Personalising Residential
Care:
is it even possible?
The people at Bruce Lodge
decided to find out.
Not all staff knew how to support Nora at bedtime
in a way that makes sense to her
What doesn't work/make sense
Arthur’s
perspective
Living in his own home
His family visiting
Going to Stephen’s house for tea every
Friday.
Families
perspective
People telling him to take his bob hat off
Staff taking £10 out of his pocket & putting
it somewhere safe.
Not seeing anybody from breakfast until tea
& being left a sandwich for lunch
Eating alone, food not hot
Fear of being put in a home
Being confused
Visiting and speaking to Arthur regularly
Arthur visiting their house on Fridays
Arthur going out alone at night
Being confused
Phone calls from Arthur at all hours
aff’s
rspective
What works/makes sense
Calling out when Arthur is in bed
Having the keys to Arthur’s flat
Going out alone at night.
Being confused
Some simple solutions….
• Wake Arthur in the mornings by calling out
from the door.
• Never take his ten pound note out of his top
pocket.
• Family providing frozen meals for staff to heat
up, so they can spend the time sitting talking
to Arthur while he eats.
• Installing a mat sensor at the door to notice if
Arthur leaves the house.
“This approach has really made a
difference to staff and people who
live here. I was surprised at what a
big difference we’ve made to people.
Our culture has changed from being
very task focussed to thinking about
people and what matters to them,
and exactly how they want to be
supported.”
Lisa Martin, Manager, Bruce Lodge.
“…you can’t do this work with other people if you
have not done it for yourself…” John O’Brien.
Sometimes personalising support can
feel just a bit too risky…
Staff wanted to keep Josie safe…
But we needed to find a balance…
Because…
Dead and happy are incompatible but…
Because…
Dead and happy are incompatible but…
…alive and miserable is unacceptable.
A person centred approach to risk helps.
After all…
Think Local Act Personal.
Low levels of social integration, and loneliness, significantly
increase mortality whilst people with stronger networks are
healthier and happier.
Social networks are consistently and positively associated
with reduced illness and death rates.
Feelings of happiness and life satisfaction have been
strongly associated with active participation in social and
community life.
Some resources…
• A free downloadable booklet about practical ways to
deliver personalisation for people with dementia:
http://personalisationanddementia.files.wordpress.c
om/2013/12/beyondlifehistories.pdf
• A dementia minibook, free if you pay with a tweet or
facebook post: http://bit.ly/18HbEab
• And a blog that might be useful:
http://personalisationanddementia.wordpress.com/
Plus…
Remember… If you always do what you’ve
always done…
… you’ll always get
what you always got.
Lou Close.
07729127173.
louisec@helensandersonassociates.co.uk
www.helensandersonassociates.co.uk
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Helen-SandersonAssociates/
@HSAUK
http://www.youtube.com/user/helensandersonHSA
Making personalisation a reality in
residential care.
• What opportunities are there
for people you support to have
more choice and control in
their lives through the
personalisation agenda?
• What challenges can you
foresee in introducing SDS in
your organisation?