Good Care Home Guide (Channel 4)
The deputy chief executive of the charity Counsel and Care, believes that, in choosing a care home, people should trust their instincts but also investigate.
activities and gardens Find out if the home has activities, what they are and whether they are regularly scheduled. Make a surprise visit on the day an activity is due to take place – does it? Does the home have a garden and is it used? Again, visit on more than one occasion and at different times to check this. It is not unknown for gardens to be used or activities laid on only for the benefit of relatives' scheduled visits. Fun and interesting activities can make all the difference for residents of homes, rather than being left to vegetate for hours at a time in front of a TV.
smells 'If you do nothing else, take a sniff around the place,' says Les Bright. How a home smells can tell you a lot about its cleanliness, whether residents are left to sit in their own mess and, therefore, whether the home is under-staffed.
From Channel 4 article on finding a good care home
Sleep leads to health and exercise leads to sleep
Older adults who have poor nighttime sleep are more likely to experience depressed mood, attention and memory problems. “Health care professionals need to ask their patients—of all ages—about sleep and help those with poor sleep to find ways for improvement.”
A group of over 3000 people were involved in a sleep study and a significant reduction (7%) in the anxiety state was observed after moderate aerobic exercise sessions.
“Our findings indicate that there is a way to diminish the symptoms of insomnia without using medication,” said author Giselle S. Passos. “This study is the first to look at the importance of using physical exercise to treat insomnia, and may contribute to increased quality of life in people with one of the most important kind of sleep disorders around the world.” American Academy of Sleep Medicine (June 11, 2008)
Water provision in care homes for the elderly
Vitalyz trainers often remind learners that their service users will require extra rehydration before, during and after physical activities - even seated exercise!.
The charity, Action on Elder Abuse says failure to provide enough water to drink could be seen as neglect.
The BBC have picked up on this idea and told a story about a care home who are encouraging residents to dring more water and described the range of benefits it is already producing. This is absolutely great and Vitalyz would like to introduce you to an interesting survey: Water provision in care homes for the elderly.
National Dementia Strategy for England
19th June 2008 - The Department of Health has launched a consultation on a Draft National Dementia Strategy for England.
In the draft strategy 15 recommendations are organised under three key
themes of a.) Improving public and professional awareness, b.) Early
diagnosis and intervention, and, c.) Improving quality of care. The 15 recommendations:
1. Increased public and professional awareness of dementia
2. An informed and effective workforce for people with dementia.
3. Good-quality early diagnosis and intervention for all
4. Good-quality information for those with dementia and their carers
5. Continuity of support and advice
6. Improved quality of care in general hospitals
7. Improved home care for people with dementia
8. Improved short breaks for people with dementia and their family carers
9. A joint commissioning strategy for dementia
10. Intermediate care for people with dementia
11. Improved dementia care in care homes
12. Improved registration and inspection of care homes
13. Clear information on the delivery of the National Dementia Strategy
14. A clear picture of research evidence and needs
15. Effective support for implementation
Staying Active (advice from Age Concern)
Keeping active helps us to feel more energetic, specific benefits include helping:
- manage high blood pressure and angina
- keep weight under control
- maintain regular bowel movements
- stimulate a poor appetite
- strengthen muscles and bones
- alleviate discomfort if you have arthritis or Parkinson’s.
Regular exercise increases production of brain chemicals that lift your mood and make you feel happy so it can also be a good way to deal with stress and anxiety.
Developing and maintaining stamina, strength, flexibility and balance are particularly important as you get older:
- stamina helps you walk any distance, swim, mow the lawn
- strength helps you climb stairs, carry shopping, rise from a chair, open a container
- flexibility helps you bend down, get in and out of a car, wash your hair, remove a sweater
- balance helps you walk and climb steps confidently, stand from a sitting position, respond quickly if you trip. Age Concern Information and advice
Falls Prevention programmes in nursing homes
Evidence that multifactorial fall prevention programmes in primary care, community, or emergency care settings are effective in reducing the number of fallers or fall related injuries is limited. (S Gates, principal research fellow, Warwick Clinical Trials Unit). However, one reponse was: There is fairly strong evidence that falls prevention works in nursing home and hospital settings. (Duncan S MacLean, Nursing home medical director)
BMJ Jan 2008
Activity Provision: Benchmarking good practice in care homes.
Vitalyz were pleased to attend the College of Occupational Therapists to see the launch of this publication Activity provision: benchmarking good practice in care homes is aimed at care home providers, managers and commissioners, and is also available to residents, their families and friends, and inspectors.
It offers a framework of person-centred quality indicators and outcome measures to inform, guide and encourage those who are responsible for and take part in managing, developing, providing, purchasing and inspecting activity provision within care homes. It also provides a guide for inspectors on good practice in activity provision.
This has taken 2 years to complete, was jointly produced by the College of Occupational Therapist and NAPA and is a very useful document which can be downloaded www.cot.org.uk