Supporting Admiral Nurses

Last week it was my pleasure to meet an Admiral Nurse -  one of only two who work in Warwickshire. Admiral nurses are specialist mental health nurses who specialise in supporting  people with dementia adn their families similar to MacMillan nurses who support people with cancer.

Positive Futures: Coping with Caring for Someone with Dementia

There are 820,000 people with diagnosed dementia in the UK and most of these will be living at home cared for by their families.  The whole family can be affected by the diagnosis of dementia and  family carers will wonder how they are going to cope with the life changes which will follow the diagnosis.  Caring for someone with dementia which can stretch for many year and is tiring. And isolating. And often leads to depression and anxiety for carers. Where can carers get help?

SPECAL is Special

SPECAL stands for Specialised Early Care for Alzheimers and is a method of communication which harnesses a person with dementia's  intact past memories to relate to present events and  so allows them to enjoy well being and a good quality of life.  I came across SPECAL several years ago and have been intrigued by the approach but only last week was finally able to access a course held at the SPECAL centre in Burford, Oxfordshire.  It was everthing I expected - good quality training which gave much food for thought and inpiration.

The Dementia Declaration

Readers will notice that there is a new badge on this blog site - The Dementia Declaration.  This is a campaign spearheaded by the Community Care magazine and involving a number of high profile bodies such as the Alzheimer's Society and the United Kingdom HomeCare Association.  Thy are quite simply calling for a full debate on the issue of dementia during the general election, a recognition of the increasing numbers of people with the disorder and the the need to make their care an explicit priority when allocating resources in the future.

Championing Dignity in Care

This week I became a Dignity Champion.  I felt quite privileged to be following in the footsteps of Michael Parkinson who has been the Government's Dignity Ambassador since 2008 and frontman for the Dignity in Care Campaign.  I am also joining a growing  group of people from all  walks of life - Dignity Champions -  who believe passionately that Dignity is a basic human right and that care services must be compassionate, person-centred as well as efficient.  Dignity Champions  promote dignity within the care sector and take practical steps to improve dignity for clients in service delivery.

Training is Essential to Good Quality Care

We held an  induction training session today.  Our new recruits arrived early and full of anticipation for the day ahead and the role they will be undertaking in the future.  My welcome to them included a summary of our values and ethos and how as an organisation we will be supporting them in their future role and the training they will receive with SureCare.

Helping Clients to Live Independently and Safely

It seems scarcely a week goes by without a horror story being reported in the press about elderly people who have been subjected to revolting forms of abuse.  It seems that no matter where you are - at home or in residential accomodation, if you are elderly,  you are at risk.   And in addition to violence, neglect and doorstep fraudsters which are all too common and well covered in the press, perpetrators find ever more ingenious ways to take advantage of the elderly.

I was reading this week about a couple who befriended their neighbour, a woman in her eighties with health problems living alone without family and few friends.  This "caring" couple started out by befriending their neighbour, helping with her chores, progressing to cancelling her care workers, moving her into their home to "look after her", isolating her from her contacts and eventually persuading  her into signing over her home to them.   Luckily for this lady one of her "real" friends became suspicious, investigated the couple and found that they had a history of preying on elderly women living alone in valuable properties and had managed to acquire three other properties in this way.  The friend reported the case to Social Services, but although they ageed to keep an eye on the lady, there was little they could  do in these circumstances when the lady is grateful to her "friends" and seems to be be acting of her own free will.

We need to be vigilant about our vulnerable elderly neighbours. Care Support Workers can be a great help in looking out for their elderly clients ensuring that they are visited regularly and noting anything unusual  in the day to day activities of the home.  This can give peace of mind to relatives.   They can also be sure that our Care Staff are trustworthy because at SureCare, we take safeguarding of our clients very seriously.  All our Care Support Workers have an enhanced CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check and two written references from previous employers.

We then  train them to spot any signs of abuse and have robust procedures to ensure that any suspected or actual abuse is reported and acted upon promptly. The director of SureCare also belongs to the Warwickshire Safeguarding Network to keep up to date with developments in safeguarding and cascades information on safeguarding down to all staff. We are constantly vigilant to ensure that all our clients  are able to live full and independent lives in safety. 

If you are a relative of an elderly adult who needs care please see our website for more information on our services: www.surecarewarks.co.uk