Fairmile Grange care home has further expanded the health and wellbeing services it provides for residents by introducing a new healthcare ‘MOT’ initiative.
The new service has been designed to enable at least one resident each day to participate in a personal one-to-one review with the care team at Fairmile Grange. During this session, residents have the opportunity to openly discuss matters such as anxiety or things that are causing them to worry, which may arise over and above usual health related matters, but could adversely affect a resident’s health and outlook in the long term.
Each review involves all of the departments at Fairmile Grange, including the housekeeping, catering, wellbeing and maintenance teams, as this ensures that not only the residents’ physical welfare is tended to, but also their emotional and social needs. The aim of these reviews is to spot any trends or causes that may impact a resident’s welfare and create an action plan, to ensure the problem can be prevented before it develops.
This is in addition to the routine daily, weekly and monthly health checks that are carried out with a local GP, the frequency depending on each individual‘s needs. These regular assessments include monitoring weight, blood pressure levels and skin integrity.
Fairmile Grange in Christchurch, which is managed by Encore Care Homes, is the only care home in the UK to have a unique partnership with the NHS. Through this partnership the home’s residents have access to a range of facilities including a designated GP practice, which ensures the new healthcare ‘MOT’ service and the routine health checks are carried out to the highest standard.
Niki Richards, care and quality director of Encore Care Homes, says: “Across all of our care homes, our residents’ health and wellbeing is at the centre of our ethos. Having trained, competent, kind and compassionate staff, who continually prioritise our residents’ welfare, means we can ensure our residents are happy as well as healthy, which is of the upmost importance to us.
“As part of the new ‘MOT’ initiative, before a resident moves into one of our care homes, we invite the resident and their relatives to a pre-admission meeting. During this time, our highly trained staff work closely with them to identify the individuals personal needs and health requirements, which ensures the resident will receive the best personalised care from the beginning.
“We are very proud of this partnership with the NHS at our homes, which allows us to provide exceptional care across all of the five types of care which we provide: dementia, nursing, residential, respite and palliative care.”
