A new lease of life.

It’s so easy to take our vision for granted.

Vision is a key sense in helping us better understand and engage with the world around us.

From taking part in your favourite hobbies to eating food, your sight plays a big role in how you undertake and enjoy activities or even basic daily tasks.

Figures from Future Sight Loss UK reveal that there are 1 in 5 people over 75 in the UK living with some form of sight loss – and this figure rises to 1 in 2 for those over the age of 90.

Poor vision can result in increased falls, isolation, depression and lack of engagement with the individual’s surroundings.

Even if your sight is poor, there’s always room for improvement through good eye care to help you see better and live better.

A regular sight test can help to minimise incidents through improved vision and treatment or management of any eye health problems before they cause damage to a person’s sight.

Sight can also be improved through knowing whether or not glasses are needed or a change in prescription.

However, large changes in a prescription must be avoided as it’s more difficult for elderly people to adapt to new lenses than younger people and can cause disorientation and poor depth perception.

Disorientation and poor depth perception create a cycle of falls, reluctance, isolation and avoidance from activities and living in general.

Good eye care also includes making sure glasses are clean, current and correct to your latest prescription as this allows us to make the most of our sight.

Clean glasses make it possible for someone to participate in their surroundings unhindered as there aren’t unnecessary floating marks and smudges everywhere they look.

This can prevent an individual from isolating themselves as clean glasses ensure clarity and improved vision of what they can see, which is important if they have an eye condition which restricts or limits vision.

Small adaptions to a person’s care for their sight makes a world of difference and it’s something we’re all guilty of taking for granted.

Visioncall believe all individuals should have the opportunity to engage with the world around them and more importantly, enjoy it.

By making the most of our vision regardless of how much or little we can see, there is an endless world of independence, opportunities and memories.

You can make this a possibility for someone you care for or care about, starting with a visit from an optician.

If you have visited one of our homes over the past few months you would have noticed the bustling of activity coming from our social areas, this is because we spent the past six months building a collection of creative art.  Ranging from drama to sculpture, the works were displayed at our very first art exhibition which took place in May, in the Mercat Centre, Kirkcaldy.   This week we were absolutely delighted to receive a motion from Parliament to recognise the success of our exhibition.  As you can imagine everyone is absolutely delighted.  Art Therapy is one of our greatest passions here at Kingdom Homes, we feel it not only showcases our resident’s talents but also encourages the learning of new skills and is a wonderful outlet for self-expression.

However, this is not the only excitement we have enjoyed this week!

Residents from our Auchtertool home, Camilla House have been very busy indeed.  Thanks to the fabulous loan box service at Kirkcaldy museum they have been enjoying a week of childhood reminiscence.  Being able to handle items such as a WW2 children’s gas mask, a vintage 3d viewer and of course the dreaded school strap, brought back lots of fun memories.  Another thrilling event at Camilla House this week was a visit from animal handling experts, Zoolab.  The team brought with them a variety of fabulous animals including snakes, giant millipedes and a couple giant land snails.  Our residents not only enjoyed the sensory benefits of being able to hold the animals but also enjoyed engaging with the handlers and asking questions about their new exotic friends.

Further up the coast in Cellerdyke, the residents of Willow House have been designing their new tuck shop.   Over the past few days they have been making lists for the type of stock they want to sell while enjoying reminiscence sessions about childhood sweets.  They have also exercised their fabulous creative side by designing posters and making decorations for their shop.  This has been a particularly fun project as our groups have not only enjoyed being able to see their idea come to fruition but have loved sharing stories with each other.

We are also delighted at the positive feedback from our recent Namaste Care launch.  The benefits from this multi-dimensional programme have been very encouraging.  Designed at promoting communication and spiritual contact with individuals living with more advanced dementia, each session covers physical, sensory and emotional elements in a protected environment.  We are now ready to launch Namaste in three more homes, with our aim in to have the practice running successfully within all our homes by early 2019.

And finally, several ladies from our Cardenden home, Fernlea House enjoyed a lady’s day complete with shoe shopping and afternoon tea.  As you can see from the brilliant photograph taken while trying on some spectacular shoes, everyone was not only feeling fabulous but also looking fabulous as well.

All in all it has been a lovely week here at Kingdom Homes with lots of good news across the company.  Fortunately, the excitement doesn’t end there as we have the first of our summer barge trips with the Seagull Trust Cruises taking place at the end of the month and we have just launched a Gentleman’s Games Club in our Cardenden home which we hope will be hugely popular.

There is never a dull moment at Kingdom Homes, we are always looking to enhance the lives of the residents in our care with our staff working every day to promote the excellence ethos.

For further information on Kingdom Homes or to follow our activities & events please see our website: www.kingdomhomesltd.co.uk or like our Facebook Page.

Paula Paterson,

Events Manager, Kingdom Homes

Dining Room

A Care Home in Aberdeen City had previously been using one large room for dining. At times this space became crowded and very noisy. Some residents obviously found this unpleasant, unsettling and some could become quite agitated which had an impact on their appetite.  Some residents were not very sensitive regarding those who needed more assistance and often hurtful and upsetting comments could be heard directed at the residents who needed more support.  It was also difficult at times for staff to focus on the resident they were assisting due to the noise levels and general chaotic atmosphere.

They took the decision to introduce a second smaller dining room for the more independent residents.  In the second dining room, the placed residents with similar social skills and abilities, and encouraged independence in various ways, such as providing toast racks, butter dishes, preserves on tables even going on to provide tea/coffee pots with milk jugs.  Residents are given side plates and butter knifes and encouraged to “help themselves”. They continued to work towards a “buffet” style breakfast providing choices of juice, cereal and fruit which residents can help themselves to. The plan was to provide a more convivial dining experience.

One resident would knock on her neighbour’s door to make sure that they both get to the dining room independently.  This gives her a task/purpose and allowed her to feel valued.  Another resident (registered blind) needed a lot of assistance, joined the small dining room and was able to eat by herself with the use of a plate guard and the 12’oclock plate system.  Her appetite improved, and it was noted she became less frustrated.  A resident who used to have all her meals in her bed room decided to use the smaller dining room and   this has enabled her to feel less isolated.

Staff noted that the residents in the independent small dining room formed a closer friendship and felt responsible for each other. If somebody did not arrive for meal time a resident would check if the person was ok.  A gentleman who has previously been unable to due to illness received a cheer when he re-entered the dining room.  Overall the mood in both dining rooms improved and the atmosphere became more relaxed and residents in the independent dining room would look out for each other.  This small change made for a much more positive dining room experience for everybody.

Theraponies

Torry Care Home Residents in the city of Aberdeen, enjoyed the visit from the Theraponies named Applejack and Flicker from Perth last during April 2018. The residents were delighted to interact with the Ponies who were quite soft and fluffy to touch. 

This year you can nominate in 13 categories as follows:

1. Ancillary & Support Staff Award

2. Nutrition & Eating Well Award

3. Meaningful Activity Award

4. Training & Staff Development Award

5. Innovative Practice Award

6. Emerging Talent Award

7. Manager/ Leader of the Year Award

8. Nurse of the Year Award

9. Carer of the Year Award

10.Specialist Service/ Unit of the Year Award

11. Care Home Service of the Year Award

12.Outstanding Achievement Award

13.Positive Impact Award

If you work with an individual or a team, or perhaps are a family member who wants to acknowledge excellent care then please take the time to complete the nomination forms ahead of the August 31 deadline. The Awards themselves will be held on November 16, 2018 at the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow. This is always an emotional night of celebration for those involved and is a true showcase of the high standards and dedication of those working in the sector. 

Scottish Care has a longstanding collaborative relationship with documentary maker Michael Rea. The film below highlights the finalists from the Nurse of the Year category of the National Care Awards 2016. Take a look and see if you know someone similar who might be worthy of a nomination!

Please read the guidelines below before beginning you nomination. You can nominate online or download a Word version of the nomination form and submit the completed version to [email protected]

If you opt to nominate online, you will be prompted to complete the nomination form in one sitting, so we advise you to download the PDF version beforehand to see the steps required. 

Good Luck!

At Highland Hospice we have been facilitating ECHO communities of practice since 2016, supporting care homes, out of hours practitioners, community specialist nurses (Macmillan Nurses), community pharmacists and more recently, remote and rural GPs.

Project ECHO began in New Mexico (USA), successfully increasing the ability of rural primary care clinicians to deliver “complex speciality care in the area of Hepatitis C.” It is now used for a wide variety of diseases including diabetes, asthma, and rheumatological conditions, and is proven to improve care.

The heart of the ECHO model™ is its hub-and-spoke knowledge-sharing networks, facilitated by specialist teams who use multi-point videoconferencing to conduct virtual ‘clinics’ with community providers. In this way, care home staff, primary care doctors, nurses, and other clinicians learn to provide excellent specialty care to patients in their own communities.

Participants benefit by receiving evidence-based, best practice guidance through expert presentations and by sharing their experience through the presentation of case studies. Facilitated discussion ensures that the ECHO mantra ‘All teachers and all learners’ is upheld.

To date, through ECHO, we support 20 care homes across the Highlands who wish to learn and share their experience in topics, chosen by themselves, related to palliative and end of life care.

In a recent evaluation of Project ECHO carried out by the University of the Highlands & Islands Department of Rural Health & Wellbeing, six care home staff were interviewed and their comments evaluated.

Generally, interviewees felt they needed support and advice to deal with palliative care, which can be a large part of the care they provide.  As care home staff do not necessarily have medical backgrounds, they value being able to just “pick up the phone” for advice.

Care homes, particularly in the Highlands of Scotland, can be located in rural areas that are a long distance from any specialist services. Research showed that being rural can lead to the feeling of being a “lost cause at the end of the valley”.

As an attempt to try and meet some of this need, Project ECHO was positively evaluated by care home staff who described a range of specific ways that they had changed their daily practice as a result of participating.

One manager had ordered fans straight away for residents with breathing difficulties following a session on breathlessness. Another described devising and introducing palliative care plans following discussion with District Nurses, GPs and families. This manager felt that these plans have had positive impacts on daily life in the home because they allow staff to pinpoint a resident’s needs more easily, without having to look through a whole care plan.  There was also a feeling of confidence to approach end of life care at the ‘moving in’ meetings with new residents and families.

Falls prevention and communication (ie use of talking mats; language and phrases to use with patients) were also identified as areas of increased knowledge for care homes.

Highland Hospice has recently been granted a licence as one of 11 (to date) global training centres or ECHO ‘Superhubs’ sited in the USA, Canada, South America, India and the UK. Highland Hospice is the only Superhub in Scotland, and we hope to replicate the experience of other areas of the world where Project ECHO has been described as a “revolution in medical education and care delivery.”

If you wish to learn more about Project ECHO please visit the University of New Mexico’s website (https://echo.unm.edu/) and if you would like to discuss ways in which Highland Hospice might help you develop your own ECHO communities of practice (in any healthcare field, not just palliative and end of life care) please contact either Sharan Brown (Project Lead) at [email protected] or Jeremy Keen at [email protected].