Community Care Magazine for Elderly and Disabled: GAZETTE No.76

Social Care – Have we got it right?

Social care/domiciliary care – is purchased by or on behalf of thousands of elderly people in the UK who wish to remain living in their own home.

The majority of social care is delivered on an hourly basis from early in the morning to later in the evening and the services provided are regulated, efficient and safer for both individuals and their care staff. The care staff are trained, care plans and risk assessments carried out, all necessary boxes ticked.

However, I am beginning to think we may have legislated/specified out an important factor when providing hourly, home care. The factor is care consideration of the individual’s home, the environment in which they live and the demoralising affect small tasks not being done, has on someone whose home is one of the most important things they have left.

I am not talking about carrying out domestic tasks which have a time element of many minutes upwards but the little things that keep a person’s home as they used to keep it and wish to continue to live in.

I am experiencing hourly home care for a close relative at the present time and usually for the two sessions per day booked, carers work to the care plan, are pleasant, complete the daily record sheet and usually manage to leave ten minutes early having completed the tasks laid down and giving themselves time to get to the next client.

How much nicer my relatives home would be if those ten minutes were spent taking the dead flowers out of the vase, putting yesterdays newspaper and the frozen meal packet in the recycle bin, not just buttering the round of bread at 7.00am and putting it on a plate for her lunch but putting a plate over it or some cling film. The table top and the floor where she spilt a little of her tea last evening could be wiped, the bed table used during the night could have the drink wiped up, the medicine ring wiped and the tissues put in the bin, the sink where she throws her tea bag could have a little bleach and a rinse, the sweets spilt on the living room floor could be picked up and put back in the dish and maybe the washing just put in the washing machine. Ten minutes and it could all be done and would leave her home in the way she used to keep it.

However, such little tasks are not everyday tasks and are therefore not in the care plan. They do get done as this elderly lady has good family back up but how demoralizing for those who don’t who will eventually have to ask for these domestic tasks to be done.

Speaking to an hourly care agency owner, her view was that years ago her staff could and would have done such things without thinking, now they don’t. Recently they had a care worker who often did bits of shopping for a client and recorded it accordingly. On inspection, they were told this was not in the care plan and therefore should not have been done.

If any of us look ahead to our own old age, wouldn’t we want the obvious signs that we are not as capable as we were handled sensitively? The pleasure of receiving flowers not reduced because we can’t throw them out when they are past their best, having to apologise for the tea stain on the floor and having no choice but to eat the dry bread or gaze at the unwiped surfaces because we are just grateful to be at home?

Retaining a person’s dignity, treating them with respect is more than just asking them how they wished to be addressed and giving sensitive personal care it is also about leaving them at the end of a care shift feeling better because their carer came in and took care of them as a whole, which, for many, includes their immediate and often very small, environment.

Reminiscence Therapy

Reminiscence Therapy is something people of all ages can enjoy. Whether it is a teenager reminiscing about their days as a younger child, young adults about their school days or older people about their long lives.

Able Community Care has a free news sheet entitled Reminiscence Therapy for Older People giving ideas on how to spend time enjoying memories of older people.

If you would like a free copy sent to you, please email to Ablemg@aol.com or telephone to 01603 764567.

Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 until 1901.

During her reign the telephone, radio, toilets as we know them, camera’s, vacuum cleaners, the sewing machine, trains and the postage stamp system were invented.

During her reign painkillers or anaesthetics had not been invented and tuberculosis, called consumption was the main disease which killed people.

The population doubled from 16 to 37 million people and the empire built during her reign meant that Britain was the richest and most powerful country in the world.

The Police Force was created during this period and in the 1891 census, there were 2 million recorded servants.

Gardening for All

In the current financial situation and the increasing obesity levels, it may be worth considering growing some of your own food.

This does not mean hours of digging and weeding because many food crops can be grown simply in pots.

Plastic pots are quite cheap and can be bought from supermarkets to Pound Stores and bags of compost are sold widely.

One of the important things to remember when gardening with pots is that they dry out easily if not kept an eye on, but also, because if they are plastic, the water does not seep out as well as it does in terracotta pots, and so you can end up with your plants being too wet.

So what can you grow just outside your back door or on your patio?

Fresh lettuces are always better when you can just cut them, so varieties such as Little Gem and Tom Thumb do well in pots but you can plant ‘mixed salad leaves’ which you just cut and they regrow.

Tomatoes will do well in a sunny spot and if needing support, add a cane. Ones that need no staking, such as the cherry varieties also do well in a hanging basket.

Spring onions, radishes, cucumber and beetroot can all be grown and give you a good harvest. Herbs can be grown in much smaller pots to add flavour to any dish.

Seeds are now available in your local shops, see what interests you, follow the instructions and in a few months enjoy your harvest.

Recycle Hearing Aids

Hearing Aids can be recycled in a number of places:

1. Ask if your GP surgery collects them.
2. Ring your local hospital audiology department and see if they are collecting them.
3. Contact your local Lions Club who recycle hearing aids for developing countries after repairing and refurbishing them.

Sugar almonds are a popular sweet but were originally a sweet with a purpose.

Five sugared almonds were given away to remind wedding guests of a couples wedding day and they were to represent wealth, health, fertility, happiness and a long life for the bride and groom.

Prevent Germs from Spreading

Germs cause illness and disease and in our homes we need to reduce the places where germs can live and endeavour to stop them spreading.

Germs mainly enter a home on people, food and pets. MRSA, E coli 0157, Norovirus and Clostridium difficile are the most common.

The weekly clean that is part of many a household regime should not be applied to hard services such as kitchen worktops, cleaning cloths and utensils. Here it should be a daily clean.

To cut down the risk of germs spreading use a clean tea cloth and dish cloth daily and during the day when used, put on a radiator or in the sun to dry. The reason is that dampness helps germs to survive and grow,

If you use a floor mop, after cleaning rinse and put in a place where it can dry, not keep damp until the next time of using.

When you give your cloths a wash in the dishwasher you can also put in your brushes and other washing up aids. Never leave damp clothes in the washing machine, dry them when the program has finished.

Run the washing machine on empty on a high temperature or put in disinfectant once a week.

Shower curtains need to be laundered frequently.

Wash your tin opener frequently and keep a separate one for pets.

These are just some of the guidance given by NHS Choices and based on the fact that in eight hours, one bacterium on a damp cloth can multiply to six million. Other information from The World Health Organisation advises that in 2003 approx. 40% of reported food related outbreaks of infection in Europe occurred in the home.

Servicecall

Servicecall is a method/product for disabled drivers to call for service where accessing a service is difficult.

The aid is a small palm held piece of equipment which you aim, press the button and it functions up to 50 metres away.

At a petrol station for example, there will be a receiver which will then flash so you know it is working and a bleep inside will alert staff to your need for assistance.

It is not only petrol stations that have this system to help but other organisations such as supermarkets, building societies and banks, Network Rail and Job Centre Plus. All will offer assistance as a result of the ServiceCall you hold in your hand.

The cost is £14.95 which includes P&P, battery and there is a list of instructions which advise where receivers are in your area.

For further details contact: ServiceCall, Milford Lane, Bakewell, Derbyshire DE45 1EX
Freephone 0800 458 3008
Email: info@service-call.net

St Johns Ambulance

St Johns Ambulance teaches people first aid - about 800,000 last year alone – so that they can be the difference between a life lost and a life saved.

The organisation runs thousands of courses across the country meeting the needs of home or leisure activities. The courses of around three hours will help you to possibly save a life. Courses cover such topics as:

• Basic First Aid.
• Family First Aid.
• Activity First Aid.
• Road Users First Aid.
• Sports First Aid.

Now The Better Weather is Here...

Many people think about taking part in a sport but for people with a disability it is not always easy to find out exactly what is available, appropriate and how to go about finding out the information needed.

The following list gives a guide to organisations that may be of interest. All organisations have their own websites and if the name is googled, details will come up.

• APT Charitable Trust – Disabled Flying
• British Blind Sport
• British Deaf Sports Council
• The British Disabled Angling Association
• British Disabled Water Ski Association
• British Paralympics Association
• Cerebral Palsy Sport
• Companion Cycling
• Disability Sports Events
• England Cricket association for the Deaf
• English Federation of Disability Sport
• Jubilee Sailing Trust
• Riding for the Disabled Association
• WheelPower – British Wheelchair Sport.

Everyone has the right to request information held by public sector organisations under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.

The FOI gives you the right to ask any public body for all the information they have on any subject you choose. Unless there's a good reason, the organisation must provide the information within 20 working days. You can also ask for all the personal information they hold on you.

Everyone can make a request for information; there are no restrictions on your age, nationality, or where you live.

If you wish to find out information covered by the FOI then write to (or email) the public body and include;

• your name,
• an address where you can be contacted,
• a description of the information that you want.

Car Boots

If you decide to be a buyer or a seller at a car boot sale you may like to find out what is available in your area. Without the local paper this can be difficult. The website http://www.carboot.com will give you details of sales in your area.

April Fools Day

In 1957 the BBC programme Panorama told the story about spaghetti growing on trees.

The show announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop.

This gazette is published by Able Community Care. For a brochure about our live-in carer service, telephone 01603 764567 or visit http://www.uk-care.com/brochure-request.html

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