Elizabeth Court
Summer 2013
(August)
Hello again everyone, and welcome to the summer edition of the Elizabeth Court
Newsletter. Our ‘extended winter’ cleared up pretty much straight after the last newsletter.
I must say we had a lovely start to summer with some gorgeous sunshine and warmer
weather!
Nigel continues to be busy at
all times and since spring he
has completed the rockery
and the seating area at the start of our sensory garden (below), the fresh turf has settled in
and the benches are in place. This was completed in time for the national care home open
day as we had hoped, however the day itself was a bit of a disappointment (more on that
later).
The herb garden is also doing well along with the potatoes, beans and onions in the
allotment. Bob’s been helping tend to them while Ron is always on hand to help out in the
garden generally. (See pics above)
Unfortunately we lost one of our guinea pigs, squeaky, who was put down due to a tumour
growth which was very sad. We still have fluffy living with Jake-The rabbit (right) and have
bought 2 baby guinea pigs to replace the ones we lost
over recent months. These two are called Kylie and
Cindy(below), cute as buttons!
We haven’t yet got round to completing the pathway planned for the sensory garden,
however Nigel has been relaying some of the existing patio tiles to make the area more
even and therefore safer to walk around on. This is in preparation for the garden path which
will lead off from the newly evened patio. He has also put up a new fence around the
perimeter of the garden to prevent dogs escaping over the
walls! Susan’s little Jack Russell, Angel, got out a few times,
luckily she stayed close by and was either found or returned
safe and sound. This new fence is green and blends in very
well with the trees. He has also put a little wooden fence up to
the dogs on the lawn keep when doing their ‘businesses’.
So, the plans over the coming months are to get on with the garden path and continue with
the areas around the garden which will provide more sensory enjoyment and better access
around the garden.
Doreen’s plants and flowers are
blooming, her African violets have
come through very well this year.
Doreen’s niece, Val, also sent me a picture of the one Doreen gave her last year to show
how that had blossomed. You can see above how they start off and then when they’re at
their best (Doreen’s own plants). Very impressive, I think you’ll agree…
Moving indoors, like normal, we haven’t seen too much going on due to the workload
outdoors however we have made a few changes in preparation for more changes…
Nigel has installed a lockable storage cupboards inset in the wall down the
corridor rooms 7-11. Another will be installed down corridor rooms 2-6
and these will eventually be used to store morning medication supplied
for those living down each corridor. This, with additional medication
training for all the care staff, will mean all medicines being administered
in a much more timely fashion, as well as being a chance to develop the
skills of the junior care staff. At present it is the senior carer’s job to
administer all medications and the morning round is the most time
consuming. So we hope this will have a positive effect on the morning routine allowing more
time for direct care, meaning more person centred and even higher quality (there’s always
room for improvement!).
Nigel has also installed new hand soap dispensers and paper towel
dispensers into all the bedrooms as a result of an audit we had carried out
recently (more on that later). This was an arduous job finding slim line ones
and places on the walls to install them to keep them looking neat and tidy
without looking too unsightly. But we think we managed…
We have also changed the communication system between staff and
management. To ensure more effective communication
between all staff we have transformed our storage
cupboard into a pigeon-hole system. Each staff member
now has their own pigeon hole where memos and
notices can be left, training arrangements or workbooks
can be left, and likewise all staff can leave requests,
leave comments, feedback their training and anything
else to the managers. This will hopefully prevent any
miscommunications in future.
Our memory lane idea is on hold (due to work outside) however ideas are still flowing and
memorabilia is being collected. Carol has managed to salvage various editions of old
newspapers, particularly editions covering significant events like the moon landing and the
queen’s coronation, which we will make use of. We have also already managed to collect a
few old fashioned adverts, you know the old style metal plaques for Pears soap, Bird’s
custard and Lux washing powder. The plans for the partition wall decorated like an old
Victorian lane, and the greengrocers shop front on the larder wall are still very much the
favoured ideas, along with the old style post box. But this will come together as time goes
by, probably over the winter months when the days get shorter and the weather turns nasty
outside again.
So let’s look back over recent events at Elizabeth court, as is usually the fashion. But this
time, instead of singling out birthdays separately, I’m going to tie them in with the other
events as they unfolded…
The end of May, well the 28th, saw Fay turn 78 –
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FAY!
Brian Mellor celebrated his 80th Birthday on the 4th of June –
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, BRIAN!
June 8th saw Tickled pink for a showy, singy-songy afternoon. Thanks for lifting our spirits as
always!
Ivy Crump celebrated another year on the 11th June, her family came and
spent some time with her to help celebrate her big day – HAPPY
BIRTHDAY IVY!
Andy Robertson came in and played his music on the 15 th June.
It was Father’s Day on the 16th, so the men in the home were given some
extra special wishes and those who received cards, gifts and visits were
much appreciated. HAPPY FATHER’S DAY TO ALL YOU DADS!
National Care Home Open Day on the 21st June, we had a BBQ in the
garden as the weather held out for us, we also had a tombola and some
homemade cakes, treats, hot and cold drinks, some kids lucky dips and
more. After advertising the event in the local area and through our
newsletter we had a very disappointing turn out. In fact, no one came to join in. However
the staff and resident’s enjoyed the fun and games, and the BBQ nonetheless.
James Owen came and sang some songs on the 27th June.
The Cinnamon Trust came in for the filming day on the 28th June, since we made it into the
top 6 pet friendly care homes yet again this year! That day saw myself (Reece) and others
being filmed to talk about the animals here at Elizabeth Court. They filmed some of the
residents with the animals and have since edited their video ready for the presentation in
October. That’ll be a trip up to London for
Carol, Mandy and I!!
Music for Health came in that same afternoon, where Keith
motivated those who joined in with his musical tricks.
Also in June;
Susan Kelly moved into Elizabeth Court for a very short period.
Unfortunately Elizabeth Court wasn’t the right place for Susan so she
moved onto another service where they could better meet her
needs. Goodbye and good luck Susan.
Walter Nkomo, who moved in to build his life back up, moved onto a more independent
setting after a few months of rehabilitation, rest and socialising. Walter was our youngest
resident and was a real gentleman to others in the Home. It was a pleasure having you here,
Walter, good luck in your future, we hope to see you soon!
We waved goodbye to Susan Mason, who moved in
temporarily to get back on her feet before moving into
a more independent living situation. Good luck to you
Susan, we all wish you the very best and will miss you
and your little Angel! Please drop in and visit anytime,
we’d love to see you!
We said hello and welcome to Mr Arthur Markwick who moved in in June to stay with us.
Arthur is a keen, and exceptionally talented artist who has a sparkling sense of humour,
welcome to Elizabeth Court Arthur we sincerely hope you enjoy your stay with us. Arthur’s
daughter, Priscilla and husband, Steve visit nearly every day so we are getting to know you
all quite well. We hope you are all happy with our service.
July started with Doreen celebrating her birthday on the 8th, we presented her with flowers,
a cake and a sing-along – HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOREEN!
Christine’s birthday followed the very next day and she
decided that she would spend this year visiting her son,
Matthew – HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU TOO CHRISTINE!
Charlie Case came on the 11th, because we just love Charlie’s entertainment! He sang a
variety of songs, and told a variety of jokes, however on this occasion he had a surprising
assistant! June, Brian Mellor’s sister, came in this day and ended up doing what she does
best, getting on the mic to sing!! June used to perform on stage and always gets Brian
singing when she visits but this time everyone
got to enjoy it! Thanks for your participation
June, you must come and sing again sometime!
Tickled Pink Productions made another appearance in July (12th) for their “West End Show”
which went down very well.
13th July saw Magic Mike and his box of tricks again, so mysterious…
Trevor came and played his guitar on the 17th July, which is always a treat!
We had another Music for Health session on the 26th July.
Also in July;
Mr Roger Smale joined us in Bexhill from another nursing home in St Leonards to be closer
to his wife. Roger is a keen engine collector and a very knowledgeable
and interesting gentleman, his wife, Sheila visits virtually every day.
Welcome to Elizabeth Court Roger, we hope you enjoy your stay here
and we look forward to getting to know you and your wife.
Audrey Cathcart moved in for a while to rest and recuperate.
We’ve known Audrey for years after we cared for her sisters, Flossy and May. Her
partner Bob is also in everyday to be with Audrey so its like we’ve welcomed two
faces! It’s nice for everything to be so familiar, Audrey, welcome and enjoy your rest.
Heading into August we saw Andy Robertson come again (on the 10th) only this time he had
a partner to share the stage with!
Philip celebrated his birthday on the 11th, HAPPY BIRTHDAY
TO YOU PHIL!! We hope you enjoyed your day.
Louise brought her partner, Bill with her on the 12th to perform a special VJ Day set.
Doris had her birthday on the 23rd August. Doris got a
chocolate filled visit from her neice, Barbara-Ann and
her husband, Andy. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU DORIS!
Enjoy all your Maltesers, we know how you love them!
And that’s been about it over the past few months for entertainment and events, however
we have still been having our usual regulars and will continue to do so, this includes;
Music accordion to Louise (see what I did there?) every Monday, Simon’s Alive and Active
exercise class every Tuesday, alternate Wednesday’s still see Karen come from Motivation
and Co, while Jim has been filling the gap on the Wednesdays when she doesn’t come.
We have had to take a break from Penny’s therapeutic classes on Fridays due to her having
essential surgery, so a massive good luck and speedy recovery goes out to Penny, we are
thinking of you!
The staff have been getting involved in other activities in the weekday afternoon’s including
Annie’s art and craft sessions, we keep stocking up supplies so there are plenty of materials
to play around with! Becca hopes to continue giving hand massages to relax and soothe
those who enjoy that sort of thing.
Other events within the home have included other BBQ’s for tea when the weathers been
nice (which is has been! Hooray!)
Ron went down the beach for
an Ice Cream after doing
some shopping.
We have a pool table in the lounge now! This was
collected from a local church who no longer wanted it,
so we’ve had fun mucking about, learning to play and
losing…
And here are a selection of other photographs from the camera…
Our Swimathon medal and pictures,
framed and up on display!
Our Jen giving
a big cheesy grin!
Zsolt (Jord)
Monika’s husband and
sleep-in assistant
Billy chilling out
Chickens, Barney
Our ‘Neet’ (Anita) in the kitchen
Local father for Holy
Communion
Monday’s Louise
Now we’ll look at staff. There are going to be many changes over the coming weeks and
months since we have had to prepare for a few departures.
We said goodbye to Marwan, who left us to move and find career prospects elsewhere,
GOODBYE MARWAN and GOOD LUCK!
We are sorry to say Godwin will be leaving us. This is since he has renewed his nursing PIN
and will be going back into the nursing profession to practice what he loves. GOOD LUCK
GODWIN, we wish you every success!
We were sorry to hear Hayley has decided to leave us (again) only this time to pursue her
career in a hospital setting. So GOOD LUCK TO YOU TOO HAYLEY!! We’re sure this will be
what you’ve been looking for and wish you all the luck in the world for your next step.
And more recently we heard of Jim’s decision to leave as he has jumped on a business
opportunity. Jim, prior to starting work in the care sector, spent most of his career as a
printer. An opportunity has come up in the local town to buy and run his own printing
business so he’s bitten the bullet and is off to build his own empire, GOOD LUCK JIM!
We were saddened by all this news and all those long-standing members of
staff will be greatly missed.
Unfortunately things didn’t work out with Kirsty so we had to say goodbye to her.
We have welcomed several new faces to the team to replace the numbers,
which include;
Lewis, who is a qualified and experienced young chef and is now on our books for bank
work when it’s available.
Jonathon, who is another young man who enjoys cooking, experienced in other care
establishments and will be taking on some part time hours.
We interviewed Lindsay and Kerry for senior positions, couldn’t decide between them so
decided to take them both on! Both are very experienced and well qualified as senior carers
and we hope will make a valued contribution to the home. At the time of writing this
newsletter they have not yet started in their posts however are due to start their induction
training over the next couple of weeks.
We have also welcomed Catherine to the night caring team. Catherine is also well qualified
and experienced in night care work and has been for many years.
And will be seeing more of Sophie, who recently applied to take on Friday nights.
Pictures and updates regarding leavers and joiners will follow in the next edition.
Welcome to the team all of you, and we hope you enjoy working with us!
Now, as promised, I DO have pictures of all the current staff (at the time of writing this). I
took a picture of our staff board to cover myself!
Carol and I (Reece) have been tackling various things in recent months, our main theme has
been around Outcomes 4-6 of the National Minimum Standards which are concerned with
the care and welfare of people who use services, meeting nutritional needs and cooperating
with other providers. This is after focussing on outcomes 1-3 regarding respecting and
involving people who use services, consent to care and treatment, and fees. This all involves
reviewing and updating relevant policies, procedures, operations and issues and making
changes where needed.
We recently had Social Care Direct (local authority) carry out a 2 day Audit on our service
and on the whole we did quite well. Sally, our auditor, spent two days questioning us, our
staff, our residents, inspecting the environment, paperwork, systems, the lot!
Sally felt we were doing the best we could in the areas around dignity and scored us green,
which is obviously a massive bonus. She did advise us on many other areas where we’d
scored amber (green=compliant, amber=nearly compliant, red=not compliant), which was
reassuring and helpful.
Sally felt we ran a very homely, caring service and did the best we can but gave us ways to
try and be better by increasing training in certain areas, making possible changes to our care
plans and systems, ways to make evidencing easier and documentation more accurate. We
welcomed her advice and have been making improvements ever since. We are due a follow
up audit to show our efforts in ensuring compliance, so I’ll let you know how that goes when
it happens.
A note regarding toiletries:
Here at Elizabeth Court we feel personal products, cosmetics and toiletries are a very
important part of daily living. We usually rely on relatives/friends/advocates to provide
these items for the residents if residents are unable to buy these goods independently.
However, often supplies run low and
Keyworkers must go shopping on the
residents’ behalf.
Please be aware that there is a supply of
toiletries (including shower gels, soaps,
steradent, deodorants, toothpastes, body
sprays) which have been purchased from
Poundland and are available if needed at a
cost of £1 per item. For those of you who
are invoiced for such goods there will not
be an available till receipt due to bulk
purchasing, however an ECRH receipt will
be presented to evidence the date and cost
of such purchases.
Those of you who received this newsletter by post will have found a “recommend us on
carehome.co.uk” card, others may have noticed this in the entrance lobby at the Home.
Carehome.co.uk is a website which provides information about many different residential
care options for people looking for the ideal home for their loved ones. If you feel assured
by the care your loved ones receive at Elizabeth Court, or if you’re happy with your care and
want to shout about how good we are then please fill in the card and post to the freepost
address. Your votes will help to highlight our service to others and also means we enter into
the annual carehome.co.uk awards.
This edition also comes with another ECRH questionnaire as its final page. We are always
seeking feedback and ways to improve our service so please be so kind as to tell us what you
think. The last edition’s questionnaire looked at the newsletter, this time we’re interested in
the homes appearance and communication with it, its’ staff and your loved ones. This time
it is just simple tick box responses, but please feel free to leave additional comments, all
feedback welcome! Please return in the SAE provided.
Things have been awfully busy in recent weeks that I haven’t managed to put together a
calendar of events for the coming months. So just this once, you’ll have to wait until the
Autumn edition comes out! Oh, the anticipation…
Thank you all once again for reading. We look forward to receiving
your feedback.
Love to all…
Please detach this page and return in the SAE enclosed.
All your feedback is welcome, positive and negative. Please leave comments if you wish. All
responses kept confidential.
Name:
Connection with ECRH:
Date:
Please tick appropriate
box and feel free to
comment below
Overall Standard
Care/ Support received
Treated with Dignity
Communication with the
care staff
Suitability of care staff
Communication with the
management
Suitability of
management
Facilities
Cleanliness
Meals
Activities
Safety/ Security
Value for money
Poor
Satisfactory Good
Excellent