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 Having caring conversations.

Having caring conversations helps us to celebrate what is working well, consider the perspectives of all those involved, connect emotionally, be curious and suspend judgement, be courageous and take positive risks, collaborate to make things happen, and compromise to focus on what is real and possible.

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

As one care home shared …

We really cannot underestimate the level of pain people had to go through during the lockdown, being kept away from their loved ones. But the beautiful thing that came out of it was how deeply we got to know our residents. We got so interested in their lives and their stories as we spent time with them. As staff, we were all together and had limited ideas. Nobody was prepared for that level of isolation; we didn’t know what was coming next and were just desperate to keep residents safe. By the way, this wasn’t just about care staff, it was staff from domestics, kitchen, activities, and management! [Be curious].

 

We have different units in the home, and there was at least one staff member from each of the departments on each of the units, spending time with residents. Sometimes it was intense, being there nearly the whole day. With other residents it was checking up on them regularly, trying to get things for them to do which weren’t boring or patronising. You could indeed feel a sense of connection going on, as we worked together with residents in this way. [Connect emotionally].

 

We were also staying in touch with family, doing up to 100 facetime calls in a day, some of which were multiple calls for the same resident. But in the middle of that were all these beautiful moments and actually now I feel that my team and I have such a deeper understanding of the individuals that we care for. Because we are sometimes present during the calls, families share things with us, and we can understand things better from their point of view. Altogether, this has also meant that our activities program is 100 times better, even though I must say it was pretty amazing before. [Consider other perspectives]

 

I’d say it was amazing before the restrictions because we really do things differently here. For instance, we have 6 different activities going on in each of the units per day, like history, Spanish classes, art, quilting, and more. We considered ourselves to provide personalised and engaging activities. We often would find out about somebody and their interest, then we’d put a group together and work out how we’re going to get things done. Although we had all these things before the restrictions, I believe we now have a more holistic approach. I really think so. And I believe it’s because we’ve spent so long together. Looking back there were gaps in communication between the departments, now there’s less of a gap. This is much nicer for the resident because everybody is sharing equally in their care – physical, emotional, and even spiritual care. It’s a more holistic approach because everyone is contributing to improve the experience of our residents. [Collaborate]

 

With the restrictions being lifted, whilst we were happy to have the external partners we used to work with, I also felt like there was a little bit of a feeling of ‘I don’t need you’. We have adapted that much! One of our greatest adaptations was being courageous about burning our timetables. We used to be so super structured and had things happening in such an organised way. Although we still have this, which is useful, we now have so many free-flowing things in between. [Be courageous]

 

For instance, when we plan for craft, we now have whole afternoons when a member of staff or two work out a craft project and one person will oversee the activity for a whole afternoon. People can just come in and out as they please, as opposed to a structured afternoon when everyone does the craft activity at a certain time. Also, considering dignity, we support residents to take charge of some of their daily care. This obviously means that more time may be required and that we have to step back from the usual routine. [Compromise]

 

Overall, I feel that we have really gained some very beautiful things from the lockdown. When you’re forced to burn your timetable because everyone is in their room, you have to behave differently. Now, we can really appreciate the fact that you can have your timetable worked out, and you can be super planned, but it can basically go into the bin, if need be, because each person has their own structures. The way we work now, allows for this sort of flexibility which has improved the quality of care we provide. [Celebrate]

What did you discover during the pandemic? [Be curious]
How did you feel during lockdown? [Connect emotionally]
Who did you come to understand better? [Consider other perspectives]
When did you work in partnership with others to achieve goals? [Collaborate]
Where did you have to change your normal practice? [Compromise]
What are you most proud of? [Celebrate]
Why did you have to try something different? [Be courageous]