Four members of staff at a Skelmersdale care home are leading the way in seeking their qualifications in nursing.

The members of staff at Birch Green Care Home, Marie Stitt, Jess Mooney, Stephanie Williams and Tayla Neeley, have all started the Assistant Nurse Practitioners’ course.

Vicky Sudworth, General Manager at Birch Green Care Home, said: “As an organisation, we want to provide the very best quality of care possible and this will help to raise the quality of the nursing care we provide.

“We commit a lot of time and resource in the quality of training for our staff at all levels and ultimately that benefits our residents.”

The four employees – all currently team leaders at Birch Green – will undergo the two-year course in nursing care at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan).

The Assistant Nurse Practitioners’ qualification was created to help solve a shortage of qualified nurses, designed to give suitably experienced staff in the care industry the chance to develop clinical and managerial skills and provide support for nursing and management teams. The ANP also helps to bridge the gap between traditional healthcare assistants and registered nurses.

The programme follows a curriculum which closely matches the training registered nurses undertake in many areas and gives staff the flexibility – within their range of skills – to assist nurses closely with their work.

Birch Green Care Home is part of the award-winning Springhill Care Group, which also operates homes in Accrington and Bristol.

Recently, inspectors from the industry’s watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) made particular note of the commitment and quality of staff and the training they receive at Birch Green in awarding the home a ‘good’ rating.

All areas of the home were examined, from the safety of the service to how it is led, with inspectors looking at everything from how medicines are stored to the quality of day-to-day activities.

Left to right are Marie Stitt, Jess Mooney, Stephanie Williams, Tayla Neeley

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We are delighted to say that the Christmas Market at Birch Green was a huge success.

We had a fantastic turn out for such a wet and windy day and it was great to see so many of our residents with smiles on their faces.

Families and friends of residents’ both past and present turned out to support the care home’s annual Christmas market and it was a festive treat.

It was delightful to see the children write their letters to Santa and the hot chocolate, Thai food and mulled wine sold well!

Kath’s chocolate muffins went down an absolute treat!

We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who got involved, helped and supported us to make it a fantastic day.

To view lots more photographs on our Facebook page click HERE

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A poignant tale of true love is being told through a Skelmersdale care home to commemorate Remembrance Day.

For the third year, The Lovers have returned to the reception area of Birch Green Care Home, as residents and staff continue to follow their story in the next chapter of their lives.

This year they are sending congratulations to the pair who appeared with a babe-in-arms with the little one’s dress starting off the sea of poppies.

With almost 1,000 poppies to be seen in the care home reception display staff said that they are proud to show off the residents’ efforts who all got involved in creating them.

Gill Seddon, Activities Coordinator, said: “We have a lot of excitement around the display event. We sat around this year and talked about what could be the next chapter and decided that a baby would bring wonderful news.”

The love story started back in 2016 with two mannequins used to represent wartime lovers.

Back then The Lovers sat on the bench with a sea of poppies falling from the soldier’s uniform.

Last year, after he had returned maimed from the war, it was the couple’s wedding day with the bride’s dress starting off the flow of poppies.

Gill added: “The display means so much to them because it’s so close to everybody’s heart – residents put their heart and soul into it and can spend hours making the poppies.

“Although the figures are only mannequins, they have become somewhat celebrities in our care home and people look forward to seeing them.”

This year the home also has additional items to view with precious memorabilia from the First World War on display.

To view more photographs (inc photos of our 2016 & 2017 remembrance display) on our Facebook page click HERE

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At the end of October we danced for dignity whilst supporting Dignity in Care’s nationwide campaign.

We held a Dancing for Dignity tea dance for all our residents and staff, with special guest singer George who serenaded the afternoon away for us with plenty of our favourite songs that we danced and sang along to. Everyone had plenty of dancing to do, to burn off all those delicious cream cakes that were served during the afternoon!

Every year we support the campaign which began in 2006 and eleven years on there are over 86,000 Dignity Champions all doing what they can to make a difference to people’s lives.

Dignity in Care Action day is one of the ways we can showcase what is being achieved at Birch Green Care Home to promote dignity.

To view more photographs on our Facebook page click HERE

*Before the Dignity in Care campaign launched, numerous focus groups took place around the country to find out what Dignity in Care meant to people. The issues raised at these events resulted in the development of the 10 Point Dignity Challenge (now the 10 Dignity Do's). The challenge describes values and actions that high quality services that respect people's dignity should:

The 10 Dignity Do's

1. Have a zero tolerance of all forms of abuse
2. Support people with the same respect you would want for yourself or a member of your family
3. Treat each person as an individual by offering a personalised service
4. Enable people to maintain the maximum possible level of independence, choice and control
5. Listen and support people to express their needs and wants
6. Respect people's right to privacy
7. Ensure people feel able to complain without fear of retribution
8. Engage with family members and carers as care partners
9. Assist people to maintain confidence and positive self-esteem
10. Act to alleviate people's loneliness and isolation

To learn more about Dignity in Care please go to www.dignityincare.org.uk

*(Information taken from the Dignity in Care website 2018 for accuracy)

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