AF moved into Field House back in January 2018. AF needed support to develop a healthier and more active lifestyle. The team at Field House worked with engaging AF in planning his meals to ensure that he was able to have a healthy balanced diet. Although AF initially wasn’t keen on the idea he quickly adapted and the benefits of eating a healthier diet were quickly noticed by lifelong friends and family. The dietician visited to see if they could help with AF’s weight loss journey but were so impressed with his ongoing success that they discharged him and the team at Field House continued to work with AF. A big part of this success story was giving AF the opportunity to plan his meals by utilising the pictorial menus we use within the homes to help residents have an active role in meal planning.

The next step was working on improving AF’s confidence and getting him motivated to get out and about within the community and taking part in a variety of activities. AF now thoroughly enjoys getting out to help with doing the shop for the home as he takes a lead role in the meal planning, no longer having to use a mobility scooter but instead walking around and getting hands on! Other activities such as his lifelong love for swimming have been rekindled for him and is something that he really looks forward to doing. All of this has helped AF lose a huge 10st since he moved in!

What’s next then for AF? Well, AF now accesses the community much more frequently, has tried out a volunteering job, planning to go on a holiday and has applied for a place at college which starts in September as well as exploring the countryside and enjoying a much more active lifestyle. Well done to AF we’re all so proud!

Ashby House was recently inspected by the CQC and we are proud to have scored good on all areas. The registered manager and the staff really enjoyed the whole process of having the CQC inspector and expert by experience at the home and getting the chance to show case all the work that they have been doing since the service opened in May 2018.

It was a great day and the subsequent report recognised all the hard work and dedication of the skilled team at Ashby House in supporting and improving the lives of all the service users who live there.

Some of the key points raised in the report highlighted:

• People were treated with kindness and had warm, caring relationships with staff. Staff treated people with respect and promoted their privacy and dignity at all times.
• People received personalised care from staff who understood their needs well.
• There was a strong emphasis on fulfilling people’s aspirations and supporting them to achieve their goals. People were supported to take part in activities that involved them in the local community and enabled them to build friendships outside of the home.
• Professionals were positive about the outcomes people achieved at the service.
• Staff developed innovative ways to support people to manage behaviour that challenged the service, whilst minimising restrictions on people.
• People received safe care, with risks continually assessed to ensure both their home environment and outings in the community were safe.

In addition to the this the inspector recognised the teams approach to working collaboratively with other professionals to ensure people received effective care and put in place robust management processes to drive continuous improvement. Furthermore, Sarah Lycett’s (Registered manager) approach to creating an open, and positive culture across the service which ensured people’s diverse needs were understood and respected was also noted. Our ethos of creating conducive environments to promote independence was also recognised with the inspector stating in the report  that “People were supported to be as independent as possible and have maximum choice and control of their lives. Staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.”

https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-5135925294

One of our service users MM loves the chance to have a ladies night in! She recently asked one of the day staff that she really gets on with, Kirsty to stay over one evening so that they could spend some quality time together doing the things that MM loves the most.

Kirsty helped MM get the movies sorted for the evening and they then had a night in doing all the normal girly things ladies do such as face masks, pedicures, doing each other’s hair and painting their nails!

MM then got the popcorn ready and they watched a romantic comedy together. After all this MM was really thankful for Kirsty spending the evening and went to bed, leaving Kirsty to tidy the mess at 2 am… A huge thank you to Kirsty for taking the time out of her own life to spend the time with MM who was beaming with joy.

With the Chinese New Year coming staff and service users took some time together to look into the Chinese culture. They looked into this year’s zodiac sign being the year of the Pig with the New Year being on the 5^th of February. They also looked into some of the good luck things to do, with some service users loving the idea around not cleaning as it was bad luck during the period of celebration! To work around this we all agreed to clean from the outside of the room towards the centre to make sure that we didn’t accidently sweep away any good luck! Everyone loved getting involved in the activities of making art crafts and then having an authentic Chinese meal that everyone got involved in making!

BB recently moved in to the Ashby House service having spent that last 10 years in her previous residential placement. It was apparent that BB did not get out much in the community previously and did not get opportunities to take part in simple tasks that we take for granted like having access to the kitchen area and being able to help with meal preparation and making cups of tea when she wanted to. Being autistic, BB had become very rigid and stuck in certain routines that took away from her quality of life.

The team at Ashby House have spent a lot of time with BB helping her take steps away from the rigid routines that she used to focus on to take part in much more meaningful activities. These included getting BB involved with the weekly food shop for the home, meal preps, and just getting the opportunity to go out on social activities with the other service users and staff.

It felt like lots of little steps were taken with BB that helped her get used to a whole new world of opportunities and experience’s and now the difference in BB is a world away from when she moved into Ashby House where she was very unsure and withdrawn to someone who is enjoying life a lot more now!