1st%20Choice%20News%20Winter%202012%20newsletter

w w w . 1 s t c h o i c e c a r e h o m e s . c o m

1st Choice News

2012 is brimming with op-portunities and full of sig-nificant, exciting events.

The sporting highlights are the London 2012 Olympics and footballs‟ Euro 2012. In the care world, life is constantly changing and this year will be no different.

Heart of change

1st Choice intend to be at the heart of that change.

We have major develop-ments and refurbish-ments in the offing. Our resolve to individu-alise the care of every single one of our resi-dents and their families will take huge strides forward. The aim is for all our homes to be considered centres of excellence for palliative and dementia care.

2012 will also see the growth of the 1st Choice seamless care service; setting up a home support network help-ing people with early stage

dementia. Add to this the major building works at The Bramblings and Acacia, we are clearly in for a busy year ahead.

With the advent of all of

these developments we will not only be giving people the most appropriate care for their level of need, but our clients will stay independent

for longer.

Affordable

We are also aware that financially life is tougher, so our plans are to provide afford-able options to maxi-mize your budgets. Flexible day care and respite care services at 1st Choice, can offer people the support they need without making a

hole in your pocket. Contact us to talk

through your options.

Enjoy 2012 and all it has to offer, knowing that 1st Choice Care Homes will be helping to make it one of the best years of your life.

The Skills for Care Acco-lade awards for 2011/12 take place in Manchester in March. 1st Choice Care Homes will be there.

Best Employer Award

After a thorough interview process we are delighted to say that 1st Choice have

earned their place as finalists in the Best Employer over 250 staff award. The Acco-

lades are arguably the most prestigious and independent national care awards.

Top Accolades

2012 An exciting year of opportunity

Inside this issue:

Gold Standards at Acacia 2

Clare’s Comment 2

Staff Survey 3

Inspection Successes 3

1st Choice Care Awards 4/5

Birthdays and Babies 6

Sports Desk 6

Panto time 7

Games and fun 7

Win a bottle of fizz! 7

ISSUE 4

W INTER 2012

High quality dementia care at

Creedy House

Making it to the final three is a wonderful testimony to our dedicated staff teams throughout the organisation and something to be proud of.

It would be the cherry on the cake to win through on the night. Who says you can‟t have your cake and eat it!

i n f o @ 1 s t c h o i c e c a r e h o m e s . c o m

Page 2 Issue 4

Achieving the Liverpool Pathway Gold Standard Framework is widely recognized as the peak of high quality care for peo-ple in the final days of their lives.

Lisa Turner and her team of staff at Acacia House nursing home in Ten-terden do more than aspire to this standard.

Lisa has embraced the philosophies of the gold standard framework and applied them with great success in her home.

BEST QUALITY

The Liverpool Pathway is concerned with ensur-ing that the best quality of care and person-centred support is given to people at the end of their lives.

Developed by specialists in the field of Palliative care at Liverpool Univer-sity and Marie Curie Cancer Care, the GSF is now widely applied

throughout the country in hospices, nursing homes and hospitals.

It represents a key sea change in the way care for the dying is imple-mented, promoting the choices of every person to

the final breath.

We spoke to Lisa about the Framework and what it has meant to people at Acacia.

“The framework is a guide that all my staff know about. When they are helping and support-ing someone in the last days of their lives it re-minds everyone to focus

on respecting that per-son. Dignity in death is so vitally important for the person, their families and friends and the staff. We must always remem-ber that how a person dies affects those who live

on after them. There is only one opportunity to get it right. The GSF sets the standard so this can happen every single time.”

In many respects work-ing towards the Gold Standard Framework has proven to Lisa and her staff that they were doing most things right in the first place.

CONSISTENCY

It has introduced consis-tency alongside best prac-tice, so that anyone choosing to move into Acacia House, can have the utmost security that they will be given the dignity and respect that they deserve for every second of the time they live in the house.

strive to be innovative in our care provision with the ad-vent of day care services across the group. We also have the added excitement of new extensions, both at the Bramblings in Dover and Acacia House in Tenterden.

All of our managers have completed or are close to completing developmental courses. Yvonne Copleston has successfully completed the Jackie Pool dementia

What an exciting year we have had at 1st Choice Care Homes, which all culmi-nated in our fabulous awards ceremony at the Ramada Hotel Dover in December.

We have continued to make great strides forward towards our dream of a seamless ser-vice for people with dementia care needs and 2012 will see many of these plans begin to bear fruit.

At 1st Choice we continue to

practice course and Lalitha Kumar has finished her foun-dation degree at Christ-church University.

Finally, I would just like to say a very big thank you from all of the management team to our superb staff teams for their care and dedication that makes 1st Choice the place where people want to be.

Here’s to 2012!

Clare

CLARE’S COMMENT

GOING FOR GOLD

MANAGER

SPOTLIGHT

Lisa is a Registered Nurse and has been the manager of Aca-cia House for 3 years.

She has created a wonderful team at the home, which has a reputation for providing top quality nursing and palliative care.

Lisa was the 1st Choice Care Homes manager of the year 2011.

In the recent staff survey, she achieved one of the highest ratings throughout the organi-sation praising her supportive-ness and management skills.

Lisa Turner

Acacia House

Don’t forget

Any resident of a 1st Choice

Home accompanied by a

friend or a member of their

family can get a free lunch at

The Dover Marina Hotel or

The Ramada Hotel Dover.

Just ask the manager of

your home for more details.

Page 3 1st Choice News

With 2011 now behind us it is a really good time to re-view how we are doing as an

organisation.

In November staff surveys were made available for every member of the 1st Choice teams. Having over 280 staff this was a big exercise. The 2011 staff survey was also the first time everyone from vol-unteers to managers got to have their say.

DELIGHTED

We were genuinely delighted with the results. Not every-thing in the garden is rosy, but constructive criticism is a huge motivation behind ask-ing people what they think.

107 staff responded to the survey spanning all 8 homes. They were asked 12 questions about the home they work in and 1st Choice Care Homes as a whole. People were asked to rate their responses from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). They were also encouraged to make comments.

RESULTS

Overall, staff said that they were happy working in their individual homes and that the training is very good throughout 1st Choice.

We were also told that there is less satisfaction with people feeling valued and listened to by the organisation.

There was a wide variety of comments, that have made interesting and enlightening reading.

We are now in the process of putting an action plan to-gether to address any con-cerns and will publish a full report by January 31st.

We have recently had inspec-tions at both Whitfield and Oakdale Residential Homes with very positive outcomes.

NO CONCERNS

There is no longer a star rat-ing system in use by CQC, although this is likely to change in the next year, but both Oakdale and Whitfield achieved the highest standard possible.

All the areas that the inspec-

The Care Quality Commis-sion (CQC) have had the media spotlight on them over the past 6 months.

Their job is to stamp out poor practice and make sure that all care homes and health services meet national standards of good quality care.

At 1st Choice we have always believed in working with CQC to improve standards.

tors looked at came out as fully compliant with no con-cerns whatsoever.

Well done to Lalitha, Mel and their teams at Whitfield and Oakdale.

It‟s a big thumbs up from us and from CQC!

To view reports for all care homes including Whitfield and Oakdale visit:

www.cqc.org.uk

STAFF SURVEY 2011

INSPECTION SUCCESS

Whitfield.

All-in-all the weekend was a rip roaring success for 1st Choice and Crossroads Care

The final figures are in. The Kent homes raised a whopping £1,237 for Crossroads East Kent and Oakdale alone raised £500 for the Essex branch.

Clare Swan and Yvonne Coplestone presented a rather large cheque, in more ways than one, to Lorraine William-son.

Lorraine said, “We are so grate-ful. It is wonderful that 1st Choice have chosen to give something back to carers.”

Some of you may remember that in October we held a weekend festival of events cele-brating UK Older People‟s Day.

We had a truly fantastic time with a charity auction at Hat-field Lodge, a multi-cultural fun day at Creedy House and a best of British day at Oakdale.

There were numerous head shaves and chest waxes, musi-cal entertainment and a bizarre three-legged fancy dress race at

CHARITY PAY DAY

Could this be our next

inspector?

Thumbs up from CQC!

MANAGER

SPOTLIGHT

Lalitha Kumar

Whitfield

Lalitha is a hugely respected member of the 1st Choice team.

She began life with us as a Deputy Manager at Bram-bling Lodge, but when the opportunity arose for her to become manager at Whitfield she jumped at the chance.

Lalitha has recently com-pleted her foundation degree in dementia studies at Christ-church University.

Clare and Yvonne present £1237.00 to Lorraine (centre).

Page 4 Issue 4

1st Choice Care Awards Every year we celebrate the exemplary work of our care teams. Our hugely dedicated staff deserve some recogni-tion for their hard work throughout the year. Our care awards are a chance for all our staff to let their hair down with a fabulous Christmas meal and party at the Ramada Hotel in Dover.

Alongside this, a host of awards are handed out including Manager of the Year, Employee of the Year and Carer of the Year.

Lisa Turner Acacia House

Acacia House

Brambling House

Brambling Lodge

Support People of the Year

Creedy House

Rachel Turnbull

Christine Graddock

Matilda Boateng

Jeana Totterdale

Jade Thatcher

Libby Merrick

Ian Crisp

Acacia House

Rachel Tulley

Karen Craskall

Kerry Herbert

Sally Norris

Angela Eager

Tina Gravener Balendran Pratheepan

Head Office

The 1st Choice Stars

2011


1st Choice Care Awards

Christine Osbourne Brambling Lodge

Carolyn Read Creedy House

Managers Manager of the Year

Hatfield Lodge

Oakdale

Whitfield Tudor Lodge

Julie Williams

Tudor Lodge

Dennis Perry

Julie Ellender

Anita Mensah

Lorraine Maskell

Sarah-Jane Wilson

Tracey Carruthers

Flint Chikaviro

Tanya Robertson

Tracey Eggby

Vanessa Townley

Elma Cavalida

Jobin Jose

Well done to all the award winners and

nominees.

Employee of the Year Runners-up:

Leanne Beardmore—Whitfield

Jenny Sinclair—Brambling House

Page 6 Issue 4

Someone once told me that you should never ask a woman her age. I think it was my Mum who was 68 at the time!

Well, 1st Choice have cele-brated two very significant birthdays for two very signifi-cant people.

Both Clare Swan, the Opera-tions Manager and Anita O‟Neill, Creedy House Man-

ager told me independently that they are 21...again! It is remarkable seeing as they both have children in their late teens. Ah, the wonders of modern science.

As is the 1st Choice way, surprise parties were organ-ised for both of them.

Clare was invited to a meet-ing with our Directors, Menon and Seelan at the Ramada Hotel in Dover. “What a way to spend my birthday!”, she was heard saying as she left the office.

Little did she know that a fabulous meal had been laid on with staff and managers there in attendance.

Anita arrived at Creedy House on her birthday with residents, staff, family and friends hiding out in the dining room.

Her face was a picture as she walked in to the cries of „SURPRISE...HAPPY 50th!‟

Oops, I think I just gave it away!

Nevertheless they bounced back from a 4-2 loss to Can-terbury City with a thrilling

After a barnstorming start to the season the 1st Choice Care Homes sponsored Do-ver Athletic Under 13‟s have had a mixed run of results leading up to Christmas.

After comprehensively out-playing Ramsgate FC in a 5-1 victory courtesy of an Eddie Woolston hatrick, followed by a narrow 2-1 win against Canterbury Youth, the boys finally tasted their first defeat.

3-3 draw against Ashford and a 2-1 victory over Maid-stone. The year ended on a low note with Maidstone getting their revenge and Hollands & Blair both scrap-ing 2-1 wins against our gallant heroes.

Going into 2012, Dover are lying 5th in the table with games in hand over all of the

teams above them.

Come on you whites!

Kerry Herbert is due to have a baby boy in late Spring. Cherimae Montenegro is also expecting. What do they put in the water there?

The 1st Choice head office has also had a couple of new arrivals.

Accountant, Pratheep and his wife have recently had their

second child. A little boy called Nayan.

Head of maintenance, Dave Clark is to become a member of an exclusive club...the Great Grandad Club.

Finally, head accountant, Sasekumar, is getting married this January in Sri Lanka. Could this be the precursor to the pitter patter of more little feet! Watch this space.

The baby boom at 1st Choice contin-ues to flourish with Brambling House still at the centre of things.

On the back of 4 newly wetted heads since the Summer two more members of the care team have an-nounced pregnancies.

BABIES

SPORTS NEWS

21...again!!!

Dover Athletic Under 13’s

sponsored by 1st Choice

Results

Ramsgate 1 DAFC 5

DAFC 2 Canterbury Youth 1

Canterbury City 4 DAFC 2

DAFC 3 Ashford Borough 3

Maidstone Utd 1 DAFC 2

DAFC 1 Maidstone Utd 2

Hollands & Blair 2 DAFC 1

Table (top 7) P W D L GD Pts

1. Maidstone 12 9 1 2 39 28

2. Cant Yth 11 8 1 2 19 25

3. Faversham 10 5 3 2 3 18

4. Ashford 11 4 4 3 6 16

5. DAFC 8 4 1 3 3 13

6. Hollands 10 4 0 6 0 12

7. Vinters 11 3 2 6 -4 11

Mum-to-be, Kerry Herbert

Clare with Menon and Seelan

Anita has a big blow out!

HAIR TODAY...

Poor old Andy Appleby, maintenance man at The Bramblings, had his head shaved, raising money for the resident‟s fund along

the way. We took a camera along for a laugh...at his

expense!

Before

During

After

Send your caption to [email protected].

The fabulous cast and crew at Hatfield

Christmas just isn‟t Christ-mas without a Pantomime and oh boy have we had some Panto‟s (slap your thigh!).

With the festive season now behind us, memories of the Big Bad Wolf sneaking up on Little Red Riding Hood are still fresh in everyone‟s minds.

Every home had their share of thigh slapping fun with professional theatre compa-nies putting on shows in our homes, residents visiting the Marlowe Theatre and the staff at Hatfield Lodge put-ting on their very own show.

Take a look at the pictures!


GAMES, PUZZLES AND FUN

C L N

E E L T X E

WORD WHEEL

Find as many words as you can of 3 letters or more.. You must use the centre letter in every word. There is one 9 letter word to find.

Now it‟s 2012 find the following Olympic related words in the grid.

Olympics

Canoeing

Javelin

Equestrian

Cycling

Gymnastics

J I C C A N O E I N G R

E A P W D J N S C O T B

S U V Q U I R U K F N E

C G V E Z P S O L Y O Q

I G N I L C Y C L I L U

T W E D D I Y E U K H E

S Y S M A L N L O S T S

A S W I M M I N G H A T

N O T N I M D A B U C R

M Y H I G H J U M P E I

Y S C I P M Y L O E D A

G N I W O R V O R S A N

Rowing

High Jump

Badminton

Decathlon

Swimming

Discus

Can you also find the name of one of Britain‟s Gold medal hopes using the highlighted letters.

Clue: The Manx Missile!

HE’S BEHIND YOU...OH NO HE ISN’T!

Things get a little

devilish at Creedy

Fun for all ages at Acacia

CAPTION COMPETITION

Win a bottle of bubbly!

Think of a funny caption for the picture below.

1st Choice Care Homes are committed to making a positive difference to people‟s lives. We

work with people who have dementia in 7 of our care services and with people in need of pal-

liative and nursing care in Acacia House.

We aim high, but we know that improvement and development is a continual process. It is for

that reason that our mantra is, „to do what we do better every day‟.

We do not pretend to be perfect, but we do strive for excellence in every aspect of the care

that we provide. If you raise a concern or issue with us, you can be assured that it will be taken

seriously and if there are learning points for us as an organisation, then we will take them on

board and we will learn from them.

It is the goal of 1st Choice Care Homes that everybody will, one day, look to us for guidance

and consider us as the example for everyone else to follow.

Please let us know your views.

18-20 Manor Road Folkestone

Kent

Phone: 01303 249933 Fax: 01303 249955

[email protected]

Specialists in Palliative and Dementia Care

Check out our website

at www.1stchoicecarehomes.com

ACACIA HOUSE –Nursing and palliative care

Ashford Road, Tenterden, Kent, TN30 6QA

01580 765122 [email protected]

BRAMBLING HOUSE –Dementia residential care

46 Eythorne Road, Shepherdswell, Dover, CT15 7PG


BRAMBLING LODGE –Dementia residential care

48 Eythorne Road, Shepherdswell, Dover, CT15 7PG


CREEDY HOUSE –Dementia nursing care

Nether Avenue, Littlestone, New Romney, TN28 8NB


HATFIELD LODGE –Dementia residential care

1-3 Trinity Gardens, Folkestone, Kent, CT20 2RP


OAKDALE –Dementia residential care

123 Kiln Road, Benfleet, Essex. SS7 1TG


TUDOR LODGE –Dementia residential care

18-20 Manor Road, Folkestone, Kent, CT20 2SA


WHITFIELD –Dementia residential care

107 Sandwich Road, Whitfield, Dover, Kent, CT16 3JP


Providing solutions for all your care needs

Day Care Respite Care

Residential Care Nursing Care

Talk to us about the

best option for you

Documents

1st%20Choice%20News%20Winter%202012%20newsletter