The COVID-19 Recovery and Rehabilitation project was kindly funded by The Rayne Foundation to help care homes share with each other what they are doing to help individuals living, dying, visiting and working in care homes for older people to move on from COVID-19.  This story relates to Improving health and healthcare, which is an important part of Developing best practice together.

 If you have a story to share, please email us on mhlcharity@outlook.com.

As one care home shared…

One might be tempted to assume that in the midst of a pandemic and such difficult working circumstances faced by many care homes, the improvement of health and healthcare may be far-fetched. However, amidst the great difficulty, we had to think and work differently. The outcome of this has been observable improvement in the healthcare which our residents have received, and we believe an improvement to their health too. This does not imply that we suddenly had better access to healthcare, or that we no longer experience disheartening delays to healthcare services. We still do, but what is different is better communication with some services which involve the health of our residents.

 

In addition to the clinical aspect of healthcare, we have also invested our attention on boosting the mental health of our residents. Whilst in the midst of the pandemic, we could appreciate even better, the importance of maintain good mental health for residents. With the restrictions being lifted, we now work more closely with local communities and partners to improve or maintain the health of our residents. Again, we believe that communication with these partners has greatly improved following the pandemic.

 

Another challenge which has brought a positive outcome is having the right balance between maintaining the safety of residents and accommodating visitors. Following the ease of restrictions, we face the dilemma of exposing residents to the risk of infection, but also consenting to loving visits with family and friends, which of itself can influence a resident’s health. Now, we believe we do a better job at assessing and managing risk, ultimately aiming for the improved health and quality of life of our residents.

What have you been able to do to improve health and healthcare? (we’d love to hear from you)