This Dementia Action Week, we spoke to Emma Sadler, Head of Quality and Development Strategy about how The Good Care Group provide ‘outstanding’ dementia care:
Safe
Our Consultant Admiral Nurse leads on a medication review for every client prescribed an antipsychotic medication. Holistic strategies are implemented through wrap-around care which means our clients are less likely to require potentially harmful medication to manage behaviour. At The Good Care Group 7.96% of clients with dementia are prescribed antipsychotic medication, compared to anywhere between 20-50% of people with dementia in the wider population.
Effective
Our 1:1 model of care means that clients are supported to live life the way they want to. Routines are flexible and people are supported to remain in a familiar environment with the support of their families and community. We employ a dedicated Consultant Admiral Nurse to work alongside our clients with dementia, and their families. When things get challenging or difficult, Admiral Nurses work alongside people with dementia, and their families: giving them one-to-one support, expert guidance and practical solutions. The unique dementia expertise and experience an Admiral Nurse brings is a lifeline – it helps families to live more positively with dementia in the present, and to face the challenges of tomorrow with more confidence and less fear.
Responsive
This year a greater focus has been placed on our wider wellbeing strategy; led by our inhouse Occupational Therapist we have completed a review of the Pool Activity Levels – a tool used to ascertain the most appropriate activities for clients living with dementia to enable clients to continue engaging with the activities they love. We ran a webinar for managers to embed use of the Pool Activity Levels to help them create genuinely meaningful days for clients. For a client unable to access their garden any longer Professional Carers ‘brought the outside in’ – situating the client’s bed near open doors they brought in trays of flowers and put a bird feeder on the windowsill so she could watch the birds throughout the day – a great example of the difference 1:1 care can make.
Well-led
We are partnership with the Contented Dementia Trust; a forward-thinking dementia charity who founded the SPECAL method. The SPECAL method underpins our dementia strategy and every Professional Carer receives training on the 3 golden rules which aim to reinstate a sense of well-being for the person with dementia, and to maintain a sense of contentment. The SPECAL method is shown to be helpful in caring for a person with dementia.
Caring
Over the past 12 months our clients and their loved ones have experienced additional pressures associated with the global pandemic. We have sought to alleviate worries as much as possible. We’ve sent regular communication to both Professional Carer and our clients and their loved ones summarising the latest guidance and giving reassurances about our practice. Loved ones have also benefited from the ‘Client Community’; a digital system which allows them to read their loved ones notes, see a health and wellbeing summary and know how they’ve spent their day. Clients can access the system any time of the day, and from anywhere in the world – so valuable at a time when visits have not been permitted. Our success is, in part, measured by our client satisfaction scores. In the 2020 client survey 94% of respondents stated that they believe TGCG has made a positive difference to the client’s life whilst a further 94% stated they have confidence in the expertise of the care team (a 5% improvement on last year’s score).
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