A much cherished Care Assistant at the Strachan House Care Home in Edinburgh has received a prestigious Long Service Award in celebration of working at Barchester Healthcare for 20 years.
Greg Libanan, a much valued Senior Care Assistant, started at Barchester in 2004 and has worked in dedication with residents and their relatives to ensure that their needs have been met over the years.
He was presented with a £250 shopping voucher by visiting Regional Director Mandy Hurst, a golden leaf and gifts from his colleagues and friends.
Adele Keenan, Employee Services Director at Barchester said: “I’m always pleased to hear stories about the long service of Barchester staff and am delighted Greg has achieved this milestone.
“It is dedication like this that ensures our residents are provided with a happy place to live.”
Frances Fisher, General Manager of Strachan House said: “We’re delighted to be celebrating 20 years of loyal service with Greg. He has demonstrated his dedication and loyalty to this home and its residents year after year.
“I speak for all of us here at The Newton House Care Home when I say that I’m looking forward to many more years of working with Greg.”
Strachan House Care Home is run by Barchester Healthcare, one of the UK’s largest care providers, which is committed to delivering personalised care across its care homes and hospitals. Newton House provides residential care, nursing care and dementia care for 83 residents from respite care to long term stays.
Pain monitoring technology helps gives residents a voice
TWO FAMILY-run Edinburgh care homes are at the leading-edge of artificial intelligence (AI) – having implemented new technology that assesses tiny changes in expressions to understand residents’ pain and comfort levels.
One of Scotland’s top rated care home groups, Elder Homes Ltd has adopted PainChek’s technology across its two care homes in Edinburgh to assist staff in assessing pain levels for its 90+ residents.
PainChek uses AI facial recognition to analyse facial expressions from a smart device’s camera. It detects pain indicators like grimaces and winces and guides caregivers through observing other pain behaviours like vocalisations and movements resulting in an overall pain score to help monitor the effectiveness of pain management over time.
The app aims to improve the quality of life for those with cognitive difficulties who may struggle to communicate their discomfort, such as people living with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Residents and staff at Elder Homes have been using the app since July 2022, which has resulted in better pain detection and treatment, reduced reliance on pain medication as well as more accurate treatment plans.
Cheryl Henderson, Education and Dementia Coordinator at Elder Homes has been spearheading the implementation of PainChek, while ensuring relevant members of staff are trained to care for residents diagnosed with dementia.
Commenting on the success of PainChek, she said: “Treating our residents with dignity is one of our key aims. We want to ensure all residents feel at home, whilst receiving the highest standard of care.
“Using this technology, and other technologies across our homes has been extremely rewarding. We’re excited to see how the use of technology continues to develop and the benefits it can bring to care home residents across Scotland.”
The care home also utilises other innovative technologies including electronic medication system which assist in monitoring medication given to residents, and electronic charting.
PainChek is currently being used in 18 care homes across Scotland, as well as forming a pillar of the Care Inspectorate’s Quality Improvement Plan which sees a further 15 care homes trialling the tech.
PainChek’s Head of Business Development UK&I Tandeep Gill said: “Our latest figures reflect the value and impact of the PainChek technology in UK care homes and worldwide.
“Reaching over three million pain assessments is a real milestone for us – each one brings more objectivity and consistency to evaluating pain, whilst making a difference to care home residents and enhancing their quality of life.
“We’re delighted to see staff at Elder Homes leading the way in adopting PainChek and embracing innovation to improve pain assessment and deliver person-centered care.
“By achieving positive outcomes for care home residents and the care staff involved in the Care Inspectorate trial, we hope to gain the opportunity for a broader government-funded rollout across Scotland.”
Founded in Australia in 2016, PainChek is the world’s first regulatory cleared medical device for the assessment of pain, enabling best-practice pain management for people living with pain in any environment, from those who cannot reliably self-report their pain, to those who can, and for those whose ability to self-report their pain fluctuates.
Cluny Lodge was recently awarded top marks in a recent Care Inspectorate inspection for supporting its resident’s wellbeing.
The two Morningside care homes are currently home to 90 residents, who come from a range of backgrounds, all of which receive 24-hour care who according to the Care Inspectorate are receiving the best care possible.
Driven by a personal need for exceptional later in life care, Loren and Julie Hufstetler established the family-run Elder Homes in 1984. For almost 40 years, Elder Homes has provided individualised support and compassionate service to seniors requiring assistance with daily living.
A FAMILY-owned care home can lay claim to being one of the best in Edinburgh, after becoming one of the only care homes in the city to score a rarely awarded six out of six, following an annual inspection by the sector watchdog.
Cluny Lodge Care Home, owned by Elder Homes Ltd, received top marks for supporting the wellbeing of its residents and staff in its most recent Care Inspectorate report.
Scored as ‘excellent’, the highest mark awarded, the report commended the home’s excellent health and wellbeing outcomes, co-production and the relationships between staff, residents, and relatives.
The care home has a holistic approach contributing to the high health and wellbeing outcomes of the residents. In addition to the usual roles it takes to make a care home work well, the team also includes in-house physiotherapists, social & leisure team and nutritional support workers.
Marcela Patriche, Care Homes Manager at Elder homes, said: “We really believe that elderly living should come with a purpose, as moving into a care home should be a new chapter in your life.
“This outstanding inspection result reflects our team’s commitment to providing truly person-centred care.
“I continue to be amazed by the outstanding feedback from our staff, residents and families. We’re all so proud of the work we do creating an at home environment whilst providing high quality care.
“We work with our residents and staff to innovate new ways of enhancing wellbeing and quality of life, and it’s so rewarding to have this reflected in such a glowing report.”
With over 180 members of staff, many of whom have worked for the care home for over 20 years, the care home is able to consistently provide one on one care meeting the residents’ varying needs. The home has a dedicated training team, ensuring each team memberfrom senior leadership to support staff, receive dementia awareness and role specific training.
The report also scored Cluny Lodge’s leadership as ‘very good’, highlighting that staff were provided with regular support and supervision, whilst praising the care homes inclusion of family representatives in quality and improvement-based discussions.
Residents at Cluny Lodge, and sister care home, Chamberlain, have access to a wide range of activities, outings, concerts, and events aimed at providing social, mental, and physical stimulation. The home also provides one-on-one interactions that help residents maintain connections to their local community.
In addition to social events, the care home utilises innovative technologies including electronic medication dispensaries and Artificial Intelligence to assess pain levels to assist in managing the use of pain medication.
The Morningside care home is currently home to 65 residents, who come from a wide range of backgrounds, all of whom receive 24-hour care who according to the Inspectorate are receiving the best care possible.
Driven by a personal need for exceptional later in life care, Loren and Julie Hufstetler established the family-run Elder Homes in 1984. For almost 40 years, Elder Homes has provided individualised support and compassionate service to seniors requiring assistance with daily living.
Strachan House Care Home in Blackhall was one of four Barchester homes who set their stage by hosting their first of many Edinburgh Fringe Cares events on Saturday.
Following on from the success of our Edinburgh Fringe Cares events last year at Barchester’s Queens Manor and the ongoing community links that were built, Barchester became the founding sponsor of an even bigger event this year and for years to come – The Edinburgh Fringe Festival Care Fest.
Eventually, the long term goal would be for all Edinburgh care homes to be part of this amazing initiative, no matter what company, but in the meantime Barchester got to go first, with 4 of their Edinburgh homes taking part!
It’s hoped this year’s events will shape the foundations for other care providers to follow suit in the coming years.
Strachan House immerse their residents and families into a spectacular performance from their nominated Edinburgh Fringe performer’s Octovoce, who took the audience through a magical journey of cappella style song.
The promotional event was one of four that Barchester Healthcare sponsored to showcase how the Edinburgh Fringe should be made accessible to everyone in care homes.
Strachan House was one of the four homes to demonstrate how successful these events can be and how it can benefit residents wellbeing.
Mandy, Head of Activities, said: “This was a fun event to do. Staff and residents loved getting on board by dressing up in character and our chefs prepared a themed menu of goodies for the special occasion.
“The home was transformed into a colourful castle of colour as our residents were taken on a magical afternoon of music. But the biggest success has been to be part of the four Barchester homes to showcase how every home in Edinburgh can do this.
“Along with Queens Manor, Archview and Drummond Grange, who also hosted their Edinburgh Fringe Cares events, we hope that this is something that will continue for years to come for everyone living in a care home.
“Putting this event together and having the residents on board with all their ideas has been amazing and to support them to bring it all together has been an honour.
“Professor Joe Goldblatt who attended the event and created the idea behind Edinburgh Fringe Cares has been truly inspiring.”
General Manager, Gordon Philp said, “Our residents and staff have been very excited about this event and the team worked so hard behind the scenes to ensure it is was great success.
“We do our best to provide a wide range of activities and entertainment at Strachan House as part of the lifestyle enrichment programme for residents, and this was will certainly be outstanding, and certainly will be remembered for years to come.
“Our aim was to demonstrate to other care providers how this can be achieved and the benefits of delivering it within a care home setting.”
Strachan House care home is run by Barchester Healthcare, one of the UK’s largest care providers, which is committed to delivering personalised care across its care homes and hospitals. Strachan House provides residential care, nursing care and dementia care for 83 residents from respite care to long term stays.
Residents at two of the capital’s care homes felt the buzz of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival after a series of on-site comedy performances at Randolph Hill Nursing Homes over the weekend.
Stand-up comedians Carey Marx and Jojo Sutherland brought their shows to Randolph Hill nursing homes across Scotland, including its Ashley Court and Blenham House sites located in the capital, enabling residents to share in the Edinburgh Fringe experience.
The stand-up shows were part of a series of performances by the pair which were held at each of Randolph Hill’s sites located in Edinburgh, The Lothians, and Stirlingshire over the course of last week.
Carey performs regularly across the UK comedy circuit and has appeared in numerous television programmes including Comedy Cuts, BBC Breakfast and Loose Women. In 2009 he gained global recognition after winning Best International Show at the New Zealand Comedy Festival.
Jojo has worked in the UK entertainment industry for more than two decades as a writer, actor, broadcaster, and comedian. A regular at the Edinburgh Fringe, she was a 2022 finalist for the title of British Comedian of the Year.
Randolph Hill currently cares for more than 350 residents and employs over 600 members of staff at its seven sites across east and central Scotland.
Randolph Hill Managing Director Peter McCormick said: “We were delighted to bring this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival to our nursing homes including our two sites in the capital.
“With two highly regarded comedians bringing their acts to all of our seven sites, this series of performances brought a real festival buzz to our residents and enabled them to enjoy the Fringe experience in a familiar setting.
“We are grateful to Carey and Jojo for their great performances which were warmly received and thoroughly enjoyed by our residents, family members and our staff.”
The ‘GEAReD Up’ project examined how data about care home residents can currently be accessed and used
A study led by Edinburgh Napier University recommends developing a national framework for care home data – to benefit residents and inform Scotland’s health and social care services.
The research, entitled ‘GEAReD Up’, proposes a series of practical steps to strengthen the data of care homes and ensure that the currently available information can be used by providers, researchers, policy makers and innovators to make improvements.
A call for a robust Scotland-wide framework, is among eight recommendations in the final report, as well as a clear pathway for accessing ethical and governance approval for the re-use of data.
It also recommends backing greater care home involvement in these solutions with more support and resources, while establishing better communication and coherence between local and national systems.
Lucy Johnston, GEAReD Up lead and Senior Research Fellow at Edinburgh Napier University’s School of Health and Social Care, said: “Amid the prospect of a National Care Service, there is a real desire to understand and address the issues faced by the sector.
“Our work has helped to unravel some of problems relating to data and offer practical solutions for the management and accessibility of crucial information.
“It is so important to build these foundation blocks now. This work can help play a part in enhancing the use of routinely collected care home data being used to support care decisions, improve services, inform research and increase data-driven innovation”.
The study, which has been presented to industry leaders and delivery partners, will also feed into a Scotland-wide Care Home Data Review, which is currently underway.
It suggests that an overseeing body and a more established process for systematic curation of routinely collected care home data would allow more effective reuse of data in research and innovation projects, and benefit care home residents and providers.
Irina McLean from NHS Research Scotland Central Management Team, and co-author of the report, said: “In Scotland, there is currently no consensus or defined route for the legal, ethical and efficient access to permit reuse of care home data for research or service evaluation.
“The GEAReD Up report sets out practical steps for moving forward. Its recommendations can feed into ongoing work nationally and locally as it is critical to do what we can to enable high quality research and innovation in Scottish care homes and social care overall.”
Fellow co-author Dr Susan D Shenkin, Reader in Ageing and Health at the Usher Institute and Advanced Care Research Centre within the University of Edinburgh said: “This report builds on our work showing that a care home data platform must have strong foundations to ensure it meets the needs of care home residents, their families and the staff who care for them.
“This requires a clear understanding of how and why data are collected about the people who live in care homes.”
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.”
Residents in care homes for older adults are receiving their spring COVID-19 booster from today (Monday) as the latest stage of the national vaccination programme gets underway.
Following recent advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), a spring booster dose will also be offered to those aged 75 and over from 11 April and individuals aged five and over with a weakened immune system from 24 April. These groups will either receive appointment details through their preferred means of contact or will be sent details of how to book.
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “We know that people in high-priority groups are at higher risk of serious illness from COVID-19 so I welcome the start of the spring rollout which will offer an additional dose to those who are most vulnerable, boosting their protection.
“Prioritising those most at risk has been our approach from the outset and vaccination has been our most effective tool against COVID-19. However, the degree of protection offered does fade over time, which is why booster vaccination is needed.
“I continue to encourage everyone to receive the doses they are eligible for as and when they become available.”
Two Edinburgh care homes have helped spread some Christmas cheer with a special charity donation.
The residents and staff of Letham Park and Mathieson House residential care homes on Ferry Road Edinburgh, operated by Renaissance Care, held a festive raffle to raise £350 for local homeless people as their way of giving back to the local community.
The money will be donated to Social Bite’s Festival of Kindness campaign, which uses funds raised to offer support to homeless people, such as accommodation for the night or a hot Christmas meal.
Up for grabs in the raffle was a Christmas hamper filled with specially designed glassware, coffee cups and special festive crafts, which were all handmade by Kevin Dignall, Deputy Manager at Mathieson Care Home.
Kevin said: “I had made things like that before for staff or families at the home and I just wanted to make a nice hamper for Christmas to raffle off as a prize.
“The residents are always keen to stay connected to their local community and it’s a tough enough time for lots of people at this time of year, so everyone felt it was only fitting to try to help some of the most vulnerable people in the community.
“It was all great fun, and we drew the raffle on the same day as our Christmas fayre, so we had music going, singing and Santa made an appearance as well.”
Social Bite Executive Director Founder, Josh Littlejohn MBE, said: “We’re very thankful to the residents at Renaissance Care for their donation to our Festival of Kindness.
“Acts of kindness like this are needed more so now than ever before and make a huge difference to those who need it most.
“The money they’ve raised through the various raffle events will go towards ensuring vulnerable people have delicious food, gifts and company this festive period.”
For people who find themselves in need of care in the twilight of their lives, and for families who want to support them in their care journey, embarking on a particular course of action may be the most important decision they ever make (writes MIKE COLLIER).
However, though it is crucial at this stressful time to make informed choices, many people do not fully understand which elements of care are which, or where to go and who to speak to in order to get the best impartial advice.
It is more than eight years now since Scotland made a first attempt to put the voice of the supported person at the heart of care processes with the passing of the Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013 (SDS).
It was intended to deliver choice and control when accepting support, with agreement about individual outcomes and a range of options to achieve these outcomes if people were assessed as having identified needs and requiring a budget.
The Act imposed a duty on local authorities to take reasonable steps to facilitate a supported person’s dignity and involvement with the community and to explain the nature and effect of the four options available to them, which are:
A direct payment to individuals to allow them to manage their own budget and procure their own care provider.
The supported person chooses their own provider, but opts for a third party such as a local authority to manage their budget.
The local authority or someone on their framework manages both the budget and the support provision, which was essentially the status quo ante.
Lastly, a mix of all these.
Well-intentioned as these provisions may be, increasingly across the country social workers who are in place to advise clients are not even mentioning these options when they go to do assessments and, as a consequence, people remain in ignorance.
There has been intensive scrutiny by a number of agencies of SDS since it was implemented, mostly concluding that it had not yet been fully implemented and that its potential was not being realised.
Inconsistent knowledge across the workforce has been highlighted, which may explain the silence of social workers about the system, and it has been suggested that traditional care culture has been difficult to shift.
Certainly, option three – that is, direct delivery of services by the council, which prevailed before the Act – remains the dominant kind of provision and research shows that failure by social work staff to discuss the options is a common issue.
Most people would not of their own volition choose to go into live-in care and more needs to be done within the limitations of SDS to highlight alternatives such as domiciliary care, which enables older people to maintain a level of independence while staying in their own home.
In this milieu, professional carers can assist with meals, cleaning, shopping – and simple companionship – at a time and duration of the client’s choosing. It provides a sense of stability and normality which can be beyond value.
This is sometimes known as an hours service, since clients can choose the time carers are with them, in contrast to unpredictable, rushed and short home visits offered by councils which are under significant financial and resource constraints.
The main thing is for people to have a choice, and to be aware of the choices available to them. Speaking to a practicing care professional is often the best first step towards the right decision.
Mike Collier is Managing Director of Plus Homecare Ltd
