Moston Care Home Secures Prestigious Award

Moston’s newest care home Lightbowne Hall, on Lightbowne Road, has been awarded a prestigious award for the manner in which its design and construction ensures the safety of the people who live and work there.

Gareth Hulmes, on behalf of Greater Manchester Police said: “We are delighted to be able to present the prestigious Association of Chief Police Officers 'Secured by Design' award to Ideal Care Homes and LNT Construction, which recognises their hard work and effective collaboration with Greater Manchester Police's Design for Security team during the design and construction of Lightbowne Hall. This achievement is a great example of working together to create safer communities.”

Lawrence Tomlinson, Chairman of both Ideal Carehomes and LNT Construction said: “I design all our care homes to be great places to live and it is encouraging to see the attention to detail paid to our homes recognised in this way”

Alison Brownbill, Home Manager, said: “We have made a great start at Lightbowne Hall and we are all looking forward to making the home an integral part of the local community.  Making such positive links with the Local Neighbourhood Policing Team at this early stage is a bonus for us.”

PC Andy Grimes, Gareth Hulmes, Sue Walker, Alison Brownbill, Sgt Ben Cowcill, PC Michelle Gee ,PC John Carroll

LEEDS CARE HOME WELCOMES FIRST RESIDENT

87 year old Eva Matthews moves into the area’s most modern care facility.

This week Leeds’ newest care home, Oak Tree Lodge welcomed its first resident Mrs Eva Matthews into her new home.

Mrs Matthews, who was born in Tadcaster, married just after the Second World War and moved to London where she worked as a dental nurse, and for William Hill as a telephonist. A large part of her working life was as a civil servant which she loved. Mrs Matthews has one son and two grandchildren. She was joined for the celebration by Mr Harry Caley who has also recently moved into the home.

Mrs Matthews was presented with a bouquet of flowers by Ideal Care Homes Managing Director, Mark Greaves, and a celebratory bottle of champagne by Oak Tree Lodge Manager Carolyn Wagstaff.

Mark Greaves, Managing Director of Ideal Care Homes said:

“We never under estimate what a big step it is moving into a new environment, but I know that Carolyn and her team of carers will go to every length to make sure the move for all our residents is as smooth as possible.”

Since the public open day on Sunday 18^th March there has been massive interest in Oak Tree Lodge which is a testament to Ideal Care Homes’ offer of affordable, quality care and also the demand for care in the Leeds area.

All 33 homes in the Ideal Care Homes group welcome both private and Local Authority residents, and do not charge top-up fees making the homes great places providing quality care that people can afford to live in. 

Pictured: From left to right Home Manager Carolyn Wagstaff, Mr Caley’s Niece Susan Roberts, Mark Greaves Managing Director of Ideal Care Homes

Front – Oak Tree Lodge Residents -Mrs Eva Matthews and Mr H Caley

RESIDENTS AT NOTTINGHAM CARE HOME ARE VISITED BY CORONATION STREET STARS

In a themed Coronation Street morning brunch serving up treats from Roy’s Rolls!

Television actor Alan Halsall, better known as Coronation Street’s hapless mechanic Tyrone Dobbs, left the cobbles of Coronation Street on Saturday to visit residents at Bulwell care home, Fairway View. Along with his real-life wife and British actress, Lucy-Jo Hudson - best known for her role as Katy Harris in Coronation Street, and as vet Rosie Trevanion in Wild At Heart; Alan sat down to a Roy’s Rolls brunch with the home’s residents where they enjoyed tucking into the delights as served up in the ITV soap.

The actors mingled with residents and their families, and signed memorabilia and autographs. Residents took part in a raffle to win a signed copy of ‘50 Years of Coronation Street’, whilst Lucy-Jo was presented with a bunch of flowers by Fairway View residents who are avid fans of the ITV soap.

Alan commented: “Lucy-Jo and I were delighted to visit residents at Fairway View. It provides a valuable service to the local community so it was an absolute pleasure for us to be part of it, and to meet the residents and staff who work there.”

Fairway View, which offers a home for 41 people living with dementia, is part of the Leeds based Ideal Care Homes and boasts 100% en-suite accommodation, landscaped sensory gardens and a hairdressing salon.  The group stands for innovation and quality in its provision of care, and charges no top-up fees making their homes places people can afford.

Ideal Care Homes prides itself on being a great place to live. Leading voice in the health care sector and a man responsible for changing the face of residential care in the UK today, Lawrence Tomlinson, Chairman and Founder of the Ideal Care Homes said:

“Holding an event like this creates a great atmosphere in the home for both the people who live with us and their loved ones.  It is a real pleasure for us to have Alan and Lucy- Jo take time out of their busy schedules to come and visit us. Everyone has had a really great day and thrown themselves into the Coronation Street theme.”

Fairway View, which is situated on Swale Close off St Albans Road, Bulwell, is one of 33 homes opened by Ideal Care Homes: it was built by sister company LNT Construction, both part of the LNT Group owned by Mr Tomlinson.

Pictured: Lucy-Jo Hudson and Fairway View Resident Ena Garfoot

RESIDENTS AT DONCASTER CARE HOME ARE VISITED BY CORONATION STREET STARS

In Rovers Return themed afternoon

    

Television actor Alan Halsall, better known as Coronation Street’s hapless mechanic Tyrone Dobbs, left the cobbles of Coronation Street on Saturday to visit residents at Doncaster care home, Hatfield House. Along with his real-life wife and British actress, Lucy-Jo Hudson - best known for her role as Katy Harris in Coronation Street, and as vet Rosie Trevanion in Wild At Heart; Alan sat down to a Betty’s Hotpot lunch with the homes’ residents where they enjoyed tucking into some home-made delights and refreshments including “Betty’s Hotpot”.

The actors mingled with residents and their families, and signed memorabilia and autographs. Residents took part in a raffle to win a signed copy of ‘50 Years of Coronation Street’, whilst Lucy-Jo was presented with a bunch of flowers by Hatfield House residents who are avid fans of the ITV soap.

Alan commented: “Lucy-Jo and I were delighted to visit residents at Hatfield House. It provides a valuable service to the local community so it was an absolute pleasure for us to be part of it, and to meet the residents and staff who work there.”

Hatfield House, which offers a home for 49 older people, is part of the Leeds based Ideal Care Homes and boasts 100% en-suite accommodation, landscaped sensory gardens and a hairdressing salon.  The group stands for innovation and quality in its provision of care, and charges no top-up fees making their homes places people can afford.

Ideal Care Homes prides itself on being a great place to live. Leading voice in the health care sector and a man responsible for changing the face of residential care in the UK today, Lawrence Tomlinson, Chairman and Founder of the Ideal Care Homes said:

“Holding an event like this creates a great atmosphere in the home for both the people who live with us and their loved ones.  It is a real pleasure for us to have Alan and Lucy- Jo take time out of their busy schedules to come and visit us. Everyone has had a really great day and thrown themselves into the Coronation Street theme.”

Hatfield House, which is situated on Crookes Broom Avenue in Hatfield, is one of 33 homes opened by Ideal Care Homes: it was built by sister company LNT Construction, both part of the LNT Group owned by Mr Tomlinson.

Pictured: Alan Halsall and Lucy –Jo Hudson with Hatfield House Residents

New Oak Tree Lodge Care Home Opens its Doors

Carers at Leeds’ newest care home were delighted to show off its facilities to members of the caring profession today, to mark its imminent opening in the local community.

Oak Tree Lodge on Foundry Approach, Leeds is operated by Garforth based Ideal Care Homes and will provide a home for 60 local older people.  The brand new, luxurious home from home facility, which will be managed by Carolyn Wagstaff, was visited by a number of sector workers as it opened its doors for the very first time.

Ideal Care Homes were delighted to welcome The Lord Mayor of Leeds (Reverend Councillor Alan Taylor) to Oak Tree Lodge and to take the opportunity to thank him for his continued support from the initial planning stage.  On seeing the completed Oak Tree Lodge the Lord Mayor of Leeds said

“The development has transformed this area of Gipton in a very real way; it is a joy to see.  There is no doubt that Oak Tree Lodge will provide a much needed service for local residents in their own ward when their needs arise, not to mention the 50 local jobs being created to run the home, the whole thing is just fantastic”

In a presentation by Ideal Care Homes’ Managing Director Mark Greaves, local care workers, district nurses, local Councillors and social workers were given an insight into Ideal Care Homes and its aim to change the face of residential care.  Tours of the new purpose built home also took place before guests joined for a buffet lunch.

Mark Greaves commented: 

“Oak Tree Lodge is a stunning care home by anybody’s standards and the team relished the opportunity to show off its first rate facilities.  As a Yorkshire company based in Garforth, we are delighted to be opening our  second home in Leeds and demonstrates the need for high quality care in the borough, with sister home Berkeley Court at maximum occupancy.  Carolyn and her team were able to showcase just why our homes are a great place to live and they very much look forward to Oak Tree Lodge becoming an integral part of the local community and welcoming their first residents”

Oak Tree Lodge is a 60 bed home, offering both residential and specialist Dementia care.  With 100% en-suite bedrooms, landscaped gardens and a hairdressing salon, Oak Tree Lodge is the 33rd home to be opened by Ideal Care Homes. 

A public open day will take place on Sunday 18^th March from 10.30 am – 14.30 pm providing the opportunity for people to view the facilities and reserve rooms.

The home was built by sister company LNT Construction, both part of the Leeds-based LNT Group owned by adult social care expert Lawrence Tomlinson.  The Yorkshire born entrepreneur is responsible for a new era in care by abolishing third party top-up fees to ensure the highest quality of care for all, regardless of financial wealth and circumstances.

Dignity Costs?

“It is truly appalling that we have reached a stage that requires an investigation to improve Dignity in Care for older people,”

Says Lawrence Tomlinson; one of the country’s top 10 most influential leaders within the healthcare industry and Chairman of Ideal Care Homes

“I give my full support to the investigation and would love to see it have an impact nationwide ensuring the elderly are afforded the basic human rights that the rest of us would expect. 

Sadly, I am doubtful that without a full overhaul of the system, putting quality at the heart of care structures, that this investigation will have full effect. 

Whilst price continues to play the fundamental role in commissioning, costs of staff and training will remain an issue for many providers.

A strong national fee structure that rewards quality would ensure that these sickening abuses are fully dis-incentivised and providers focus on what matters - the quality of care the residents receive.

At present, the less providers do, the more profit they make, leading to a reduction in the quality in the provision of care available. 

 It is time to start encouraging a race to the top and change the culture of squeezed margins and under-resourced care. 

 Unless we act now, hospitals will continue to fill whilst the system clogs up and we will witness a continued deterioration in care quality as staff are increasingly pressured to deal with growing demand.

We need a local commissioning structure that follows simple but strong national guidelines on quality payments above a set local base fee. 

Within this framework, allowance can be made for local variation through weighting of fees, whilst also awarding increases to this base fee based on quality and the provision of care. 

Quality of service can then be monitored by the Local Authority purchasers and homes not meeting the required quality outcomes will not be awarded contracts. 

Homes need to run efficiently to high quality standards, this is people’s lives we are investing in, quality is key.”

Greenacres Care Home Make a Wish on National Dignity Day

Wednesday February 1^st was National Dignity Day, a day that gives everyone the opportunity to uphold people’s rights to dignity and provide a truly memorable day for people receiving care.

Staff at Greenacres Care Home in Meltham, embraced National Dignity Day with a day of activities,

Care home Manager Tracey Nash commented

“National Dignity Day for us is all about making the day extra special for our residents.  We wanted to remind our residents of memories from the past, enjoy the present and to wish good things for the future”

To incorporate all these things together Staff at Greenacres bought the “old pub” into the home; creating an old fashioned pub atmosphere and environment using old pictures, memorabilia, hosting dominoes games, darts matches and of course serving good old British pub food.  Residents were reminded of their tipples from the past including Cherry Bee, Baby Sham and Snowballs.

The party really began to start when Belinda led a good old fashioned sing song accompanied by residents and staff belting out classics such as roll out the barrel, Daisy Daisy and It’s a long way to Tipperary,

During the day residents were invited to make a personal wish and invited residents to post their wishes on a wish board.  Many wishes were residents wishing their friends at Greenacres good health and happiness, love to be sent to anyone who had any troubles, as well as a wish for Guinness to be served at their events and the Greenacres pub to open all the time.

One resident only had to wait 2 weeks to wait for his wish to come true; Michael Morris  wished for a visit from the Guide Dogs for the Blind and his wish came true on Thursday 16th February.  Margaret Kenworthy who is a puppy walker for the guide dogs came to meet Michael and introduce him to  Fonda a beautiful 11 month old golden retriever to Greenacres.