CARE HOMES VISITING PROJECT

Care homes provide an essential service and do a difficult job with many pressures on them. Problems can arise, sometimes caused or made worse by communication difficulties between residents and staff. This can be particularly so with residents who have no relatives or friends they can call on for help in explaining their problems.

The pilot scheme

In early 2011 we set up a six-month pilot scheme in three care homes in north-west Bristol who were reputed to be offering a good level of care to their residents. Seven volunteer visitors were recruited and attended a training course. (They were called visitors, not volunteers, to avoid confusion, as volunteers in care homes usually undertake a befriending role.) They regularly visited the three homes to talk to residents and to take up any issues they raised with the staff and managers.

Results of the pilot

We have now completed the pilot, which was successful in two of the homes. We provided their managers with a report covering issues that the visitors had become aware of. The managers were very pleased with how the scheme had worked and said they would be turning these reports into action plans. Both homes wanted the scheme to continue but we decided to seek out new homes to continue with the scheme as the visitors felt they had explored the main issues in these two.

The third home was a medium-sized nursing home specialising in the care of people with high-dependency nursing needs and end-of-life care. Our work here wasn’t successful, mostly because the visitors found it hard to communicate with residents. More investigation is required to find out how the scheme can be made effective for these residents.

The next steps

With the help of a grant promised by SimplyHealth, we are now rolling out the scheme to other care homes in Bristol. From our experience with the pilot, we have decided to offer three types of scheme.

One is the original, in which the visitor in effect acts as the voice of the resident. A new type will be a locality scheme in which volunteers are recruited from the area around the home to develop links with local organisations, the idea being to bring the community into the home and the home into the community. The third type will be an intensive assessment in which a visitor visits the home six or seven times in a two-week period as an objective pair of eyes.

Ken Dolbear, an organiser for the scheme, recently retired from a manager’s post in social care in Bristol. He says, “The enthusiasm and support for the scheme from those who have experience of care homes has astounded me. I believe this scheme has the potential to significantly improve the quality of care in such homes in Bristol. During my career I came across too many instances where residents weren’t given a sufficiently high level of dignity, respect and care, despite the efforts of many homes. For many people a care home will be their refuge at the end of their lives and it’s vital we help to make sure they’re heard and understood and not tucked away out of sight.”

Volunteers needed

We are currently recruiting more volunteers to undertake training in January and February and would very much like to hear from anyone interested in becoming involved.

If you would like to know more, contact Ken Dolbear at the RSVP West regional office (0117 922 4392 or 0117 925 0505) or e-mail him. You may also like to see our information leaflet, which is in PDF format.

© 2003–12 RSVP West. Page last updated on 17 January 2012.