Where Are We Going Today?

A culture change is needed if care homes are to help residents find their way back into society.  Andrew Chilvers, from www.bettercaring.com, a unique consumer website that combines a comprehensive care home directory with stories, tips and an online discussion forum, reports.

For residents of Madley Park House care home in Oxfordshire, afternoons have never been the same since Frances Morgan arrived.

As activities manager, Ms Morgan has brought a wealth of changes to the lives of residents organising shopping trips, days at the seaside and pub lunches. But, more importantly, she’s also helped to bring the local community and the care home residents closer together.

Last year, working with a local art group, she bridged the generation gap and brought children from a nearby school in Witney to work on a joint project called ‘art for age’. This involved a resident and pupil working on a collage together, which was then exhibited in the home and in the school. The project also involved photography and textile work and was such a success that it is
set to be repeated this year.

“Everyone really enjoyed themselves,” Ms Morgan says. “We had 50 children from Blake CofE primary school who took photos of the residents on digital cameras. Every child chose a resident and took a picture of them. 

“They all started talking together and the residents told the children what they used to do, their work, their lives. One resident drove a tank during the war and the children took a picture of him and superimposed him in front a tank. He loved that.”

All the ‘art for age’ exhibits then went on display at a nearby college and the residents were taken to see them: “My residents were astounded to see themselves. Everybody gets to see what they’re doing; we’re so proud of what they have accomplished.”

But engaging with the wider community is probably the project’s biggest accomplishment, taking the residents out of themselves and into other people’s lives – particularly those of children.

Back into the fold

Madley Park House is part of the Order of St John’s Care Trust, which has 74 care homes in four English counties. One of the trust’s aims is to promote activities between the wider community and care home residents.

“It makes residents feel that they’re not just cut out anymore,” Ms Morgan says. “They should be part of the community. We’ll be doing more ‘art for age’ projects with children and we even have our own talent contest where residents read a poem, or sing.”

With homes such as Madley Park House, the Order of St John’s Care Trust is proud of its successes in helping its care home residents integrate with the wider community.  And the activities agenda is spread across the group, with regular meetings to launch new initiatives.

Dawn Matthews-Smith, Oxfordshire county director, believes activities within and outside the care homes are vital for people’s wellbeing and independence. As well as art projects with local schools, the trust also encourages live music in its homes and one even has a fully sprung dance floor.
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“We have swimming classes and we’re taking a coach to Chelsea flower show to help give residents an idea to improve our gardens,” Ms Matthews-Smith says. “Some of our homes have wish trees, where resident put up their wishes for what they’d like to do. As a result, one went up in a helicopter and a couple were blessed because they’d never had the chance when they were
married during the war.

“All of this is so important for the residents. Sitting in a chair and getting depressed doesn’t get you motivated to do anything for yourself.

“In our homes, we’ve got people to walk again. They make an extra effort if they’re motivated. There’s a real connection between wellbeing, self esteem and health.”

Care homes in other counties are also setting up similar regimes. Hopkirk House in New Malden,

Surrey, has a residents’ committee for entertainment and has regular school visits. Manager Lorna Vanson believes in bringing as much activity to the home as possible, including reminiscence sessions between residents and children and teaching residents how to use the Internet.

“We’re training all our residents where we can,” Ms Vanson says. “We have a 99-year old who goes on the Internet regularly and we had a resident who was 102 who learned how to use it.

They can send emails to relatives, receive them and find out what’s happening in the world around them.”

Elsewhere in Surrey, hospital radio broadcaster Radio Wey has teamed up with Whitegate Nursing Home in Laleham to pioneer the first radio show exclusively broadcasting to a care home. The playlist is dictated by the residents and the show inevitably has an eclectic feel, from modern ballads and rock ‘n’ roll to old time music hall hits and classical arias.

DJ Clive Stevens is amazed at how responsive residents are: “There are two or three who like classical music, so I’m developing a bit of a classical corner. There are some who want Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole, some who want Abba, Cliff or the Carpenters.

Occasionally one or two might ask for some Queen – they like ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.

Outdated and dangerous

Charity Help the Aged has long been campaigning for care homes to build outside activities programmes for residents, bringing the elderly back into the wider community.

Annie Stevenson, the charity’s senior policy adviser for health and social care, believes many care homes continue with methods that are outdated and dangerous for the residents. What’s needed is a sea change in attitudes towards the idea of social care in homes.

“We’re talking about residents being in institutional care, that’s what the tradition of care homes is,” Ms Stevenson says. “The care home is often an isolated community in itself that is cut off from the rest of the community.

“The impact of this on people is that they become more passive, it increases dependency, depression, they become withdrawn in care homes where they don’t get access to the community, their friends, or getting out. It can actually kill people because when they’re not being stimulated, they’re in their own world and not treated as human beings.

“Staff are too busy concentrating on everyday tasks of getting them up, washed, dressed and fed that they’re not connecting with them. Without that, older people can just fade away; people can die of boredom and under-stimulation.”

Ms Stevenson claims Help the Aged is keen to change this passive culture that exists in care homes, but understands the problems care home managers have in their day-to-day jobs: “They need to change the way they’re perceived from the outside world because we think there’s a lot of value in good care homes. But we have to change attitudes. People shouldn’t go into a care home and just be fed and watered, it’s not just about basic needs. It’s the difference between life and death.”

Nevertheless, Ms Stevenson is realistic about the changes that can be brought about by care homes that are often private concerns and strapped for funds. She agrees that organising trips out and bringing in entertainment costs money. “Of course, care has been under funded for decades,” she says. “It costs money for many of these activities. But a lot of it is down to attitude.

It’s about creative ideas, ways to counter the sense the residents are doing the same thing every day.

“It’s about changing the culture of care homes. It doesn’t cost anything to smile and talk to people – and that can make a huge difference.”