At Godfrey Barnes Care, we believe in providing opportunities for more social inclusion and community integration. It can have a transformative impact on the lives of our service users, especially those who are naturally hesitant to explore and experience new surroundings. With the summer in full swing this was an exciting time of year for the service users in anticipation of going on their holidays. For some this would be the first opportunity that they have had to go on an actual holiday.

Tattershall Lakes was chosen as the location set in the heart of the gorgeous Lincolnshire countryside. Service users spent their days going for walks enjoying the beautiful scenery, visiting local attractions such as the East Coast markets and fair, as well as the water park and on-site facilities and entertainment. After the busy days everyone had the chance to unwind in the evenings in their very own hot tub and recharge the batteries. 

A huge success for all!

CN has a lifelong love of music, which plays a big part of most days for him. CN often commented on how much he wanted to go to a rave and experience being part of a crowd and enjoying all that it had to offer, this was recognised as one of CN’s life goals. Staff at Field House knowing how much this would mean to CN started to look at different venues and types of concert which available, and tickets were booked for CN to try out his first event at Fake Festival.

Staff kept it as surprise from CN and when he received his tickets and told of the plan he was elated! CN was understandably very excited prior to his big day CN and was supported by Dan and Michelle to get his essentials packed for the big day out. When CN got to the event he quickly got into his grove and danced the day away, interacting with other festival goers enjoying the music. There was food, drinks and glitter tattoos. After many hours of chords, drums and sing along CN was tired and ready for home. Ready to plan his next venture!

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.