Gina and Ian talk about how they have seen the shorter but more regular visits provided by NR Care alongside wider support from staff at The Great Hospital whilst ensuring residents get what they need it has also nurtured greater connection between residents themselves.

Ian notes that what is often most important to people is not necessarily what you need but what you wish for which is often as simple sitting down over a cup of tea and a chat.

With the wider activity, communal restuarant and events at The Great Hospital these combined factors have organically begun to reduce isolation and nurture connection.

Gina gives examples of how the Local Authority has been working alongside them.

Transcript

 Well, it’s about making sure that we are providing the care that people need and that isn’t just about their physical needs, but is maybe what a care assessment might be around, it’s those tasks, what somebody needs help with having a wash in the morning, help with getting dressed.

Address help with having their medication, help with making breakfast. You know, a care assessment might say this is what somebody needs. But in life, and in truth, if we don’t have those things, we don’t thrive. We’re not successful and that applies for any of us, but actually what’s important to most people in life isn’t what you need.It’s what you want, what you wish for.  And that’s why generally speaking, we do longer visits in other settings because it gives us time to actually work on those things that people actually want, and usually it’s as simple as being able to sit down and actually have a cup of tea with a person.

So that’s the rapport ongoing that way. And we are comfortable and confident that when we are not there, there’s a larger level of engagement between the residents themselves. They go, you know, it’s. The events that are held here. They have a nice restaurant here that a lot of people go to, so we are just part of like a bigger thing here.

It’s amazing. It’s amazing. And what does that [Gina, you might like to come in on this as well], make possible?

It, makes, I think quality of life aand reducing isolation, which is always a worry for us, I know Covid was quite a few years ago now, but  some of us are bearing the scars of that and people getting very isolated in their homes. So I think that it’s helped very much with that. But the other thing that has happened, and it’s sort of, we hoped it would happen, but it’s, it’s happened quite slowly and organically.

We’ve got residents now who have been receiving care through NR Care. Who we didn’t know about, who weren’t on the radar at all. When we consulted with the whole site, we did really focused work with the people who were receiving care, who were gonna be most impacted. We’ve had a couple of residents just in the last few months I that come to mind. Who weren’t receiving care and didn’t have a a care need at that time. But who now I think because there’s trust that’s built between us and the home care provider and also the residents talk to each other and are kind of saying it’s, it’s helping them. We’ve stepped outside of the purely prescribed social care act kind of definitions of care, and some residents are fortunate and are able to buy that care themselves.  And the local authority to its credit has tried to flex. We’ve got a particular resident who, who doesn’t necessarily have personal care needs, but is incredibly lonely and very, very vulnerable. And just having regular checks which will be, which will be a something like having a cup of tea in a chat, which isn’t something that you can kind of validate on a Care Act assessment.