Tag: care home residents

Care home residents enjoy third annual Fringe Cares Festival

Care Home Residents Enjoy The 3rd Annual Fringe Cares Festival

2024 Fringe Cares Festival – conceived by The Edinburgh Interfaith Association back in 2023 – started once again with a very successful event at Queen’s Manor Care Home on Queensferry Road.  

Performers from all over the world take part in the Fringe Cares Festival which brings a taste of the musical & theatrical talents of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to all residents of 7 care homes in the city, in a partnership sponsored by Barchester Healthcare, The Edinburgh Interfaith Association, Scottish Care and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society.

Queens Manor Care Home, the founding care home Residents, relatives, friends and staff – along with several guests from the local community, were able to participate in a full afternoon of entertainment.

Lord Provost Councillor Robert Aldridge attended and said, “This is my favourite part of the Fringe!”

The event included a piper on arrival, drinks canapes and cocktails.  Street performer Andie Mars with her impressive hula hoops displays, forget me Nots Children’s’ Parties provided face painting and visiting Princess Ariel.   Matthew Shiel, award winning classical pianist played in the foyer. 

The main act – “Ella, Etta and Eartha”, singer Melissa Western and her accompanists rounded off the show in a performance inspired by those legendary female singers. 

Professor Joe Goldblatt, who inspired and instigated the Fringe Cares Festival explained: “The first year my wife and I sponsored one performer and I was amazed when residents who had not spoken for months suddenly burst forth into song, in French, when a Fringe performer began to sing the Edith Piaf classic ‘La vie en rose’.  

“As they sang along, I was speechless and in awe of the power of musical memories to inspire their strong positive emotions and awaken their senses. The events of this year so far at Queens Manor were no less than spectacular – offering the same level of amazement that we had in our founding year!” 

Margaret-Ann Davidson, General Manager of Queens Manor in Edinburgh, said: “I am delighted the Queens Manor Team is able to support our residents to participate in such an exciting initiative, which has grown each year; and we are proud to be part of   Barchester Healthcare, the founding sponsor for this special programme. 

“Music, entertainment, time with loved ones and friends are key elements of life enrichment for all care home residents.    In years gone by the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe would have been part of the lives of many of those in our care.  

“Through the Fringe Cares Festival, we are able to bring a flavour of the excitement, fun, and delights of the Festival Fringe to our residents at home. The long-term aim of this project is to help ensure that all care home residents in Edinburgh have access to the Fringe Cares Festival in the next 10 years – regardless of care provider.   

“There are many other entertainers participating at the other 6 care homes.  We look forward to the feedback and photographs”.  

The executive director of the Edinburgh Interfaith Association, Iain Stewart said: “EIFA is very proud to have conceived this programme as part of our commitment to bringing people together to celebrate, communicate, and appreciate one another through music. 

“The 36-year-old EIFA is the oldest interfaith association and represents all faiths and none promoting respect, understanding, peace and love.

The Fringe Cares Festival at Barchester dramatically demonstrates that we may all come together and benefit through music”.   

We are already looking at inspiration and planning for this event in 2025 – if you would like to be involved or become a sponsor, please reach out to either Joe Goldblatt at joe@joegoldblatt.scot or margaretann-davidson@barchester.com.

Protecting the rights of care home residents

Strengthened standards ensure fewer restrictions on visiting

Strengthened national guidance on visiting has improved residents’ quality of life Health Secretary Michael Matheson was told by staff and residents at a care home in Greenock.

The Health and Social Care Standards which came into force last April gave people living in care homes rights to see loved ones and name relatives or friends they wish to be involved in their care plans.

The standards have helped deliver the aims of Anne’s Law, ensuring people who live in adult care homes have rights to see and get support from those who are important to them, ahead of the Scottish Parliament considering entering it into legislation as part of the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill.

The Bagatelle Care Home is one of two operated by the Greenock Medical Aid Society. Their “meaningful visits” team, set up during the pandemic to ensure residents had regular, safe contact with loved ones, won the Nursing Older People Award at the Royal College of Nursing Awards 2021.

Mr Matheson said: “Strengthening the standards has allowed us to meet our pledge to introduce the provisions of Anne’s Law as quickly as possible by using existing legal powers. This has minimised disruption to visiting and I am glad to hear how this is already helping residents and their loved ones.

“I would also like to congratulate the staff here at the Bagatelle Care Home on the Nursing Older People award and thank them for their continued hard work.”

Andrea Wyllie, Chief Executive of Greenock Medical Aid Society, said: “Since we introduced meaningful visits safely during the height of the pandemic we’ve seen improvements in residents’ and family members’ overall wellbeing.

“Our data showed an increase in appetites and a significant decrease in those at risk of malnutrition. We saw moods lift and a feeling of life and buzz return into our care homes. We  demonstrated that we could balance the rights of residents and family members in being back together, with the risks that increasing footfall could bring.”

Kevin Mitchell, the Care Inspectorate’s executive director of scrutiny and assurance, said: “We recognise that recent years have been an unprecedented challenge for all those living and working in care settings.

“We have seen countless examples of care services working extremely hard to support people to maintain contact with their loved ones in meaningful ways.

“The Care Inspectorate continues to work closely with partners across the sector and with the Scottish Government to ensure people experiencing care are supported to have meaningful contact with the people important to them.”

Cathie Russell of Care Home Relatives Scotland said: “We are pleased the Health Secretary is marking the one year anniversary of the new care standards which are helping to ensure people can still have contact with loved ones even during Covid and other outbreaks and look forward to this approach being enshrined in Anne’s Law as a matter of urgency.”

Edinburgh goes for gold: our Olympic athletes with years of experience!

Seated volleyball, 400m wheelchair and walking challenge, and pitch n putt: Capital’s very own version of the Olympics

With just 20 days until Tokyo 2020 finally gets underway, elderly care home residents across Scotland have launched their own Olympics with a special Tokyo-inspired opening ceremony event, following on from weeks of training.

The Renaissance Care Olympics will see 15 care homes across the country compete across five sports which have been designed to suit the abilities of the care home athletes to encourage physical and mental wellness.

Edinburgh-based Letham Park Care Home and Mathieson House Care Home kicked off their opening ceremonies within the individual homes.

The residents, dressed in their own team shirts, were given a taste of Tokyo with Japanese taster plates, chop stick trials, music and discussions on the Japanese culture. Mathieson House also recreated the famous Olympic flame, using colourful tissue paper and streamers.

The athletes have been in training over the month of June, getting ready to compete in each of the sports throughout July before a closing ceremony to celebrate their achievements at the end of the month.

For the gold medal, the residents will be competing to see who can walk or wheelchair the most 400m stints throughout July, how many hits of a balloon they can get to keep it off the ground for seated volleyball, and how many punches they can land on the boxing pads.

They will also compete in Pitch n Putt, with nine holes set up around the homes, and a one off shot putt event where the resident who can throw the bean bag furthest will take the medal.

Ann Marie Byrne, Activity Co-ordinator at Renaissance Care’s Mathieson House Care Home, said: “Encouraging physical activity for our residents is extremely important and we really wanted to create something fun that would get everyone involved.

“The residents across each of the homes have been enjoying the training and we have already seen a great lift in spirits as they get in touch with their competitive side.

“During lockdown, we have been as creative as possible to come up with new ideas to ensure that the residents always have new experiences and the Olympics felt like the perfect way to bring everyone together.

“The relatives have been routing for their loved ones and we have been sharing their progress along the way, so it has been a lovely way to keep everyone connected.”