a further £1 billion investment in the sector, taking volumes to £3 billion this year, up by 50% on last year.

The general public were invited to take part in a series of round tables focused on how creative activities can prevent illhealth and promote health and wellbeing. The round tables, which will be held between now and spring next year, are central to the Creative Health Review, which was launched by the National Centre for Creative Health and the

Luxury care home operator, Oakland Care Group, was awarded Gold accreditation from the global standards for people management organisation, Investors in People. The Gold status is assessed against Investors in People’s ‘We invest in people’ framework, which seeks to understand how organisations lead, support and develop their employees.

Caring Times became a Founding Member of the £500 Challenge – a fundraising campaign launched by The Care Workers’ Charity encouraging businesses across the adult social care sector to commit to an annual donation of £500, the same as an average grant the charity awards to a care worker

Healthcare tech start-up Florence announced it was expanding into France. The news came after Florence announced a Series B funding round totalling $35 million (£28.5 million) to invest in product expansion in the UK and international markets. >

Martin Green

Lord Howarth

Care Innovation Challenge winners Team CHIP

Oakland’s Elmbrook Court care team

Benjamin Huguet, France country manager, Florence

England’s largest councils called for a 12-month delay to social care reforms warning they face a “perfect storm” of financial and workforce pressures. A report by the County Councils Network says the reforms, including a more generous means-test and an £86,000 cap on care costs, should be put back from October 2023 to October 2024 warning that services could deteriorate if the reforms are introduced too soon.

Staff and residents at a Bupa care home have celebrated being rated Outstanding in all areas for the second time in a row. Queensmount care home in Bournemouth is one of the few services to have achieved Outstanding in all five key lines of enquiry.

Health bosses voiced their concerns at a new spike in Covid-19 infections with cases in care homes on the rise. In its latest national flu and Covid-19 surveillance report, the UK Health Security Agency said Covid-19 activity had increased with a 61% rise in acute respiratory infection incidents (suspected outbreaks) in England.

Sarabdeep from Hallmark Care Homes’ Lakeview Care Home in Surrey

has been crowned champion of this year’s Care Sector’s Got Talent. Sarabdeep wowed the judges with his show stopping Bollywood dance routine at the very first live final at the Blue Orange Theatre in Birmingham.

Care home operator Barchester Healthcare paid £11.4 million in Covid-19 bonus payments to front line staff last year in recognition of their “exceptional hard work”. The figures were revealed in Barchester’s latest company accounts which also show the care home operator spent £4.2 million on sick pay and £2.7 million on PPE in the year, as well as receiving £23 million in grant income from the government, including £17 million from the Infection Control Fund.

Hartford Care is giving all its employees a winter fuel contribution of up to £600. The extra income for 850 staff is being provided in two instalments, one was in September and another will be paid in December as part of salary payments.

Scotland’s Covid-19 public inquiry has come under fire following the resignation of four lawyers and chairwoman, Lady Poole. The inquiry has been set up to examine the actions of the government including the decision to transfer untested hospital patients to care homes. Care campaigners said the voices of the bereaved families and people living in care must be heard during the Covid-19 inquiry in England. The comments came as the inquiry’s first hearing covering pandemic preparedness got under way.

Altrincham-based operator New Care opened a new £15 million, 63-bed care facility in Cheshire. Mayor of Cheshire East Council, Councillor David Marren, officially opened Wilmslow Manor Care Centre, located on Handforth Road, before being given an exclusive VIP tour of the home by manager, Paula Clark, and deputy manager, Sophie Kay.

HC-One cited “recruitment and retention” challenges in announcing the closure of four care homes: The Elms, Cambridgeshire; Manor House, Cambridgeshire; Bereweeke Court, Hampshire; and Amerind Grove, Bristol.

CQC

Outstanding celebrations at Queensmount care home

Wilmslow Manor Care Centre

Hartford Care is giving all its employees a winter fuel contribution

The

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whilst allowing

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A change must come

Newly appointed chair of the Care Provider Alliance Nadra Ahmed talks about the stark reality exposed by this year’s Skills for Care report on the state of the social care workforce and calls on the government to take urgent action before it is too late.

The social care workforce crisis comes as no surprise to any care provider,” Ahmed said. “It’s been a long time in the making but the Covid-19 pandemic, followed by the current cost of living crisis, has increased the pressure to breaking point.

“With this year’s Skills for Care report on the social care workforce showing vacancies are up by 52% and the Health Foundation’s analysis of in-work poverty amongst residential care staff, these data presentations lays bare the consequences of the pressure in our sector.

“Within CPA we have been asking ourselves will now be the time when politicians, funders and the public finally get the message that the social care plan for workforce requires significant change?”

The answer she shares is not clear. The sector data from Skills for Care reveals a record-breaking leap in unfilled care jobs – up by 55,000 from 2020/21 to 165,000. That’s one in every eleven jobs vacant in adult social care at any give time. And that’s not counting staff being unavailable due to sick leave.

“Think about the implications of that. 165,000 workers unavailable, on any given day, to help someone to get up, get cleaned, dressed and fed. Unable to support someone to learn, work or socialise and go about their everyday life.”

“Think about the implications of that. 165,000 workers unavailable, on any given day, to help someone to get up, get cleaned, dressed and fed,” Ahmed said. “Unable to support someone to learn, work or socialise and go about their

“Within CPA we have been asking ourselves will now be the time when politicians, funders and the public finally get the message that the social care plan for workforce requires significant change?”

everyday life.

“Even for those we employ, flexible working arrangements are insecure –with almost one in four staff employed on zero-hours contracts, that is nearly 350,000 posts.

“How can we ensure those colleagues do not leave the sector as they face a cost of living crisis the like of which we have not seen since the 1970s?

“On behalf of the services that struggle to recruit and retain staff, the CPA repeats our call for a government-led review focused on creating a new careerbased pay and reward structure for these essential workers. It’s not a simple issue, so the review must involve employers, commissioners, staff, people who use services and their families.

“The workforce demand problem is only going to get much worse, unless this emergency action is taken now.”

With the need for social care increasing as we live longer, Skills for Care estimates that we will need 480,000 people to join the workforce by 2035 in order to keep up with increasing population requirements.

According to The Health Foundation, one-in-five residential care workers were already living in poverty even before the cost of living crisis hit. And 13% of residential care workers’ children have been living in material deprivation where families are unable to provide children with essentials like fresh fruit and vegetables or a warm winter coat. This compares to 5% of children in all working families.

As the CPA represents employers of more than 70% of the adult social care workforce in England it has renewed its focus on improving pay and reward for care staff and believe that, by working in partnership with employees, employers, commissioners and policymakers, it can build the right solution to enhance the state of the care workforce.

Ahmed added: “All colleagues around the CPA table will advocate for our sector’s staff providing essential services to millions of our citizens every day. Yet we cannot stand by and continue to see them treated as unskilled workers when it comes to reward and recognition. We simply do not have the quantity of care workers to make services sustainable in the future. That is a crisis which will affect every community across the country –and of course it will have a major impact on the NHS as those unable to access social care repeatedly look to GPs and hospitals for support.

“Ultimately, if we cannot come together, seizing this opportunity and managing the swift implementation of this plan, we will have to accept there is no time left to ensure our workforce can thrive.”

“The CPA position is that social care pay and reward structure should be comparable with the NHS, fully-funded by central government, and supportive to the employers and commissioners of services.

“Ultimately, if we cannot come together, seizing this opportunity and managing the swift implementation of this plan, we will have to accept there is no time left to ensure our workforce can thrive.”

CPA members’ views

Commenting on the current situation in home care, Dr Jane Townson, chief executive of the Homecare Association, said: “In home care, the situation is particularly stark with 13% vacancy rates. If we don’t act quickly, ongoing workforce shortages will mean many providers simply cannot take on new clients. Already some providers are unable to staff existing contracts and are left with no choice but to hand work back.

“Zero-hour commissioning leads to zero-hour contracts for home care workers. In turn, this leads to income insecurity. Many home care workers are not paid if, for example, the person they are supporting is

admitted to hospital, or if they have to isolate after a positive Covid-19 test result. We have to stop low fee rates from councils and the NHS, and poor commissioning practices impacting directly on home care workers’ pay and terms and conditions of employment.”

Vic Rayner, chief executive of the National Care Forum, reflected: “It cannot continue to be the case that brilliant staff, carrying out vital, life-changing work cannot afford to work in care. Care is the backbone of communities up and down the country and they are the lifeblood of its delivery.

“The government should now prioritise improving pay by bringing forward a fully-funded, strategic

workforce plan for adult social care in England. This will not only benefit the people that deliver vital care but will also improve the lives of people that draw from it.”

Clive Parry, director of ARC England, focused on the positive and fulfilling aspects of working in care, adding: “As a society, of course, we must help people to connect with how rewarding it can be to work in social care services, but maybe it is hard for people to connect with the motivational factors of achievement, recognition, responsibility and personal growth when the income they receive does not allow them to move fully past the basic human survival concerns of food, shelter and overall health.”

Nadra Ahmed

Passing on the baton

The growth of The Care Workers Charity from a small organisation giving crisis cash handouts to social care’s leading charity is one of the great success stories to emerge from recent years of unprecedented turbulence in the industry.

Ben Allen, the man who spearheaded that transformation and in the process raised almost £7 million and supported more than 7,000 care workers, is now stepping down after six years at the helm.

In an exclusive interview with Caring Times, Allen, the chair of trustees, and his chief executive Karolina Gerlich, share how they rescued CWC from near closure and created a major charity operating across many platforms.

The charity is now almost unrecognisable from the one Allen took over six years ago. While able to support those in greatest need with crisis grants, the CWC had neither the funds nor the processes in place to provide grants to all who needed help, many of whom were battling a complex array of challenges.

CWC now provides not just immediate funds but welfare support, training and advice both to care workers and those in the industry responsible for ensuring that care workers are in the best position to carry out their role.

“I took over a charity with no staff at all and an existing group of trustees,” Allen commented.

“CWC now has a 10-strong team led by Karolina who has a vision to take it forward. Although we have provided direct support to thousands of people, we will have provided indirect support to tens of thousands.

“CWC has an amazing reputation now and is known for doing great things. It is the sector’s charity. It was always the sector’s charity, but maybe before they didn’t know it existed or there was a little bit of nervousness in association with it. Now it has been proven to deliver what it says on the tin and do that extremely well.”

The figures speak for themselves. CWC raised £3.5 million in 2020 and a further £1.4 million in 2021.

When Allen took over as chair of trustees in 2016 the charity had been

ticking along, raising less than £30,000 a year.

“I think the trustees set it up in a well-intentioned way but there weren’t any employees and there wasn’t really a strategy for taking the charity from raising £20 to 30k to anything more than that,” Allen explained. “There was quite a lot of demand from care workers applying but there were just not the funds to provide them with grants.”

With CWC having got to the point where its very existence had become a matter for discussion, Allen volunteered to try to revive its fortunes.

A board restructuring quickly followed with Vic Rayner, chair of the National Care Forum, and Martin Jones, chief executive of Home Instead, among the big hitters brought in to help raise the charity’s profile.

Allen then brought in Alex

The figures speak for themselves. CWC raised £3.5 million in 2020 and a further £1.4 million in 2021.

Ramamurthy as chief executive, and Rebecca Woolley and Anna Caseby to complete the new core leadership team.

“Alex and I were out doing the sales side going from event to event for proper ‘hard selling fundraising’ and Anna and Rebecca were trying to think of ways to deploy that money to care workers in crisis,” Allen told us.

Caseby soon came up with the charity’s successful grant giving formula with Woolley taking the lead on marketing and support. The new leadership team quickly made an impact taking turnover to over half a million pounds in just over their first year.

In 2018 Allen brought in a new management team, led by chief executive, Richard Muncaster, to professionalise the charity when Ramamurthy, Caseby and Woolley moved on to other roles. A key breakthrough was the launch by Muncaster, with the help of Caseby, of a landmark investigation into the care industry.

The report entitled ‘The beating heart of care: supporting care workers better’ concluded there was a

Ben Allen

desperate need in the industry for more preventative services, identifying the types of interventions the sector needed in order to empower care workers so they could overcome challenges they face. It highlighted that mental wellbeing, financial wellbeing, outside-of-work caring responsibilities, and not being effectively supported by managers were the main concerns of care workers.

Allen is justifiably proud of the report and the way it shaped the charity’s approach to the support it provides. “That was a really good piece of work and something that we should be repeating especially post Covid because the situation has changed somewhat,” he observed.

“Richard laid the foundations for Karolina who then came in and did a really super job of bringing new team members in and further professionalising the charity,” Allen added.

Gerlich has built up CWC into a highly effective 10-strong team working across policy, events and marketing.

“I started just as the first lockdown began in March 2020,” Gerlich recalled.

“Previously, I had been a care worker for many years, mainly in home care, and I was a voluntary chief executive of the National Association of Care and Support Workers.”

Funds were boosted by around £400,000 in donations from the public as media appearances by Gerlich

significantly raised CWC’s profile during Covid-19.

“We have not really seen that since and at the time the majority of donations were around £5,” Gerlich said. “That was from people who said: ‘I have experienced or am experiencing financial hardship myself and know what it’s like’. That demographic at the moment just does not have the money to spare. We are very aware that the people who are most likely to give to us from the general public are not able to do so.”

Significant donations also came from the sector including £30,000 from Hallmark Care Homes’ chair and founder Avnish Goyal and £100,000 from HC-One.

The structures Allen and his newly appointed team put in place ahead of the Covid-19 pandemic and the £5 million raised over two years – a hundredfold increase on the figures inherited – enabled the charity to provide a whole raft of support to thousands of care workers who had been plunged into a national crisis.

Allen recalled: “We were going into Covid, so we had to get the staffing and organisation right and figure out how we were going to fundraise and support care workers when we knew we were facing a major crisis.”

With care organisations facing considerable financial stress due to the pandemic, Gerlich successfully pivoted the charity towards major

funders by targeting national trusts and foundations.

“We have supported over 5,000 care workers with the Covid grant so far with direct financial support,” Gerlich noted. “Our original goal was £100,000 and we reached that within a week. So Ben said what’s the next goal? So we went for £1 million which I think we reached within two months. Then it was just up and up.”

With the pandemic having eased, Gerlich led the expansion of the CWC into mental health support for care workers through signposting and the provision of grants for mental health training and counselling.

“Over half of people who leave the care sector do so because of mental health exhaustion and less than 20% of care homes are actually doing something about this,” Allen noted.

Gerlich added: “We wanted to make sure that if care workers wanted mental health support they could access it.”

Over 80 people have so far participated in the programme with training provided for over 50 mental health first aiders.

“It’s a slow burner but whoever accesses it they are really happy with the outcomes and they say it really helps them,” Gerlich added.

Major fundraising events such as the Care Sector Fundraising Ball, which is led by Goyal, have further boosted the charity’s profile and coffers bringing in a record £400,000 at this year’s event. >

Further funds are raised through popular annual events such as the Three Peaks Challenge and Royal Parks Marathon.

Gerlich said many more events were planned for next year in order to give people the opportunity to engage in the different ways they enjoy to provide support.

Looking ahead, Allen said the very need for the CWC highlighted the fundamental issues of pay, recognition and support that are sadly lacking in the social care workforce.

“That’s one of the things we need to grapple with as a sector,” Allen noted.

“I really want people in the charity and the sector to come together to make sure care workers get the pay, recognition and support they deserve. The complexity of the role is similar to a healthcare worker in the NHS yet the salary is about £6k less. That needs to be sorted and the sector needs to wake up a little bit and step forward to making that difference, otherwise they are more than sleepwalking into a major problem.

“I am a hugely optimistic as a person. Maybe it was unrealistic to expect that the charity could do as well as it has over the last six years. Perhaps it’s unrealistic to believe that the charity will to be able to continue to achieve what it needs to do over the next

six years. I think it can. Let’s call it optimistic realism.”

As he prepares to step down for incoming chair, Home Instead chief executive, Martin Jones, Allen leaves a powerful legacy at CWC with thousands of care workers having benefited from his determination to succeed.

Gerlich said: “Ben has led the charity through a period of extraordinary transformation. His entrepreneurial spirit pushed the charity to grow rapidly and respond to the needs of the sector. I am very grateful for him giving me, a former care worker, an

opportunity to lead a charity for care workers and bring in the changes needed. I appreciate his trust in my approach and passion for the sector. He will be missed but I am sure his support for the charity will continue.

“I am delighted that Martin is taking on the role. As we move towards an uncertain winter, with the cost of living crisis, uncertainty regarding the trajectory of the pandemic and the economic picture, Martin will provide calm and insightful counsel and support to myself and the team at CWC.”

Karolna Gerlich

Anita Goyal celebrates this year’s record breaking Care Sector Fundraising Ball total

Cornerstone Healthcare resumes development of Somerset care home

Thedevelopment came to a halt in February this year when building contractors, Midas Construction, went into administration.

Cale View will provide care for adults of all ages with challenging behaviours associated with complex neurological conditions and a mental health diagnosis and will add to Cornerstone’s existing services in Hampshire and Surrey.

Cornerstone’s Group chief executive Johann van Zyl said: “Recent studies by Dementia UK identified that 71,000 people in England had a diagnosis of early onset dementia. It is of the utmost importance that Cale View opens as soon as possible to provide this muchneeded service in the Southwest region. This area is hugely underserved of the specialist, complex care we provide. We

already had contact with representatives from the NHS care commissioning group and we looking forward to working with them.”

Gloucester-based Markey Group successfully tendered for the completion of the project which it restarted at the beginning of August.

Ian Holmes, from Northstar Projects and Cornerstone’s project manager commented: “The pause of the development was obviously extremely frustrating for us and our client.

However, it is great to have the Markey Group onboard. This family-owned and run company has a proud 50-year record developing care homes and student accommodation.”

Markey Group’s Paul Markey said: “We are pleased to be working with the team at Cornerstone, as we share their passion for providing high-quality care to those who need it most, in the latest state-ofthe-art facilities”.

The project is due for completion next autumn.

HC-One completes £400,000 refurbishment of Luton care home

Capwell

Grange is one of 221 HC-One care homes to benefit from the operator’s £54.5 million refurbishment and upgrade programme.

Kathryn Sygrove, HC-One’s area director, said: “We are committed to fostering an environment that really feels like home, and décor and facilities are an important part of this. We’re really excited that the plans for Capwell Grange Care Home have now been safely completed. We look forward to families and friends visiting the home and seeing the end result.”

Lounges and dining rooms across all five of the home’s units have been refreshed, with corridors fitted with

handrails.

Bathing and lavatory facilities have been upgraded in bedrooms and other identified areas across multiple units.

Hatley House received a complete upgrade to facilitate the new type of residential and residential dementia care Capwell Grange is now able to provide. Also, with the reopening of this unit, Capwell Grange is also part of the John’s Campaign, which allows for relatives and friends to support those living with dementia in care homes and stay with them overnight. This allows residents to ease into the care home in a more natural way with familiar faces around them.

Cornerstone Healthcare Group has announced the resumption of a £10 million, 74-bed, specialist care service in Wincanton, Somerset.

HC-One has completed the £400,000 refurbishment of Capwell Grange care home in Luton.

Cale

A refurbished lounge at HC-One’s Capwell Grange in Luton

Skills for Care reveals depth of social care workforce crisis

The latest Skills for Care data exposes the extent of the social care workforce crisis with vacancies up by 52% to 165,000, the highest rate on record.

Thestate of the adult social care sector and workforce in England report reveals the number of filled posts fell by 50,000, the first drop ever recorded.

Average vacancy rates stand at almost 11%, which is twice the national average.

Smyth said: “Social care is a fundamental part of all our communities; it supports people to live their lives every day and most people who work in social care find it incredibly rewarding. Social care has a bigger workforce than the NHS, construction, transport, or food and

28% of the workforce aged 55 or over may retire in the next 10 years.

“The ‘People at the heart of care’ White Paper had commitments to investing in knowledge, skills, health and wellbeing, and recruitment policies to improve social care as a long-term career choice. The implementation of the commitments in that White Paper have never been more important so that we can start to build the foundations to ensure that we have the workforce that we need now and in the future.

“In short, our society needs a step change in how it values social care and the great people who provide it.”

Care workers with five years’ experience are paid just 7p more than a care worker with less than one year’s experience.

In addition, the average care worker is paid £1 an hour less than healthcare assistants in the NHS who are new to their roles.

Four out of every five jobs in the wider economy pay more than the median pay for care workers.

Staff turnover rates remain high at 29%, with around 400,000 people leaving their jobs. Turnover is highest among younger staff with 53% aged under 20 leaving within 12 months. However, twothirds (63%) of all those leaving stay in the sector to take on other roles.

Highlighting the long-term challenge facing the sector, the report shows around 480,000 more posts need to be filled by 2035.

The report highlights the need to implement the ‘People at the heart of care’ White Paper that was published last year and release the £500 million committed for skills and learning.

The report also states that a workforce plan for social care is required which identifies the numbers, skills mix and innovations in delivery needed to meet growing demand and prioritises staff recognition, value and reward.

Skills for Care’s chief executive Oonagh

drink service industries, and there are so many opportunities if people want to specialise or progress into management roles.

“We must talk more about how rewarding social care is to work in, so that we attract more people, and we must make it easier for the people who love working in social care to stay by improving terms and conditions and investing in their career development.

“This report highlights the immediate and longer-term capacity issues in social care. Data shows that while we are going to need 480,000 extra people working in social care by 2035, we already have 165,000 vacancies every day, and that

A government spokesperson said: “We’re investing in adult social care and have made £500 million available to support discharge from hospital into the community and bolster the workforce this winter, on top of record funding to support our 10-year plan set out in the ‘People at the heart of care’ White Paper.

“Tens of thousands of extra staff have also joined up since we added care workers to the Health and Care Worker Visa and the Shortage Occupation List.

“The government is backing recruitment at home and abroad – with a £15 million international recruitment fund and a new domestic campaign launching shortly.”

Health and social care system

to staffing crisis,

The health and social care system is being “gridlocked” by the current workforce crisis, a major new report has revealed.

Launching

its annual State of Care report, the CQC said the health and care system was unable to operate effectively with half a million people awaiting care assessments and hospitals unable to discharge patients to care homes which have closed their doors due to staffing shortages.

The CQC said there were a combined 300,000 vacancies in health and social care with more than half of these (165,000) coming in the latter.

Kate Terroni, the CQC’s chief inspector of adult social care, integrated care and interim chief operating officer, said: “The money announced by government to help speed up the discharge of people from hospital when they are medically fit to leave, as well as to retain and recruit more care workers is welcome – but there needs to be more focus on long-term planning and investment rather than shortterm sticking plasters. With 165,000

vacancies in adult social care, there needs to be a real step change in thinking about how to attract and retain staff, with better pay, rewards and training linked to career progression. If this doesn’t happen, people will be at increased risk of harm.”

The CQC said that overall when people have been able to access the care they need, it has been able to reassure people that the quality of care at the point of delivery is mostly good.

As of 31 July 2022, 83% of adult social care services were rated as Good or Outstanding.

The report reveals that increasing staff and operating costs, and the lack of full recovery in care home occupancy, are having a significant reduction on profitability in non-specialist care homes. Profit margins (as calculated using ‘EBITDARM’, which is a highlevel measure of profit that excludes key expenses such as rent, depreciation and interest charges) have fluctuated over the course of the pandemic, but as at March this year were at their lowest levels since the pandemic began, and even since the Market Oversight scheme began in 2015, the report reveals.

Only two in five people are able to leave hospital when they are free to do so adding to pressure on overstretched NHS services, the regulator said.

Ian Trenholm, chief executive of CQC, said: “The health and care system is gridlocked and unable to operate effectively. This means that people are stuck – stuck in hospital because there isn’t the social care support in place for them to leave, stuck in emergency departments waiting for a hospital bed to get the treatment they need, and stuck waiting for ambulances that don’t arrive because those same ambulances are stuck outside hospitals waiting to transfer patients.”

Macc Care’s new home set to blossom in Solihull

Last month, Midlands-based luxury care home provider Macc Care opened its 14th registered service, Blossomfield Rose, at the multimillion pound Blossomfield Park – a new multi-generational development in Solihull. Caring Times was there to find out more.

Setin five acres, Blossomfield Park comprises Lovekin Gate, offering 12 luxury apartments specifically designed for people living with physical disability, Alfred Place, a bespoke development of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments aimed at young professionals, families and those downsizing, Tudor Grange House, offering high-specification residential apartments in a unique Grade II listed building, and the newly registered, 80bed Bloomfield Rose Care home.

Operated by its three divisions – Macc Care, Macc Living and Macc Retirement – the ambitious project included Macc Group’s first ever historic build with the conversion of Tudor Grange, the former family home of Sir Alfred Bird of Bird’s Custard fame. Two years in the making, the project was not without its challenges.

Sharen Guise, director of operations at Macc Care, commented: “It’s been a difficult time to build with the Covid-19 pandemic, but despite this the project has been completed on target and has been welcomed by the community as a triumphant coming together of old and new, within an established community.”

The build was carried out by Macc Care’s long-term partner, DC Construction.

“We have a very strong working partnership and relationship and have been working together for more than 10 years,” Guise told us.

Blossomfield Rose provides residential, dementia and nursing care with all services available over four floors.

“This is our flagship home and our first multi-generational living project with a community village feel,” Guise said.

“We have an inspirational and brilliant registered manager in Sonia Tenniswood and a full staff team already employed, trained and ready to welcome new

residents to live with us at Blossomfield Rose. We have had lots of enquiries already and great feedback regarding the environment of the home.

“You will see families with younger children and potentially even their grandparents all living here.”

Blossomfield Park offers a multigenerational lifestyle in a beautifully landscaped residential setting. It is in the centre of Solihull, a town much loved by its residents and on a site probably remembered, in its various guises including a family home and a college, by everyone who visits.

“It wouldn’t work in all geographical locations, but here in Solihull the development has been welcomed –especially after the Covid pandemic when people have a different vision of how they want to plan their lives,” Guise said.

Blossomfield Park has a vibrant multi-generational atmosphere with residents living alongside students at the Solihull College Campus and High School. Residents at Blossomfield Rose benefit from its unique location as they are able to look out their windows at a variety of animals, including goats, birds, sheep, donkeys and llamas, on the neighbouring land that is home to the Blue Cross and where students from the college gain hands on experience in animal husbandry.

“We plan to work in partnership with Blue Cross and the college, having adopted them as our local charity,” Guise told us.

“We are extremely experienced and skilled at building the right property in the right place. Our homes sit nicely in the community. It’s a skill finding the right thing for the right geographic area.”

Blossomfield Rose is located near Macc Care’s Blyth Rose care home in Blythe Valley, which offers care for those

“This is our flagship home and our first multi-generational living project with a community village feel”

living with dementia in unique ‘lodge communities’.

“Our homes are all very closely located to each other,” Guise noted. “As a senior management team, we are all very involved in the homes. We are still at the size and geographic location that we can visit each of our sites often and I think that matters to ensure the quality of care delivery.”

While noting the challenging recruitment climate, Guise noted how Blossomfield Rose had benefited from its close proximity to Birmingham city centre, Solihull’s good public transport links and its local NHS teaching hospitals, and commended Macc Care’s proactive recruitment of overseas staff.

“As we grow we need to recruit nurses in a very competitive and challenging sector, but we believe we offer the best prospects to our new staff and that is evidenced by us being able to recruit

fully to Blossomfield Rose ahead of registration – we believe we consistently offer only the highest standards of care,” Guise said.

“If you are recruiting well, offering something different alongside a safe and beautiful place to work, staff will want to work with you, and people will want to come.”

Guise highlighted Macc Care’s focus on values rather than qualifications when recruiting.

“Our staff must demonstrate that they care,” she said. “Qualifications are not a priority; our values-based recruitment ensures that the right people are recruited. We have our own training department that ensures training is more person-centred and staff focus on key areas.

“If you are recruiting well, offering something different alongside a safe and beautiful place to work, staff will want to work with you, and people will want to come.”

“Qualifications are not the most important thing when recruiting; people don’t need to have an NVQ, for example, they need to care and want to care for people, and we can teach them the practical skills.

“We have really strong values, a long induction process and very stringently monitored career development pathways, with great succession planning. We have deputies who are coming through as managers and nurses who are becoming deputies.

“I believe you have to look after your staff. We are a family at Macc Care and offer clear and strong leadership, with some great team members.”

Bloomfield Park boasts a wide range of amenities, including the Coach House Café, Stable Salon, an art room, cinema, gym and wellness suite, a glass house bar and drawing room, a library and a retreat with a number of facilities shared with the other sites on the development.

Bloomfield Rose residents are welcomed with a lifestyle collection box containing a wide range of events and experiences ranging from a birthday bouquet to theatre tickets and pamper experiences.

“It’s all about future planning so you are coming in already thinking ‘what are

the

we going to do in the next year?’ Guise told us. “It’s not an end. It’s a beginning. It’s about future planning.”

Each day residents will be provided with a schedule of activities they can choose to take part in at destination points with members of the other communities, which could include a history talk in the library, yoga in the gym, or floristry rose pruning and planting in The Folley.

Activities and events are included in a weekly fee paid by residents that ranges from £1,350 to 1,600.

“We are not, by far, the most expensive luxury provider but we certainly offer great value for money,” Guise told us.

Integrated technology is also provided throughout the home to help deliver high-quality care, including acoustic monitoring, digital care planning and nurse call systems. Bedrooms also include safety monitoring technology to support fall prevention.

Looking ahead, Guise said Macc Care planned further growth with two to three new builds a year over the next five years. With its expertise in mixed use development, the Macc Group looks well positioned to capitalise as multigenerational care increasingly becomes the norm in the years to come.

Knight Frank hosts Care Home Awards

Global property consultancy Knight Frank hosted its annual Care Home Awards on 6 October, recognising excellence in the sector while raising £65,000 for charity.

Theawards were presented at Knight Frank’s Healthcare Property Lunch at The London Marriott Grosvenor Square. They were judged by an independent panel comprising Mike Parsons, Andy Porter, Bhavna Keane-Rao, Paul Hammerton and Melissa Magee.

All submissions for the awards will form part of the Luxury Care Home Guide 2023 which lists the top 100 care homes in the UK.

The event raised money for the Matt Hampson Foundation, a charity which provides support and treatment to those suffering from serious injuries or disabilities from sporting activity and The Clocktower Foundation which supports a variety of causes.

This year’s winners of the Care Home Awards were:

• 2023 Luxury Care Home Award went to Signature at Barnet, Signature Senior Lifestyle

• 2023 Care Home Design Award went to Eden Grange Care Home, Cinnamon Care Collection

• 2023 Renovation Award went to Signature at Hendon Hall, Signature Senior Lifestyle

• Lifetime Achievement Award went to Peter Van Herrewege of PrimeLife for the work he has done in the sector.

Other finalists included Beulah Vista Care Home, Loveday at Kensington, Deer Park, Wharfeside, Brownscombe Care Residences, and Rawcliffe Manor.

Julian Evans, head of healthcare at Knight Frank, said: “These awards provide annual and much-deserved recognition of excellence in the healthcare property sector. This is a leading sector event and we were pleased to host such a notable group of sector experts who provided their insights on the future of healthcare property. We are immensely proud that we were able to raise such a significant sum of money for the Matt Hampson Foundation and The Clocktower Foundation and contribute in some way to such worthy causes.”

Renovation Award winners Ama Ramsden, Paul Hammerton and Walter Thompson, Signature Senior Lifestyle

Luxury Care Home Award winners - Mike Parsons, Dormy Care and Albion Care Communities and Aidan Roche, Signature Senior Lifestyle

Care Home Design Award winners - Kenneth MacKenzie, Target Fund Managers (centre) and Kenneth MacKenzie and Declan Walsh, Cinnamon Care Collection (left and right)

talk to directors, owners, senior

managers, and report

the care sector.

are very excited to receive our draft*

audit

up to 12,000

the

that

Renaissance Care appoints Bain as finance director

Scottish care home provider Renaissance Care has appointed Liam Bain as its finance director.

Bain has experience in the care sector and previously worked at Pebbles Care, which provides care for young people in Scotland, and Fosters Funeral Directors.

Renaissance Care is pursuing a growth strategy which would take its portfolio of care homes from 16 to 30 in the next three years and double its workforce from 1,000 to 2,000 people. In addition to the purchase of new sites, there will be expansion across some of its existing homes.

The group recently revealed plans to spend £8 million on six major projects, adding a further 56 new bedrooms at six of its existing care homes.

Bain said: “I am excited to get started with Renaissance Care where I hope to bring experience in both the care sector and in privately funded businesses, therefore understanding the intricacies and complexities that both of those areas bring with them.

“Throughout the group, there is a culture of ambition to grow the business and become a market leader in the care sector – this is echoed through every area of the business including throughout the board of directors right through to grassroots staff in the care homes.

“Over the last couple of years, the care sector has experienced a turbulent period of trading but at Renaissance, we are now looking to reignite our plans for growth within the group all while retaining our promise to be the leaders of person-toperson care within Scotland.”

Robert Kilgour, executive chairman of Renaissance Care, commented: “We are

making substantial investments across our current portfolio as we additionally look to double the size of the group across the country. As we grow, we are fully committed to developing and working alongside our people, ensuring that we can attract and retain the very best of talent to instil a person-centred approach across each of our homes.

“To successfully achieve these goals, it is incredibly important that we have a financial director who mirrors our ambition and drive, as well as our personcentred approach, as we become one of Scotland’s major care home operators. Liam’s track growth record sets him in great stead to support growth plans while bringing benefits to those already living and working within our homes.”

Former ADASS president James Bullion joins Skills for Care’s board

Former Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) president James Bullion has joined the board of Skills for Care.

Bullion has been executive director of adult social services in Norfolk since January 2017 where he has developed and transformed services in a department responsible for spending almost £1 million a day to improve the lives of vulnerable adults in the county.

Prior to that he had been director of adult operations at Essex County Council where he oversaw some major developments in the world of adult social care, including the implementation of the Care Act and a new case management system.

Bullion served as ADASS president in 2020 and is also the ADASS national director lead for social care and justice, and the regional ADASS lead for workforce and leadership development.

Skills for Care chair John Coughlan said: “We are delighted that James has agreed to become one of our trustees as he is an influential voice in our sector based on decades of front line experience as a leader and practitioner.

“James has a track record of innovative thinking about how we tackle the significant challenges facing adult social care and he was a hugely respected ADASS president.

“He has always spoken up for the social care workforce in what is a pivotal time for our sector.”

Bullion, who joined the Skills for Care board at its October meeting, said: “I am really pleased to be joining the Skills for Care board as a trustee, as part of such a talented and respected group of colleagues. Skills for Care is the key organisation speaking up for the workforce in social care, hugely respected for its analysis and support. As social care is reformed over the next 10 years, workforce is the critical factor that will determine its success and better outcomes for people served by social care.”

Liam Bain

James Bullion

“We are delighted to be involved in the National Care Awards for the 24th year in a row. It’s inspiring to see the work of so many brilliant, resilient care businesses across the country and this event will, as always, be a great opportunity to highlight the very best people in the sector, celebrating excellence and rewarding those who work tirelessly to provide consistently outstanding care. We look forward to seeing you then.”

Lunn, Christie & Co

sponsor

Dave Ashbolt

Sue Astill, Falkland

Deborah Christian

Peter Doyle

Jo Lindley

Lisa Morehead

Iwona Arbudzinska,

Maynell

Beckett,

Fe Harris,

Stow

Julia Coulthard

Shawn Moore

Adrian Richens

James Samson

Michelle Saunders

Sujjita Singh

Becky Pei Shan Ng, Camilla House

Charlotte Cote

Cherelle Henery, Cranmer

Daniela Mustatia, Sefton Hall

Gareth Ted Davis-Akemi, Willows Care

Canford

Sheena Henderson, Stanley Park

• Lorraine Bell, Linden House

Colten

• Pauline Gardner, Branston Court Care Home

HC-One

• Sharon Rollins, Castlecroft Residential Home

• Beverley Manzar – Ebury Court Care

• Sherry Mills, ECL Marylands Day Centre

ECL

Kirsty Thomas, Bucklesham Grange Care Home

Hallmark Care Homes

Low Furlong

Runwood

Signature at Coombe Hill Manor

St Catherine’s View

Uvedale Hall

Warren Lodge Care Centre

Amber Conroy, The Mullion

Forest

Cyndi Edwards, Blenheim Court

Megan Harding, Carr Gate Care

Laura Holliday

Home

Mya Lewis, Springfield House

Kathryn Sanders, Regency House Care Home

Hallmark Care

Lauren Pope, Rush Hill Mews

Care

Paul Black at Drummond Grange

Corrinne Collis, Bradbury House

Shannon Fletcher, Highcroft Hall

Lisa Makin, Cherry Tree House

Caring

Veronica Stevenson, Tenchley Manor

Julie Whitworth, Station House at Swanton

FINALISTS

Angelcare

Brook House

Caring Homes

Copelands, Belfast Central Mission – Northstar

Hutton View Care Home – Hallmark Care Homes

Priorslee House Care Home

Signature at Hendon Hall –

Senior Living

HC-One

The Belmont – Sanders Senior Living

• Tracey Alexander, Hurst House

Choice Care

• Jessica Brown, Hadrian Park – Care UK

• Norah Davey, Cranmer Court

Caring Homes

• Elisha Greaves – Half Acre House Residential Home

• Hazel McGwyne, Woodland Grove – Oakland Care

Marie Shillaw, Jack Dormand Care Home –HC-One

• Maryam Timamy, Burrows House, Gold Care Homes

• Lucie Baker, Hampden Hall Care Centre

Westgate Healthcare

• Emily Carver-Prue, Maycroft Manor Care Home –Hallmark Care Homes

• Dawn Harrison, Belmont Lodge Care Centre, Forest Healthcare

• Patrick Maher, Signature at Chorleywood

Senior Lifestyle

• Sarah Patrick, Salthouse Haven Care Home, We Care Group

• Daniel Peacock, Hastings Court

Oakland

• Victoria Pembroke, Pinehurst Care Centre

Forrest Healthcare

• Alex Samson, Thirlestaine Park

•

Abbotts

Admiral Court

Hengoed

Wiltshire

Porthaven

Care Home Group Over 10 settings

• Barchester Healthcare

Care UK

• Caring Homes

• Colten Care

Hallmark Care Homes

Healthcare Homes

Gold Care Homes

Porthaven Care Home Group

Sanctuary Care

Signature Senior Lifestyle

Julie Cooper, Watlington & District Nursing Home

Sanctuary Care

Francesca Cowley, Highmarket House – Care UK

Kay Cox – Signature Senior Lifestyle

Sanjay Dhrona, The Close Care Home

Kevin Hewlett, Hale Place Care Homes

Donna Lyons – We Care Group

Janet Janes, Amberley Lodge – Care UK

Lisa Pickett, Signature at Camberley –

Lifestyle

Tracey Morris, The Hillings – Healthcare Homes

Kathy Swannell – The Oakleaf Group

Victoria Sylvester – Acacia Training

Nadra Ahmed

National Care Association

Zoe Fry, The Outstanding Society

Karolina Gerlich, The Care Workers

Avnish Goyal

Hallmark Care Homes

Martin Green – Care England

Bhavna Keane-Rao, BKR Care Consultancy

Andrew Knight – Care UK

Vic Rayner – National Care Forum

Park Plaza Westminster Bridge

are delighted to be involved in the National Care Awards for the 24th year in a row. It’s inspiring to see the work of so many brilliant, resilient care businesses across the country and this event will, as always, be a great opportunity to highlight the very best people in the sector, celebrating excellence and rewarding those who work tirelessly to provide consistently outstanding care. We look forward to seeing you then.”

Lunn, Christie & Co

promotion

CoolCare partners with FlexEarn to help with care home staffing crisis

Leading care home management software provider, CoolCare, has partnered with FlexEarn’s on-demand pay service to help care homes attract and retain workers.

CoolCare has integrated its time and attendance system with FlexEarn to offer on-demand pay, allowing workers to withdraw a portion of their salary which has been earned but not yet paid.

There is no extra charge for employers to use FlexEarn’s service, and employees pay a low flat-fee per withdrawal of £1.50, which some employers may choose to fund themselves. Setup is easy and can be done in as little as half an hour.

The extra transparency and flexibility provided will allow care home workers to budget and manage expenses more easily at a time when the cost of living crisis is affecting households across the UK.

Jonathan David, the founder and chief executive of FlexEarn, said: “In CoolCare, we have found a partner with a deep understanding of care home businesses. FlexEarn’s speciality in the sector allows us to create a uniquely seamless integration between the two products. At a time when the care sector is facing increased pressure as we head into winter, we hope this offering can provide some assistance to businesses and their employees. The care sector has embraced on-demand pay like no other, and we look forward to harnessing our partnership with CoolCare to continue to shore up the financial resilience of care workers.

Fiona Hale, managing director of CoolCare, said: “CoolCare’s offering is all about making things easier for care homes – and that extends to their employees too. Our integration with FlexEarn comes at a critical time for the care sector. Care staff are dedicated to what they do but,

as the cost of living crisis bites, the mid-month squeeze is playing an even greater role in their career decisions. On-demand pay offers a novel way to run payroll to help overcome this, alleviating some of the financial stresses playing on staff members’ minds. This, in turn, drives recruitment and retention improvements for our care home customers by showing their greater understanding of staff needs and creating a more positive employee experience.”

Care home companies can sign up to the combined offering through the FlexEarn or CoolCare websites, or by speaking to their customer success manager.

CHEF OF THE

35 IN PICTURES

37 CARE FOR TOMORROW

Tony Prescott of The University of Sheffield on robots in care

contents

CARERS’ WORLDWIDE

Founder and executive director Anil Patil shares how Carers Worldwide has been changing the lives of carers in South Asia

34 CHEF OF THE MONTH

We spotlight Barry Moorcroft, head chef of Handsale’s Priesty Fields care home in Congleton, Cheshire

IN PICTURES

Four Seasons Health Care Group residents channel their ‘inner Banksy’ during a Love Learning event

CREATIVE CARING

demonstrate their creativity

and

events for

CARE FOR TOMORROW

Townsend Communications talks to Tony Prescott, professor of cognitive robotics at The University of Sheffield and director of Sheffield Robotics, and Andrew Coles, CEO of Person Centred Software

WELLNESS BLOG

Wellness company EmpowerPlan’s managing director Nadine McCabe explains why it is important to educate carers on the menopause

NORRMS’ BLOG

Our columnist Norrms McNamara explains what it’s really like to have dementia

10 QUESTIONS WITH …

We find out more about care home manager Janet Lewis, of New Care’s Formby

Centre

Changing the lives of carers

Foundingand growing Carers Worldwide has been a labour of love for Patil, who came up with the idea of starting the organisation in 2012 after witnessing how neglected family carers were in rural India.

“Family members were asking me ‘what happens if I die tomorrow?’ ‘Who is going to look after my loved one?’ It hit me so hard,” Patil explained.

“I didn’t really appreciate how much stress they were under. Nine out of ten carers suffer from anxiety and depression, with the same proportion having health issues and financial problems.

Patil assumed other organisations were looking after the specific needs of carers, but after travelling extensively across India and South Africa, talking to a range of service providers and charities, he found this was not the case.

“I approached various organisations working with family carers in the UK after completing my research and asked them: ‘Is this something you want to do?’ They all said there is so much to be done in this country we do not have the resources to expand internationally. I thought, I need to do something about it.”

Having started with just 250 carers 10 years ago, Carers Worldwide has grown exponentially to now being able to transform the lives of more than 120,000 unpaid carers and family members in Bangladesh, India and Nepal.

“We act as a catalyst by promoting recognition of unpaid family carers and drawing attention to their needs,” Patil told us.

Notable impacts

“We do this at all levels with families, communities, local, national and international NGOs, service providers, academics, the corporate sector and local and national governments. We also interact with other carer organisations on a global scale to promote a global change for carers.”

Carers Worldwide is the only organisation seeking to bring about systemic change to the lives of carers in South Asia by creating emotional support groups, access to health services, locally available counselling, short break/ respite facilities, and access to sustainable livelihoods.

“Our strategic vision is to impact the lives of 10 million carers in South Asia by the end of 2030 through direct intervention and policy change,” Patil said.

“We have seen amazing results. We have given people a purpose who were previously thinking of suicide.”

When Patil began, only 30% of carers had a regular income. Now 81% of the carers involved in Carers Worldwide projects are earning a regular wage that can support their families.

81% of carers now earning a living and lifting their families out of poverty

97% of carers experiencing improved physical and mental health

An advocacy network of more than 700 local carer groups, 12 district carers associations and four state level carer forums

1,830 partner staff, local government and healthcare staff and carers trained Achieving successful state level implementation of the provisions for carers within India’s Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act

Each year supported by a range of donors, including CareTech Foundation, the National Lottery Community Fund and the Commonwealth Foundation, Carers Worldwide is growing its network of local charity partners – now 15 – and the number of carers it can support. But there are many more carers to reach.

“Our influence is like a drop of ink in a bucket of water,” Patil told us. “You don’t need a whole bottle of ink to change the colour. Just a little support to carers will make magic happen in front of your eyes.”

Companies wanting to get involved in this worthy cause as part of their corporate social responsibility can find out more about Carers Worldwide at: carersworldwide.org

Founder and executive director Anil Patil shares how Carers Worldwide has been changing the lives of carers in South Asia for the better over the past 10 years

Making mealtime efficiencies while maintaining the highest quality... apetito partners with VSA to provide the ultimate dining experience

The VSA Group has several residential and non-residential care homes, employing more than 600 people across 40 services.

John Booth, chief operating officer of VSA, emphasises the passion that his team has for delivering outstanding care to enable each resident within VSA care homes to enjoy life.

Mealtimes are no exception to this and are an important focal point of each day.

“Food is one of life’s pleasures” says John “and we know how much our residents enjoy mealtimes.

“As care home operators know only too well, catering can be very complex within residential homes.

“There were several challenges within the kitchen which we historically faced.

“For years we had cooks, as we liked the label of ‘fresh’ – but alongside the promise of ‘fresh’ came unpredictability.

“It’s not easy to recruit quality cooks to ensure consistency and guarantee cover. There was also the question of food waste and portion control.

Sometimes families will understandably take their loved ones out for lunch at the last minute, meaning it’s hard to cater accurately for unpredictable numbers. Inflation also impacted on the commercial side with product/supplier shortages and rapidly increasing costs and administration complexity was increasing all the time. Covid simply accelerated these challenges.”

John’s team underwent a review of its catering operation and decided to change how VSA approached mealtimes. Central to its decision was business continuity.

Making change

After the review, VSA decided to adopt a new stance, while ensuring that the

person-centred approach was retained at every level.

VSA now works in partnership with the UK’s leading care homes meals provider, apetito, which provides prepared meals which can be cooked easily in VSA’s kitchens.

John explains that working with apetito means that not only is there is lots of choice and the meals are delicious, high quality, and loved by residents, but his team can rest easy in the knowledge that the supply of meals is guaranteed.

“During Covid we had a big concern around business continuity. Having apetito meant that we didn’t need to worry.

“In fact, during this period, we simply increased our back-up stock, so we had a contingency which gave us added reassurance.”

Significant savings on labour, waste and ease of service.

“Since changing to apetito we’ve seen real benefits when it comes to saving on labour, the ease of mealtimes, and importantly, the confidence and reassurance we have that our meals are covered in a way that is a quality offering that can be delivered with no stress.

“We no longer need cooks – we have streamlined catering roles and created two catering managers across four sites supported by café assistants within each home.

“There is less admin, fewer invoices, fewer suppliers, fewer people to manage, and this alone has removed a big stress factor including the removal of expensive agency staff. Our team can now focus on front line care.

“Furthermore, we have reduced our waste significantly as our portion control is now far more effective.”

Choice has been another unexpected benefit in terms of offering residents a wider range of meals and desserts from over 200 options.

“Previously, we had limited choice. It’s also fair to say that we had limited understanding around the nutritional content of meals in terms of having accurate nutritional content at our fingertips.

“Now, nutritional content is all controlled and managed for us. We know exactly what is in each meal and how that relates to portion sizes. It’s easy to manage our residents’ diets effectively and we can now provide exact details for the inspectorate and set calorie levels where they need to be for each resident”.

“We are at the forefront of dementia-friendly dining” John says that in the past, VSA would have liquidised foods for residents with swallowing difficulties – a condition known as dysphagia.

“We now use apetito’s texture modified range where our residents can enjoy specially moulded meals, which

John Booth

are cleverly designed to look – and taste – exactly like the meal they are replicating, while meeting the IDDSI framework.

“Not only is this easier to manage but our residents love a meal that looks like a proper meal. It returns dignity to their dining experience and restores enjoyment in mealtimes.

“If a resident is living with allergens, we simply turn to the information to ensure we provide person-centred meals that are free from the 14 known allergens.

VSA is clearly delighted with the new approach to mealtimes. “I’m really pleased with apetito”, says John. “It’s been a huge change from what we were used to, and the support we received was superb.

“It’s easy for people to be negative and yes, at the onset, some people were sceptical. However, we quickly dispelled those myths and the feedback we got from families and staff after the tasting sessions was wonderfully

positive. Without exception, everyone was converted.

“We have a real partner in apetito –together we are one team. If I had to summarise, I would say the relationship has been an unmitigated success

promotion | care

At the forefront of texturemodified food: apetito launches innovative IDDSI Level 4 dishes Expanding its award-winning texture-modified range, leading healthcare meals provider, apetito, has been busy developing its IDDSI Level 4 meals range launching five brand new, innovative dishes, giving residents with swallowing difficulties more choice and variety when it comes to mealtimes.

The new Chicken in Rich Gravy, Lamb in Mint Gravy and Chicken and Vegetable Casserole dishes have been specially developed following feedback from apetito’s care home customers.

New Sausages, Beans and Chips dish comes with two browned components, has a real ‘fresh out of the oven’ effect. The Spaghetti Bolognaise is apetito’s best-ever Level 4 pasta dish and is a world leading texture-modified dish, with patients able to see individual spaghetti pieces and taste authentic, comforting bolognaise sauce.

For details about apetito products and services contact 01225 569 462 or visit: apetito.co.uk

on many different fronts and has revolutionised our ability to deliver a quality mealtime service across multiple sites and across complex and varied needs”.

www.apetito.co.uk

chef of the month

Chef of the month

In a new regular feature showcasing our most innovative and talented care home chefs, we throw the spotlight on Barry Moorcroft, head chef of Handsale’s Priesty Fields care home in Congleton, Cheshire.

Tell us about your background and how you joined Priesty Fields.

I have 20 years’ worth of experience in the care sector, 15 as a care assistant and five as a chef. I was looking for a new challenge and just stumbled across Priesty Fields.

What is special about working at Priesty Fields?

I absolutely loved working at Priesty Fields from the moment I arrived. The building is beautiful and our amazing team is constantly growing. I think the kitchen has big boots to fill to match the care and decor of the building, but I love the challenge. Handsale are a refreshing company to work for.

How do you vary your menu to provide choice for residents?

We have a very varied menu with lots of homemade sweet treats, but we also offer a very varied nutritious menu throughout the week, including meat and vegetarian/fish dishes, each and every day. On top of this, we have freshly produced fruit readily available, snack stations, too, and we also do a little ‘afternoon tea’ trolley with homemade cakes and a cup of tea should a relative want to visit and have some cake.

How do you meet residents’ nutritional and health needs?

We have great communication between the care team and the residents. We have regular one-to-one meetings with the residents, as well as meetings about the menu, etc. I love the one-toones because I can sit and relax with the resident and just chat for 10 minutess and they’re generally either positive or productive.

What is your most popular dish?

As sad as it sounds, I think my most popular dish is either ‘Barry’s Brunch’ or the ‘Priesty Fields burger,’ haha!

What is your favourite dish?

My favourite would be a Sunday lunch, home-made Yorkshire puddings, juicy meat and lots of veg, with lots of colour and flavour.

How do you make the dining experience special for residents and their families?

It’s not easy catering to everyone’s different dietary needs/requirements tastes and just general nutrition, though I honestly feel if you offer a wellbalanced nutritious diet throughout the week with the menu, that’s half the job done. The rest is just hard work and

a want for your plates to look nice and inviting. It doesn’t matter if it’s a level 7 (regular) or level 4 (pureed) meal on the IDDSI framework (International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative), for me, every resident should receive a nice tasty fresh colourful looking meal.

In pictures

Four Seasons Health Care Group residents channelled their ‘inner Banksy’ through having a go at graffiti art during a Love Learning event last month. Graffiti art was just one of the new skills residents shared with family, friends and members of the local community during the programme’s graduation ceremonies.

Resident Joseph Russell proudly shows off his artwork with team member Heather Spray can queen resident Margaret Grimson

Residents Sarah Munro and Syliva Hird celebrate their activities class graduation

care

activities

Creative Caring

As always, carers have been demonstrating their creativity through fun and innovative events for their residents…

Whittle while you work John Paddon, resident at Cedar Lodge Care Home in Frimley has great enthusiasm for sculpting. Cedar Lodge supported John’s hobby, arranging transport of his sculpture to Cedar Lodge which now takes pride of place in the activities room allowing John to continue his craft project.

Creepy crawlies care too

See? Horses!

Residents at Preston House Care Home in Glenrothes were left speechless when they visited The Kelpies, the famous pair of 30-metre-high statues depicting the mystical shape-shifting water spirits of Scottish folklore. It was a fantastic day out in the sun for staff and residents and they enjoyed a picnic and ice cream at the Falkirk-based project.

Yee haw!

The Wild West came to an Edinburgh care home during a hoedown-themed afternoon to mark the end of summer. The lifestyle team at Cramond Residence donned their cowboy boots and hosted a country and western party for residents, including themed dancing, snacks and music courtesy of local guitarists.

Residents at a Chichester care home were captivated by a visit from a host of creepy crawlies. Colten Care’s Wellington Grange was thrilled to host ZooLab, its first, external entertainment provider in two years due to Covid-19 restrictions. “While there were a few squeals at first and some hiding behind scarves, our residents soon warmed up to our coldblooded and exotic visitors,” said companion Heather Pierce.

Fringe benefits

Elderly residents at Glencairn Care Home in Edinburgh have been out enjoying the wonders of the capital this summer, with a programme of fun activities including rickshaw rides, theatre visits and musical performances. To ensure that the residents feel part of Edinburgh’s Fringe celebrations, the activities coordinators arranged visits to shows throughout the month, while visits from a knowledgeable historian and a cello player have also been scheduled into the calendar of events.

visit its Laton Road home to bolster resident wellbeing and honour selfless, working dogs on National Dog Day.

On Your Marks, Get Set, Go! Signature at Weybridge hosted a summer of celebrations to promote keeping active, by giving their residents the opportunity to compete against one another in a tournament style competition. Residents and colleagues at Weybridge took part in a variety of fun-filled sports activities which included basketball, table tennis and bean bag tossing, concluding the week with a celebration BBQ, featuring music from a live quartet from Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club.

Raising the ‘woof’ Staff at a Hastings care home welcomed two furry friends into the home to boost the mental wellbeing of its residents through pet therapy on National Dog Day.

Mountside Care Home, a branch of ACI Care, organised for two Pets as Therapy dogs, Connie and Melly, to

Lavender fields

Residents at a Hertfordshire care home recently enjoyed a ‘magical’ trip to the famous Hitchin Lavender fields to help promote mental and physical wellbeing by stimulating the senses. Dressed in a black and white polka dot dress, one resident of Fowholes Care Home was so caught up in the excitement of pruning the lavender and enjoying the scents and smells that she lost one of the wheels to her wheelchair – an experience she recalls as being “totally worth it”.

Do robots have a role in care?

William Walter, managing director of specialist adult social care PR consultancy, Townsend Communications, interviews academic and author Tony Prescott, professor of cognitive robotics at The University of Sheffield and director of Sheffield Robotics on the future role of robots in a care setting.

on robotic automation in the home to enable people to live independently for longer. The UK Robotics and Automated Systems Network published an interesting paper on this in 2017.

Is the government investing enough into robotics?

No. Of the UK research and innovation budget, about 1% goes into robotics and, of that, less than a quarter into social care robots.

This underinvestment is shortsighted. The cost of putting people into care homes is much higher than having them live independently. Hospital stays are higher still. We should try to keep people in their homes for as long as possible and have people move out of hospital as soon as possible and into care homes. Robotics can play a vital role.

What advantages do robots offer relative to humans in a care setting? Has the pandemic and ongoing staffing crisis helped drive attention to the benefits of robotics?

Both the workforce crisis and the pandemic have helped to focus attention on the practical applications of robots in social care. They can minimise the transmission of infections. In terms of staff shortages, a typical care visit is about 15 minutes. In that time a carer may need to prepare food or help somebody go to the bathroom. Robots can be used to optimise the time that human carers have looking after people.

In the short to medium term, they will provide elements of the smart home: beds that turn into chairs; tables that come to you; and kitchens that prepare food automatically. They can help to

take on some of the carer’s functions freeing up their time for social and communicative interactions that robots are less good at.

Longer term, are we likely to see artificial intelligence-driven, intelligent humanoids provide emotional and social care that humans currently offer?

It’s a good question. We can already see examples of animal-like robot companions that provide some of the social equivalence of a pet. Humanlike AI companions, such as Alexa, are becoming more sophisticated. But the practical challenges of building synthetic humanoids are huge. They’re large and take up a lot of space. Safety is a big issue.

Instead, we should focus on the tasks humans do poorly that robots can do better. We should concentrate

The Emergence Network is doing great work ensuring resources are used effectively by fostering collaboration between teams working on common problems.

What are the key challenges we need to overcome before we’ll see the widespread application of robotics in a care setting?

Social intelligence and physical robot-human interactions are significant hurdles. Another is ‘scene awareness’. A robot in your home needs to know where it is. It needs to know what’s around it. It needs know that you are there. It needs to know what task it’s trying to do.

Current AI capabilities aren’t sophisticated enough to provide this kind of information. However, what we can do in the near term is have robots switch between being autonomous and remotely operated, so that humans can help the robot perform certain tasks.

Professor Tony Prescott with a robot at The University of Sheffield

The shape of things to come

Andrew Coles, chief executive of Person Centred Software outlines his thoughts to William Walter, managing director of specialist social care PR consultancy Townsend Communications, on the current and future role care tech can play in alleviating the challenges facing the care sector.

The social care sector is facing challenges on multiple fronts.

Acute staff shortages, matched with increasing demands to improve health and social care integration, mean the industry is being pushed to its limits. Care technology, or care tech, is vital to ensuring the industry can meet the challenges ahead.

Digital care management systems are an exciting sub-sector of this industry. Digital care systems are streamlining processes, improving the quality of care, reducing workloads, driving up staff retention and enabling carers to spend more time with residents improving health outcomes. They also help to reduce the risks of medication errors, dehydration and missed visits, and can record care data in real-time while improving the access and sharing of resident care data.

Person Centred Software was among the first electronic care systems to integrate with NHS Digital’s GP Connect service; for the first time, care providers were able to access, in real-time, the GP records and medical notes of care receivers. To date, we’ve connected over 22,000 residents to their GP records. We’ve further developed this functionality by enabling care homes to instantly share information

with hospitals and external professionals.

We’re now working with the NHS to roll this out nationwide.

The future of care technology: predictive models

But there’s still more to do. The insatiable rate of technological advancement is reflected in the evergrowing applications of care tech. Artificial Intelligence (AI)driven technologies are improving the patient experience, assisting the workforce and helping systems run more efficiently.

AI data processing, for example, offers hope that soon we will have digital systems that can help make informed assessments about a patient’s condition and prompt earlier investigation and treatment. They could, for example, predict infections when a patient is otherwise incapacitated with dementia.

The use of digital care software

married with ‘big data’ also offers possibilities. For example, the information generated by the millions of care records captured every day through observational data recorded at the point of care and passive monitoring through technology could enable better care. Monitoring technology is becoming increasingly important in ensuring people are safe and cared for, even when there’s no direct human contact.

We’ve already seen the benefits of having timely access to meaningful data that supports better decision-making and outcomes for those supported in social care settings. Care providers have seen these benefits implemented in the existing generation of digital care records. As a result, we already see a step-change in the industry’s readiness to embrace care tech.

In the future, the norm will be to utilise predictive models that can harness the power of collecting data in volume, allowing early intervention, and reducing the need and reliance on people using health services.

Andrew Coles

Congratulations to our runner-up

Karen Jones, domestic at Park House Care Home, Eastgate Care

Karen is just one of those people who gets on and does her job unseen and unheard. She has been with the home just under 10 years and her standards have never slipped. Nothing is too much trouble for this lady who always clocks up to 50 hours a week making sure our home is extremely clean.

She is very proud of her role and makes sure her cleaning is thorough; no spec of dirt escapes her.

When we had the Covid outbreak we really needed Karen’s help. She was fastidious in making sure that the home was beyond clean to prevent the spread of the infection. All recommended measures were put in place and actioned, it really could not have been any cleaner! With Karen’s contribution the home received a glowing CQC Infection Prevention and Control report which really boosted our confidence during those terrible

times knowing we were doing everything we could to stop Covid taking hold.

When she has spare time she spends it with the people that live at Park House. She will sing with them, play board games and sit for a chat, anything just to make someone’s day.

One thing that is always easy to forget is the value of cleanliness. We appreciate it when we see it, but we very rarely see who is responsible and thank them directly for maintaining a clean healthy environment.

There is no doubt the home would be a very different place without her. Clean touch point areas, freshly made beds, empty bins and deep cleaning. It’s like a cleaning fairy has waved her

wand around our home. She will even help out in the kitchen and wash pots –that’s not in her job description, but if it helps, she will do it.

Nothing is too much trouble for this lady, which is why it has been easy to nominate her. She doesn’t want a pat on the back or medals but I really think she deserves this recognition; she’s a deeply commitment caring lady and everyone respects her for that.

Supporting carers going through menopause

Weare an ageing population and are working into our later years of life. This is thanks to the increase in the retirement age and the ability to remain fit and healthier longer with modern medicine. While we are grateful for life longevity, I can’t say there has been the same welcome for the increase in the retirement age. But what does this mean for the workforce?

Menopause comes to all females at some point in life. It’s a naturally occurring event that some sail through easily with very few symptoms, while others battle and struggle through the transition.

Why is it important to address menopause in the workplace?

• Menopausal women are the fastest growing workforce.

Professor Jo Brewis, co-author of the Government Report on Menopause.

• Around 82% of employees in the care industry are females Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set

• 8 out of 10 menopausal women are working.

Faculty of Occupational Medicine

• 45% of women say their menopause symptoms have had a negative impact on their work

British Menopause Society

How menopause can affect work

Many women don’t feel comfortable talking about the menopause or their symptoms, especially to managers. It can make a huge difference to carers when they are made to feel as though what they are going through is normal and there is an open culture in support. Many menopausal women find themselves considering another employer, in fact one in four consider it. But if the culture, support and systems are in place, this can greatly be reduced.

Educate

Providing workshops and resources to care staff that inform them about what happens in the female body during menopause and what symptoms are associated with this makes a huge difference. We all know about the hot flushes but there are actually 34 different symptoms known to be caused through perimenopause and menopause. When women have a greater understanding of what is happening to them and how to manage their own symptoms, they can swiftly get back to living a more normal life. Also, younger colleagues will be better able to support their menopausal co-workers.

Talking culture

Regular informal ‘check ins’ are great for maintaining good employee relations and can provide an opportunity to find out how the care worker can be personally supported. Managers do not need to be menopause experts but simply show a caring and open attitude towards menopause and signpost them to further support as needed.

Setting up support groups for your employees to meet other carers currently going through this phase, can be massively helpful too. It makes them feel normal and less alone and they can share

experiences and useful tips on managing symptoms.

What organisations can do Menopause in the workplace should be part of the health and safety concerns for managers and handled with care and sensitivity.

The changes need to come from the top when it comes to ensuring support for care workers. It’s recommended that organisations have something in writing that managers can refer to when it comes to supporting staff.

Other things to consider are the control of workplace temperature and ventilation. How can they be adapted to meet the needs of individuals. Can you provide handheld fans or cooler spaces for staff rooms? Sleep disturbances can be an issue so can managers consider shift changes or flexible working hours if workers have had little sleep and feel unsafe to work. Providing access to cold drinking water at all times is also very helpful to manage symptoms and considerations could be made with uniform fabrics and styles.

Anything that care home managers can do to make menopausal employees feel more comfortable through their working hours, goes a long way to ensuring that they retain valued care workers, who have years of training and experience.

Wellness company EmpowerPlan’s managing director Nadine McCabe explains why it is important to educate carers on the menopause.

norrms’

Welcome to my world of dementia

Please, step this way and I will try and show you what it’s really like to have dementia., writes our columnist Norrms McNamara

Oops! Mind your step please, that’s what we call spatial awareness. What that means is sometimes you don’t always see what’s in front of you and tend to miss the steps going up or coming down so be careful. Pardon? You can’t see properly? Does it feel like you have net curtains in front of your eyes? Yes, well that’s perfectly normal for those with dementia, looking out on life seems so distorted sometimes, just dementia playing tricks on you. Please take a seat, Oh Oh! Be careful you nearly missed the seat then, make sure it’s right behind you before you sit as it can sometimes seem nearer than you think.

Would you like a drink? There you go, a nice glass of cool water, sorry? You can’t see it? Oh, I am so sorry, what was I thinking? That’s because I have put it in a clear glass, here you go, and it’s in a nice coloured vessel now, is that easier to see? I am so pleased. What? Who’s that at the window? Oh, please don’t worry, it’s probably dementia playing its tricks on you, come on let’s go out for a bit of something to eat. Here you are, here’s your coat, please don’t worry you will find the arms soon, I will help, there you go! It doesn’t matter how long it takes, we will get there.

There you go, all inside the car, please put your seat belt on, Sorry? Hang on I will get out and put it on for you, it’s a bit of a bug***r this dementia ain’t it? There you go, that’s better, off we go.

WHOA!! That’s the door handle not the window, please don’t open that if you can remember, I know it’s hard. I am so pleased you feel better getting out and about, and I know how much you like watching the world go by, let’s have a drive over the moors before we go to town. Yes, it’s beautiful isn’t it? The moors just go on forever, what? You feel as if you can breathe easier and see better out here, well that’s wonderful, let’s go and get some lunch in town.

Here we go, wait! Please wait until I stop the car before you get out and please stay on the pavement till we cross to the cafe. I know you don’t like me holding

your hand and I know you are not a child but I need to keep you safe, WHOA!! Phew that was close, you didn’t see that car? That why I need to hold onto you, so sorry didn’t mean to shout, just frightened for you, come on let’s get something to eat. What would you like? What do I think you want? How would I know? You want egg, chips and beans, that’s wonderful, would you like to order when the waitress comes? Here she is.

No, he hasn’t had a drink and hasn’t got a speech impediment thank you, waitress! He has dementia and mixes his words up sometimes, please don’t worry it’s not your fault, you don’t know what you don’t know, I will drop some leaflets off. That was quick, here’s your lunch, yes that’s your knife on the right and fork on the left, don’t worry about it. Oops, missed your mouth? I do that so many times and please don’t worry about the spillage, it will wash. No, I am sure the next table isn’t looking at you and if they are then they are only curious and uneducated about those of us with dementia. Be careful, that tea is hot,

should have really got you a cold drink,. I can see you yawning, are you tired? I know you feel you shouldn’t be, but it’s what happens, so much going on is bound to take it out of you. Here we go, back in the car now, sorry? You don’t know where you are? That’s OK, you’re in your local town centre and we have just had lunch, Yes, we really have and you enjoyed it LOL. Yes, I will take you home now, what do you mean you don’t live here? You do my friend, come on in and sit down. Please don’t cry, it’s been such a good day really, believe me, it could have been a lot worse, I know you’re frightened and frustrated and don’t ever think you are on your own, there are millions around the world just like us. Sundowning is horrible, we must try and explain to all what it’s like, it happens most afternoons so I must ask your loved ones/carer to change all your appointments to ‘a.m.’ so it’s easier for you, you are the most important person in all this, and the best thing is try and have a nap for an hour, Goodbye my friend, till next time…

Norrms McNamara

10 Questions with…

managers we find out more about Janet Lewis, of New Care’s Formby Manor Care Centre in Liverpool.

Why did you join the social care sector?

I joined in 2004 from the NHS. I was on the board of our local Alzheimer’s Society and we were registering one of our services with the Commission Social Care Inspectorate and I thought there’s a whole sector that I don’t know anything about, so I decided to do some research and eventually applied to become home manager. It’s the best decision I’ve ever made and I’ve never looked back.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I love the variety of my day. I work in a beautiful care home, Formby Manor, part of New Care, and have a fantastic team who are very dedicated and caring. It’s a pleasure to come to work. I get to meet very incredible residents, everybody’s story is different. We found out so much about our residents when the Queen died as her passing triggered so many memories.

Who is your social care hero and why?

Professor Martin Green, chief executive of Care England. I first met Martin when we were VSO volunteers in Uganda. He thoroughly understands the sector and the challenges we face. He was a great advocate for the sector during the pandemic and champions social care at every opportunity.

What is the one thing you would change about social care?

The perception that we are somehow an inferior service to the NHS.

What, in your opinion, makes a great care worker?

Someone with a huge heart, a great sense of fun and a can-do attitude. This is such a rewarding role and there are numerous opportunities for professional development. I started my career in 1984 as a nursing assistant. I have always worked in either health or social care and I have had a rewarding career. I keep myself very current and take a great interest in new developments and different ways of working. I try and keep

an open mind.

What do you do when life all gets a bit too much?

Go to Italy, either physically or mentally.

I am learning Italian so it’s great to put on my earphones and totally emerse myself and relax. I read a great deal and recently got into audio books.

What advice would you give your younger self?

My younger self wouldn’t have listened to any advice! However, stay true to your principles and trust your gut feelings. Remember sometimes it’s best to listen rather than talk.

Which three famous people would have to dinner and why?

Fran Lebowitz, Beyonce, Jo Brand. Three strong women with plenty to say

and we could end the evening with a singalong. Women’s rights and views are important to me and fortunately I work in a sector that promotes the role of women as leaders, so it’s never been an issue, but I feel it’s not the same in other sectors of industry and commerce.

What three items would you bring with you on a desert island?

A wind-up radio. Kindle (I’d have to find a solar device to keep it charged!) A manual on foraging so I could feed myself and maybe even create a little tipple for personal consumption, of course!

What is your secret talent?

I would love to say that I can tie myself in a knot or touch my nose with my tongue, but the best I can do is say that I make a very passable bread.

Janet Lewis

How to design a care home for residents with dementia

Here in the UK, around 850,000 people live with dementia, and when you take into account the families and carers that are there to support them, this figure increases greatly. With this in mind, this month, the Aedifice team is going to discuss how to design a care home for residents with dementia, ensuring their quality of life is kept to a maximum.

Simplicity

The most important thing to keep in mind when designing a care home for residents with dementia is to keep things as simple as possible. Layouts in particular need to be intuitive and familiar so residents can easily find their way around, keeping confusion to a minimum.

The decor is also important here. Creating a space that looks and feels like a home is more likely to bring comfort to residents with dementia, making them feel as though they’re somewhere they know well. This goes for both public and private spaces in the care home.

Navigation

One of the biggest challenges for residents with dementia in a care home is navigation. While simplicity in layout will certainly be a huge factor here, there are other things that can be implemented, such as clear signage, lighting and directional instructions. Another big help can be colour coding for doors. Residents will associate certain colours with certain rooms, which will make remembering where they need to go much easier.

Memory prompts

While dementia does impact memory severely, it doesn’t mean that memory can’t be accessed at all. By placing framed photographs and objects around the home that will remind residents of their past, you can help them remember happy times and bring them joy. Also, residents will be able to draw links between these objects and the routes they are taking, helping them to remember where certain things are.

Safety

Design elements that prioritise safety are also going to be essential in a care home with dementia residents. Railings should be installed in hallways, and objects in social spaces should be easily distinguishable from walls and the floor to ensure that residents don’t find themselves accidentally obstructed.

Aedifice Partnership manages new care home construction as well as refurbishment projects throughout the UK. For further details on the services Aedifice Partnership offers, please visit: aedifice.co.uk or call 0800 151 0234.

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Red Rose Care Centre Ebbw Vale 32

Christie & Co Oliver McCarthy – 07702 809 198

Coombe Lodge Aylesbury Closed care home National Housing Group Theset £2,000,000 Christie & Co Jordan Oborne – 07736 615 87

Clann House Lanivet, near Bodmin 34 Difford family Pretty 1098 £1,750,000 Christie & Co Simon Harvey – 07764 241310

The Cottage Nursing Home Mold 52

Christie & Co James Knight – 07590 486 357

Alexandra Nursing Home Tywyn 25

Christie & Co James Knight – 07590 486

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Thornfields Care Home Lymington 17 Emerald Care Providers Mr and Mrs Poordil Undisclosed Christie & Co Charles Phillips – 07764 241346

Glyncornel Nursing Home Llwynpia 16 Undisclosed Undisclosed £465,000 Christie & Co Oliver McCarthy – 07702 809198

Aldersmead Bognor Regis 38 Aplomb Care Casco Finance Undisclosed Christie & Co Charles Phillips – 07764 241346

Holbrook Hall

Nick Greaves, 07943

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