My Home Life

Why have a conversation about care homes?

My Home Life — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:10:47 +0000

There is no doubt we, as a society, have an uneasy relationship with care homes. We might feel a host of emotions; anger, mistrust, fear, disappointment. This might arise out of what we read in the press or it may be because of what they represent to us as individuals. Given that the work of care homes increasingly revolves around older people who are dying or experiencing high levels of mental and physical frailty, is it that we struggle to emotionally engage with such concepts and therefore push care homes from our minds? Might it be that we are more comfortable with an image of ourselves being active and engaged in later life and that care homes bring us back to the uncomfortable reality that for some of us growing old may not be so idyllic? Is it that care homes present to us some degree of societal failure that we are not looking after our own?

Lets not forget that care homes are often making significant positive differences to the lives of our elders but greatly need our help. While care homes remain ‘islands of the old’, mistrusted and isolated from our communities, it is difficult to transform them into valued, cherished places that sit at the heart of our communities and have relevance to us all.

Tom Owen, My Home Life Director.

Join the conversation from everywhere!

My Home Life — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:47:19 +0000

Alongside sending our Care Home Conversation packs to My Home Life care homes across the Nations, we have also launched the Big Care Home Conversation online Tree so anyone, anywhere can contribute to it.

You might live in a care home, visit care homes, think about care homes, you might even be someone who has never been into a care home. Perfect!

We want to hear from you all, tell us what makes life good in care homes now, what could make them better, and your thoughts on how we might we get there?
We will use your comments to communicate to the UK Government the key messages that they need to hear in delivering quality of life in care homes for older people. Have a look at a staff members leaf below, and add your own leaf here.

The Big Care Home Conversation Packs are released!

My Home Life — Tue, 08 May 2012 12:02:53 +0000

We have just received their fabulous photo of Hays House “My Home Life Tree”, some of their staff have already filled in leaves and one of their chefs has even baked some shortbread leaves – her own recipe (but you can download ours here) to hang on their very inventive tree!

Everyone can join in! If you would like to create your own tree, you can download all our online resources here.
Do keep sending us photos of your trees, and updates of your events to mhl@city.ac.uk so we can share it with everyone!

My Home Life Big Care Home Conversation

My Home Life — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:43:06 +0000

See our resources page for the Big Care Home Conversation Flyer. More information will follow shortly!

My Home Life features in dignity in care report

My Home Life — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:38:09 +0000

My Home Life were very excited to see their work be presented as part of the The Commission on Improving Dignity in Care public consultation on a report, which will form the basis of proposals for improvements in the delivery of care of older people in hospitals and care homes.

We are mentioned in the section of recommendations of creating a caring community (pg24):

Care homes need to work with residents to create an environment that make their lives happy, varied, stimulating, fulfilling and dignified. Being a caring community must be the overarching principle that guides home life. The My Home Life movement (see case study) aims to support care home managers in achieving this.

It also includes a quote from one of our Care Home managers:

‘I feel uplifted and motivated; it’s not the usual focus on evidence and outcomes, it’s about feeling supported and connected with everyone and growing my own leadership skills.’

You can see more information and download the report from Age UK >.

My Home Life review of 2011

My Home Life — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:29:36 +0000

2011 has been another great year for My Home Life, we have made significant contributions to the national debate on care homes and the UK wide movement continues to grow. We said goodbye to a valued and much loved advocate and look forward to some exciting times ahead in 2012.

The Big Care Home Conversation

My Home Life — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:25:22 +0000

At My Home Life, we are currently planning an exciting UK-wide event this Summer. THE BIG CARE HOME CONVERSATION will be launched in May.

We will be working with care homes, nationwide, to help us:

Ask residents, their family and friends, and staff to think about care homes now and to dream about how they might be in the future.
Challenge some of the myths surrounding care homes.
Celebrate the quality of care delivered by so many.

The event will start mid May and last for 1 month, so put the date in your diary now!

If you would like to be kept up to date, please join our mailing list to receive regular updates and learn how you can get involved.

My Home Life Wales ‘Good Practice Guides Online’

My Home Life — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:48:46 +0000

These guides were put together by My Home Life Cymru with support from Age Cymru. The stories shared are all taken from care homes in Wales.

We have uploaded all of these practice guides to our library.

My Home Life Christmas tips

My Home Life — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 11:15:32 +0000

Have a look at the resources page for 26 tips for filling your care home with festive cheer!

A very Merry Christmas to all from the My Home Life Team.

Opportunity to influence white paper

My Home Life — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:48:06 +0000

On 15^th September 2011, the Government launched Caring for our future: shared ambitions for care and support – an engagement with people who use care and support services, carers, local councils, care providers, and the voluntary sector about the priorities for improving care and support.

The engagement exercise will run until 2 December 2011 and the results from the discussions will inform a Government White Paper and a progress report on funding reform that will be published in spring 2012. Further details are available at: www.caringforourfuture.dh.gov.uk.

Caring for our future will consist of six themes: Quality, Personalisation Shaping local care services, Prevention, Integration (in partnership with NHS Future Forum), and The role of the financial services.

My Home Life has been asked by Paul Burstow (Minister of State for Care Services) to contribute to the Quality and Workforce Engagement Workstream, which is focusing on how could we improve the quality of care and how could we develop the future workforce to do this?

Urgent Action Required

If you and/or your organisation, would like to engage in this work and influence future policy, please read the Caring for our Future leaflet for more details. Feedback can be given on-line (http://caringforourfuture.dh.gov.uk/category/priorities/), or by using the Caring for Our Future feedback form, which can be emailed to: caringforourfuture@dh.gsi.gov.uk or by post to: Caring for our future, Area 117, Wellington House, 133-155 Waterloo Road, London, SE1 8UG

Please note that the deadline for written comments is 2 December 2011.

Caring for our future leaflet (PDF, 125K)

Caring for our future feedback (PDF, 323K)

You are invited to attend a seminar on the subject;

Centre for Better Managed Health and Social Care - opportunity to influence White Paper

Caring for our future: Quality and workforce

How could we improve the quality of care and how could we develop the future workforce to do this?

Chair: Imelda Redmond

http://caringforourfuture.dh.gov.uk/
at 18.30pm (Registration from 18.00pm) on the 28th of November at Cass Business School, London

106 Bunhill Row, London, EC1Y 8TZ

The seminar will be focusing the discussion around the following 4 questions in order that we can inform the attached engagement exercise “Caring for Our Future” (Quality and Workforce theme)

What does great care look like?
How is this delivered?
What is the role of the workforce?
What are the levers for achieving this?

To book a place, please email shivani.patel.1@city.ac.uk