On the third anniversary of the first COVID-19 lockdown (23rd March 2020), My Home Life England shares new insights from care homes about their experiences of the pandemic.

‘Rebuilding Together’ is a report based upon conversations with over 200 people from 34 care homes across England.

It offers insight into what support care homes received during the pandemic which they felt was valuable, in order to inform future responses to crises. It also explores what support care homes need right now, knowing that the pandemic is still evident in many care homes, both in terms of COVID-19 infection and the long-term trauma that it has left behind.

Report findings

Teamwork, loyalty, resilience, commitment and connection to one another were critical for people living and working in care homes throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. When support was absent, particularly at the beginning of the pandemic, this led to people feeling alone and sometimes very scared. Care home managers expressed a desire to be recognised, supported and appreciated (on par with NHS colleagues), and for guidance and policy to be clear, consistent and timely.

They also identified a desire to sustain some of the positive changes experienced during the pandemic, for example greater knowledge of IT systems, infection control procedures and different forms of communication with families and community links.

The report concludes that there is a vital need for care providers, the wider health and social care system and local communities to invest in the wellbeing of care teams, to actively engage in open conversations with people living and working in care homes and to explore what would help them now and into the future.

Oluwafunmilayo Vaughn, report author, said:

“This report offers the privilege of delving into the rich lived experience of those who were at the forefront of a devastating pandemic. It captures stories of tenacity and grace, giving us insight into how care homes coped amidst such difficult times. Finally, the report highlights some positive ways to support social care into the future. We are immensely grateful to all those who have contributed to the creation of this report.”

Vic Rayner, OBE, said:

“The Covid-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the people living, working, visiting and dying in care homes. This report represents insights from people working in care homes across England at the time.”

Tom Owen, Director of My Home Life England, said:

“At My Home Life England, we continually learn from the people we work with in the care sector. We are conscious that, for many, the emotional and physical impact of the pandemic remains, and that COVID-19 and its impact has not gone away. This report reminds us of the commitment, care, courage and connections that exist in care homes.”

Oluwafunmilayo Vaughn is an associate of My Home Life England and has a research interest in frontline care staff, including developing and evaluating initiatives to improve wellbeing at work. Vic Rayner OBE is a widely respected expert in the field of care and has an honorary professorship at City, University of London. My Home Life England is part of City, University of London, based within the School of Health and Psychological Sciences.

The post ‘Rebuilding Together’ – Insights into how care homes coped during the pandemic appeared first on My Home Life England.

My Home Life England and NAPA have jointly released a new toolkit focused on enabling Activity Providers and Care Home Leaders to work well together in order to enhance wellbeing and community connectedness for their care setting.

About the toolkit

The toolkit is free to access. It focuses on positive practice, building on what already works well and finding new ways to work towards shared goals. It has been co-created and developed with those working in care settings and features a range of resources including case studies, practical tools and reflection points.

As champions of the roles of Activity Provider and Care Home Leader, both NAPA and My Home Life England have the privilege of connecting with people living and working in a wide range of care settings on a daily basis, seeing first-hand the hard work that goes into fostering caring, connected communities.

Both organisations have the same vision for building positive, supportive working relationships in order to achieve better quality of life for all those connected to care settings. We have created this resource together to help realise that vision.

The toolkit shares examples of positive practice alongside activities to help facilitate conversations between Activity Providers and Care Home Leaders. The aim is to help colleagues better understand each other and move forward together.

Download the toolkit below:

A free to watch webinar also compliments the toolkit.

Colleagues from NAPA and My Home Life England discuss the toolkit and two sets of Care Home Leaders and Activity Providers share their experiences of positive working relationships and what works well.

The post New toolkit supporting positive working relationships – released by My Home Life England and NAPA appeared first on My Home Life England.

It aims to get more young people connecting with older people living in care homes through a series of fun activities.

Through the challenge, young people will:

• Think more about different ages and different generations
• Learn about care homes and the people that live and work in them
• Make/write something to share with a nearby care home

Get involved below and earn your Care Home Friend certificate!

** The Challenge originally ran in Summer 2022, but all the weekly activities are still available to access below.**

See the activities

The details

---

More about our national intergenerational project

This challenge was part of Care Home Friends and Neighbours: Intergenerational Linking – the biggest intergenerational project with care homes in England. Together My Home Life England and The Linking Network have been supporting young people aged 5-14 from schools and youth groups to connect with older people living in care homes across 11 different areas of England. Our project has created some amazing connections and so many stories of joy.

Inspired by this, we took one step further. We wanted to give more children across the UK the opportunity to engage in intergenerational social action with care homes. And so the “Become a Care Home Friend” Challenge was born!

 

Visit the project homepage

 

Care Home Friends and Neighbours: Intergenerational Linking was funded through the #iwill Fund. The #iwill Fund is made possible thanks to £66 million joint investment from The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department of Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) to support young people to access high quality social action opportunities. The Dunhill Medical Trust acted as a match funder for this project and awarded grants on behalf of the #iwill Fund.

The post Become A Care Home Friend – Intergenerational Challenge appeared first on My Home Life England.

We are delighted to share with you a series of resources for remote intergenerational linking!

The COVID-19 pandemic proved how important it is to promote community connections and the value of intergenerational friendships between younger and older people.

We’re here to help make that happen!

Below are 18 step-by-step activities, suiting different abilities and interests, that promote contact between young people and older people living in care homes, even when face-to-face linking isn’t possible.

They are designed to be used by schools, youth organisations, parent/guardians and young people themselves.

We hope they promote community, kindness and friendship. Enjoy!

Please note:

• The following resources are aimed at young people aged 5-14.
• Please read the Notes on Activities (for adults) before starting.

Info

These resources were created by Care Home Friends and Neighbours: Intergenerational Linking – a project from My Home Life England and The Linking Network.

The project was funded through the #iwill Fund. The #iwill Fund is made possible thanks to £66 million joint investment from The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department of Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) to support young people to access high quality social action opportunities. The Dunhill Medical Trust acted as a match funder for this project and awarded grants on behalf of the #iwill Fund.  

The post Remote Intergenerational Linking Activities appeared first on My Home Life England.

This guide on shared decision making was co-created by My Home Life England alongside an Expert Advisory Group of people working in a range of care homes.

The guide contains

• Case studies, positive practice thoughts and ideas to help support and develop discussions about shared decision making.
• Links to My Home Life tools and ideas that can support people in thinking about shared decision making.
• More detailed information including some of the legal and regulatory frameworks that influence shared decision making

Sections in the guide

• Introduction
• Supporting people who live in the care home
• Supporting team members working in a care home
• Involving a person’s support circle
• Downloadable poster
• Policy and legislation information
• Acknowledgements

View the full guide here:

Download

 

View the downloadable poster (p13) here:

Download

 

When reviewing the original 2008 My Home Life bulletin of ‘shared decision making’, we were conscious that, whilst a lot of the content was still really relevant and helpful, many things had changed. In particular we wanted this guide to be led by those working in care homes today and ‘shine a light’ on the great practice happening.

The post Supporting shared decision making in care homes: A free guide appeared first on My Home Life England.

The thoughts of 12 care home managers and activity coordinators from the Care Home Friends and Neighbours North West London project were gathered by My Home Life England during online and telephone interviews in the summer of 2020.

Staff were asked to reflect on ‘what they could be proud of’ in terms of how their care homes managed during the challenging months of lockdown due to COVID-19.

From these discussions, we have created a visual mindmap sharing some of the things staff from these care homes said they found helpful when in a lockdown situation.

Download the interactive version of Lockdown Learnings:

The post COVID-19 ‘Lockdown Learnings’ – care homes share things they found helpful appeared first on My Home Life England.

The bulletins are filled with real stories, practice ideas and top tips.

The 3 most recent bulletins from 2018-2019 are below.

Issue 23: Quality of life - Reaching out for support

This bulletin shares some of the benefits that engaging with the community can bring to your care home.

Download

 

Published May 2019

Issue 22: Activity and Wellbeing - Exploring the changing role of the Activity Coordinator

With the help of our friends at the National Activity Providers Association (NAPA), this bulletin explores the changing role of the Activity Coordinator, what we mean when we talk about activity provision, and what we can all do together to help make activities more meaningful in care homes.

Download

 

Published December 2018

Issue 21: Quality of life - The little things that matter

In this issue we’re remembering the importance of the ‘little things’ in life, that cost nothing but make the biggest difference.

Download

 

Published May 2018

The post My Home Life Bulletins for Care Home Staff appeared first on My Home Life England.

The My Home Life toolkit was designed to support conversations for quality improvement.

It was developed from research and piloted with care home managers.

It helps people to explore their thoughts and feelings, thinking about what is working well, and what could be done to make things even better.

The toolkit contains:

• Instructions on how to use the toolkit
• Best practice theme cards
• Emotion cards
• Touchpoint cards
• ‘Emotional touchpoints in action’ film from MHL Scotland

Toolkit Instructions

A guide to how to use the toolkit.

Download

 

 

 

 

 

Best practice theme cards

These cards support you to explore the My Home Life best practice themes.

You are invited to explore your thoughts about the themes – what do you think about the themes, what is working well in your care home in relation to the theme, and what more could be done to make things even better?

Download

 

 

 

 

Emotion cards

The emotion cards, in conjunction with the touchpoint cards, are designed to start and support conversations about different topics relating to care.

Each card has an emotion written on it. People can choose whichever emotion card(s) they think match the topics written on the touchpoint cards. This helps people to express and explore how they feel.

Download

 

Touchpoint cards

The touchpoint cards, in conjunction with the emotion cards, are designed to start and support conversations about different topics relating to care.

Each card has a topic written on it. People can choose a card and match it to whichever emotion card(s) they think fits their situation, and this helps people to express and explore how they feel.

Download

 

 

'Emotional touchpoints in action' - a video from MHL Scotland

In this video, Fiona, who’s mother-in-law Margaret lives in a care home, demonstrates how to use the emotion and touchpoint cards.

 

The post My Home Life toolkit resources appeared first on My Home Life England.

Engagement between care homes and the local community is so important. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of friendship, kindness and community spirit and we heard many heart-warming stories of thoughtful surprises and donations. We’ve also heard from other community members that they want to help, but don’t always know how. We’ve created some resources for care homes to help you reach out to your local community:

1. Posters

Put a poster in your care home window, or in the window of your local shop, and let the community know how best to support you:

Poster: help spread kindness!

Poster: help spread kindness! (this version can be personalised to include specific requests)

2. Volunteering ideas sheet

If anyone would like to know other ways in which they can support you, here’s a ready-made ideas for volunteers sheet you can give them, full of practical ways they can offer support, including whilst still maintaining social distancing if necessary.

3. Community Engagement Companion

This document full of ideas and tips was co-created with the care home managers and activity coordinators of the 28 homes taking part in the North West London Care Home Friends and Neighbours project funded by the Mercers’ Company. It contains contact details and examples that are specific to North West London, but many ideas can be transferable to your area. Here are some other resources (tried and tested by care homes) to help build on your community connections:

Welcome pack

These resources are designed to help you make friendly approaches to individuals or organisations that you’d like to connect with. Click on the links and download your own copy of each file.

Digital Pack – Care Home FaNs Logo

Digital Pack – A4 Welcome Letter

Digital Pack – A5 Leaflet

Digital Pack – A6 Thankyou Postcard & Case Study

Digital Pack – Certificate

The 3 steps

Digital Pack – All 3 steps and prompt cards

Step 1: Thank your current connections

Step 2: Pin down your possibilities | Step 2: Prompt Card for Question 1 | Step 2: Prompt Card for Question 2

Step 3: Get your message out – do you want to connect with us?

Quick guides

Our quick guides are stuffed with hints, tips and answers. Useful ideas to help you succeed:

Volunteers – ‘bringing light to life’

Engaging with the community

My Home Life England Community Engagement Bulletins

Download for FREE the My Home Life England Community Engagement Bulletins. Each Bulletin highlights a different area of community engagement and how we might build our practice, to know our neighbours outside the care home better.

Bulletin 21: Quality of Life; the little things that matter

Bulletin 22: Activity and Wellbeing; Exploring the challenging role of the Activity Coordinator

Bulletin 23: Quality of Life; Reaching out for support

Bulletin 15: Community Engagement

The post Community engagement resources appeared first on My Home Life England.

What works well in care homes? And what could be even better?

From May 2012, My Home Life England worked with care homes to find out their thoughts. This included many care home managers in the 19 Local Authorities in England who have been part of our Leadership Support programme.

We supported care home managers to have an open conversation with residents, relatives, staff and members of the public around 3 simple questions:

• What makes life good in care homes now?
• What could make them even better?
• How might we get there?

Care homes were provided with a range of tools and materials to help open up conversations – including leaf-shaped labels onto which residents, relatives, staff and the local community could share their thoughts and hang onto a ‘tree’ within the home.

Branded bags of resources and tools for use in the initiative were sent to 203 care homes in England .

The resources were also uploaded onto the My Home Life England website, enabling the BCHC to take place in other locations in the country outside of care homes, including hospitals, Age UK offices, libraries, councils and conferences

3,400 responses were received! 

See the Evaluation Summary for more details.

Summary Report: The Big Care Home Conversation

Read a summary (written July 2023) of what we found out from the 3,400 responses received.

Download

 

 

 

 

 

 

'How to do it' Guide

See the full step-by-step guide which supported care homes to take part.

Download

 

 

 

'Big tree' for care homes

Residents, relatives, staff, and the local community were encouraged to share their thoughts on leaf-shaped labels (see below) and hang them onto a ‘tree’ within the home.

Download

 

 

 

 

 

Leaf labels for care homes

Residents, relatives, staff, and the local community were encouraged to share their thoughts on these leaf-shaped labels and hang them onto a ‘tree’ (see above) within the home.

Download

 

 

 

 

 

'Have your say' poster

A poster calling people to “have your say” in The Big Care Home Conversation

Download

 

 

 

 

 

Postcards

Postcards advertising The Big Care Home Conversation

Download

 

 

 

 

 

More posters

More posters advertising The Big Care Home Conversation

Download

 

 

 

 

 

Questions banner

A banner asking:

• What makes life good in care homes now?
• What could make them even better?
• How might we get there?

Download

 

 

 

The post The Big Care Home Conversation – information and resources appeared first on My Home Life England.