Notes from recent Relatives meeting held on 24th January 2024: Askham Hall and Askham House
Present:
Apologies: William G (House) , Sue B (Hall), Roger Hills (House)
Attendees: Faye Dunning (Note Taker), Sue Kightly, Emma Saunders (Activites), Anna – Maria Spitelnicu, Anju Antony, Emma Overall
Chaired by: Esther Johnson
Notes:
Meeting started at 7pm.
Faye and Stacy introduced themselves.
(EJ) Welcome to the 3rd individual Residents and Relatives meeting, Askham used to hold joint meetings with the other communities, bur we feel its more relevant to do them individually.
I want to take the opportunity to introduce Emma she is the Event Coordinator and will be organising the activities.
(ES) We just wanted to let you know that we have restructured the activities team and there is a person allocated to each home, so a lot more activities will planned. We are looking at bringing in a lot more 1:1 session which we hope to the complete in the mornings, we would then be doing group activities in the afternoon. We have some bigger activities being organised such as a bake sale and the summer fayre. We are also organising wheelchair travels so in February we will be going to France we will be boarding a plane with out passports and boarding passes and experience French food and music when we arrive, we will be visiting various countries each month.
We are also looking at doing ‘Residents wishes’ where we speak with the residents and if they have a wish, they are willing to share we will try and make this wish come true.
We have also started an exercise group we have called it music and movement; this is to try and keep our residents active, we have coffee mornings and knit and natter planned. We are also trialling a Intergenerational play, this will involve a playgroup attending Askham and some of our resident and we will have tea / juice and mix with each other. We are open to any suggestions so please share you ideas if you have any.
(EJ) Thank you Emma, I have noticed since the restructure the activities have increased please keep it up you and your team are doing an amazing job.
What’s not going well
We organised a manager’s surgery which we thought would be an opportunity for relatives to air and worries and concerns you may have regarding your loved one, this has been in place since December and we have only had 2 people take it up so far, we will keep it going for a few more months.
(SK) I didn’t know about this?
(EJ) There has been a few emails go out, Faye can you resend the email.
Dementia Bus
This was very successful I believe all staff and some relatives attended this training, we have taken away a lot of useful information from this, like the signs we now have up in Dementia friendly colours, we have also brought coloured plates to help the residents recognise their foods easier.
We recently had a Dementia train the trainer session where the team was shown the best was to assist feeding a resident with dementia it was very interesting.
Resident of the day
We have been running with resident of the day and trying to make it feel a little bit special for the resident. I will ask Anju to speak to you regarding this.
(AA) The team have designed a resident of the day poster, and this is attached to the relevant door for the day, the resident of the day will have their care plan reviewed, their room deep cleaned, they will also be taken to the café for a drink and a piece of cake. Hopefully when the warmer days come we would be able to go a little further a field and do more activities outside.
(EJ) Keyworkers
This is something that we have always had but it has been advanced a little more, while you are in your loved one’s rooms you should see on the wardrobes who their keyworkers are and their named nurses. The keyworkers are responsible for making sure the residents have toiletries and keep a eye on their clothing to make sure they fit etc. They also will be contacting relatives weekly to give you an update on your loved one’s care.
External medical needs
Opticians they came end of last year and completed eyes tests for all residents, those that needed glasses should not have receive them, they should come back in 1 years’ time to repeat the tests.
Podiatrist comes every 6 weeks to both House and Hall this seems to be going well.
Dentist – We have been trying to get a dentist to come to Askham and see our residents this is proving to be very difficult and if we can find people, they are very expensive, so for now relatives will still need to arrange this, we will keep looking for a solution.
Hearing test – I went on a conference the other week and met with a charity that will come round and complete hearing tests and supply hearing aids for free.
Environment
We are decorating our rooms as they empty going forward.
Bannisters are all being revarnished.
Replacing the carpets along the corridors.
(SK) – Are you keeping carpets?
(EJ) – Yes
New menu
Askham are looking at bringing in a new company who will be taking over our menus, once this is fully arranged there will be a taster day arranged and relatives, residents and staff are welcome to come and join in the tasting.
Staffing
Hall
Patience James passed her oskies and now has her pin – Congratulations to her.
1 x Lead Nurse, 3 x Nurses 1 x AP and 19 Carers
House
Seth Sugathan has also passed his oaskies and has his Pin.
Aleena John is also waiting on her pin – Congratulations to both Seth and Aleena.
1 x Lead Nurse, 3 x Nurses, 1 x AP and 21 Carers
In the pipeline
2 x Full time nurses for Hall
1 x Part time nurse for House
Recruitment is ongoing for carers and some of the senior nurses are completing further training to help the nurses out.
Care home review
Our ratings on carehome.co.uk currently are.
Hall – 8.8%
House 7.8%
Please could you go on and review us, as this is very helpful for people when they are searching for a care home for their loved ones.
The links to submit your reviews can be found below:
Askham Hall: https://www.carehome.co.uk/review-submit/81699/rcsid/1012/
Askham House: https://www.carehome.co.uk/review-submit/13609/rcsid/1012/
I think this concludes the meeting, as anybody got anything they would like say.
(ES) Photo consent forms, please can these be reviewed as a lot of them state that they would NOT like their pictures but on the website and I appreciate some people are more open to this now. We have lots of pictures, but we are unable to release them.
(SK) Is there any training out there for the overseas staff for feeding a blind person, as it seems that they are just asking mum to open her mouth and putting the food in and not talking to her or explaining what it is she is eating.
(EJ) We will investigate this?
(EO) Ness did some training with me where she blindfolded me, and spoon fed me the right way and then the wrong way.
(EJ) Thank you for everyone that has attended the meeting and we will see you soon.