We are here because we really believe we can make a difference. We will use these pages to comment on anything we find interesting, exciting or occasionally downright stupid or to mention new ideas that we believe may be of interest.
North Hertfordshire
We are pleased to announce that we have now taken on the Everycare franchise for North Hertfordshire, this covers Stevenage, Letchworth and Hitchin as well as all the surrounding area. We have a highly experienced team of Health Care Assistants who are available to cover shifts in any of the care homes in this area and further afield should that be required. This expansion of our coverage means we can now offer this service throughout Bedfordshire, North Herts and the areas of Buckinghamshire around Milton Keynes.
Watch this space as there will be further news of our expansion plans shortly.
Everycare Facebook Group
As part of our aspiration to create openness and inclusion for our clients, in April 2010 we are launching an Everycare Group on the Facebook Social Network Website for the benefit of clients, immediate family and very close friends of Everycare’s clients. We believe that we are now at a stage in our development that we have a sufficient number of clients to sustain a vibrant site.
Facebook is a website designed to allow friends, family or people with a common interest to chat over the internet in a simple to use manner. It’s a bit like a meeting place that is open all day everyday where people can log on get involved in a conversation and then log out whenever they like.
Although clients of Everycare may have very different, even unique care requirements, we believe that they will have a lot in common with some of our other clients and respective family members. We hope this facility will give the opportunity to chat with people who, at least at a basic level will have an understanding of how our clients feel about things and have probably had very similar experiences. Likewise, we are keen to involve immediate family and close friends for exactly the same reason.
A Good Result
It's been a bit crazy lately which is why we've been very quiet on these pages (rumours that holidays had something to do with it as well may have some truth in them).
Nevertheless, lots of things have been happening bringing a pleasing increase in the number of our clients and carers. All this requires a lot of attention to detail to ensure that we continue to provide the correct level and quality of care - when it's busy it's easy to let things slip! We know we are not 100% perfect - life very rarely allows that - but we also know exactly what we aspire to and we will continue to keep on trying to get there. Our aim continues to be to provide the care our clients want, nothing less.
In amongst all of this, we have had our first inspection from CQC and are very pleased to be able to say that we have been rated as good, which given the short time we have been operating is a great achievement by our staff. But don't take our word for it - read the report.
A Helping Hand for Direct Payments
As a homecare provider, we at Everycare welcome the opportunity that Direct Payments brings. Innovation will be given room to flourish, thinking “outside the box” will become the norm and sloppy care provision will simply be intolerable. To us, Direct Payments can enable an exciting transformation of publically funded care. Also, it is likely to have a positive knock-on effect on the provision of care to the private sector.
Anecdotally, the evidence suggests that recipients of Direct Payments love the system:
“The quality of my life has improved and I have regained much of my confidence. I can get out and do various activities, go to my whist club, the garden centre, the library and I am getting to grips with the internet! The support that direct payments gives me allows me to enjoy life like everyone else.”
“My personal budget has paid for training courses that have given me new work skills. In turn these skills have enabled me to be self-employed, which has been crucial to me given the long periods unemployment in my life.... My direct payments are the safety net behind me.”
Green Paper Roadshow
Care, Support, Independence
The government has used these words to publicise the Green paper it recently issued on the future of Social Care, called shaping the Future of Care Together. This is not the place to discuss all the many threads of this undoubtedly contentious debate. Each of us will have our own views on how to achieve a "better" answer to the issue of care but we thought we should point out that the government has set up a number of consultations and road shows. So that if you are interested you can go and get more information and express your views.
In our region the Roadshow will be in Church Square, Bedford on 23rd September, so go and have a look and give them your views.
Choice
Do people understand they have a choice? We hear lots about patient choice and there is a lot of buzz about individual care plans for the elderly and disabled. It’s not something anyone would argue with, least of all us - it’s at the core of what we try to do.
But does it happen in reality? It’s not even anyone’s fault – most people requiring care are desperate for some help and advice but where do they turn? If we want to buy insurance most of us these days go and look at it online and choose the cheapest. We want to know where to buy a new dinner service, we go to a search engine (Google in most cases) and and it will give us a number of choices. Those of us less technologically savvy go into John Lewis or Debenhams and have a look to see what’s there. We can handle the goods and compare them and the prices and make a decision.
Care however is rather different. If you are reading this you’ve got to our web site but whilst we hope it gives a flavour of who we are we wouldn’t expect you to “buy” solely on the strength of it. (You can if you want!). We’d expect you to get in contact with us and talk to us. We’d come and see you and discuss what you need. Like any service - comparison is difficult but if we didn’t perform we’d expect to lose your custom – not that we'd let that happen! However there’s still a major flaw here – you are on our web site, what about all those people who haven’t got internet access.
Alzheimer's
Wow the sun seems to be shining and the rain has gone away for the moment. We do love to talk about the weather don't we - always good for an icebreaker.
The condition of some of the more weak and vulnerable in our society is a different thing altogether. There's been a lot of media buzz about Alzheimer's recently - Terry Pratchett's decision to be open and honest about it is admirable and there's been some good things on the TV. But the problem is nothing can really explain the awful impact on those who care for the sufferers, living with the problems day after day. It is isolating and emotionally draining.
Our staff are used to such things but even they find prolonged exposure exhausting, so the impact on those who are with it 24 hours a day is for most of us inconceivable. If you know someone who is caring for a relative don't shy away - one of the simple things you can do is be there and talk to them.
The Alzheimer's Society does some great work in this field and they can always do with more help.
Swine Flu
Suddenly it seems to be the topic of the day. It started, was a big fuss and then interest died away. Suddenly it's come rushing back on us and unlike the appalling weather its rather more than a silly season story.
We have to think these things through carefully as it can have a major impact on our customers and our staff. Obviously many of our customers are quite vulnerable and any illness can be a problem, so we need to be absolutely certain our staff are fit and healthy. We are busy preparing contingency plans so we can be sure service is delivered on time as expected.
Got to start somewhere
So here we go, it's been quite a long road to get here but we appear to have finally started getting off the ground. A customer is always special - but a first customer is even more so than usual. It's the chance to put into practice all the things we've talked about, said we would try and do. The chance to prove it's not all hot air.
Keep watching this space as we report back on some of our thoughts and experiences