Official Opening of Stanfield’s New Accommodation

On Saturday 13^th June Stanfield Nursing Home celebrated with its’ residents, the families of current and previous residents and its’ staff, the official opening of the new accommodation of the home.  Our home is a family run home, owned by Richard White for the past 28 years.  The Matron, Patricia Morris, has been with the home for the past 26 years.

Fantastic and Functional

The new extension has been added onto the original building, which dates back to 1540 and has been changing since that date.  Mainly Georgian in character the latest addition adds a new chapter to the building and the home. 

The extension is a fantastic addition adding:

•          7 new resident bedrooms
•          A multi-purpose sitting area
•          A safe enclosed sensory garden 

Light, Bright and Beautiful

The multi-purpose sitting area is a beautiful, large, light room which greatly enhances the atmosphere and environment of the home.  It is already being used for a variety of activities; musical events, local theatre groups putting on plays and it has a large screen for watching movies.  It gives the residents another alternative out of the many communal rooms for sitting throughout the day and gives them an opportunity to look out on and experience the beautiful garden. 

The addition of another sensory garden, which contain a greenhouse, raised planters and a variety of plants, allows the residents to enjoy the outside space.  It has been built with the residents in mind, so they can move around it easily and safely. 

A Grand Opening

The accommodation was opened by Mr. Don Briant, whose wife Joyce has been living in the home for the past 12 years, and Mrs. Iris Jordan, whose husband Ron lived in the home for over 6 years.  Mr. Briant and Mrs. Jordan officially opened the new accommodation by cutting the red ribbon and Mr. Briant gave a short speech thanking the home for it’s individual care and support to all the residents for so many years and congratulating them on running an excellent nursing home.

Every gathered for the event enjoyed a special cake baked fo rthe vent by Paul the homes chef.  Achampagne toast marked the finale

Personal Thank You’s

Special gifts and bouquets were given to Mr. Briant, Mrs. Jordan and Mrs. Jordan’s daughter, Mrs. Deborah Dawson, who has also been a great friend and support to the home for many years.  Mrs. Dawson acts as an independent voice for the families, in the role of advocate, by running regular family meetings.  A silver plaque was presented to mark the occasion, which is to be erected in the new accommodation to commemorate the special opening day. 

Ongoing and Up-to-date training at Stanfield

At Stanfield we ensure that all of our employees are equipped with the skills they need to do their job effectively. This is why we insist that our staff complete a course on Malignant Social Psychology, delivered by DC training. The aim of the course is to develop our staff’s understanding of Malignant Social Psychology and to highlight the importance of a person centred approach to the care of those living with dementia.


“Training was clear, interesting, and very informative.”

The Training at Stanfield draws upon the work and research developed by Tim Kitwood at Bradford University into Malignant Social Psychology. During the course our staff develop a clear understanding of Malignant Social Psychology (MSP) and how it may be addressed in every day practice. The research, conducted by Kitwood, recognises the importance of person centred care for those suffering with dementia. Person centred care values the patient as a whole person and allows them as much autonomy as possible so that they are able to live their lives in the way they want to. This type of care takes into account wider events happening within someone’s life and tailors treatment around them.

“It was a really interesting, relaxed, friendly environment but still very useful and informative. Enjoyable education”

The staff at Stanfield nursing home have well established skills and expertise in their field. However understanding of Dementia is always growing and so it is important to stay up-to-date with this insight. The DC training offers our staff to further develop their knowledge and to update their skills by attending two hour training workshops. To ensure the training is relevant and applicable Staff draw upon their own experiences within the work environment. There is also a valuable opportunity for the sharing of thoughts, feelings and ideas amongst colleagues.

“Increased my confidence in my role with residents”

At the core of the training is the fundamental belief that a person centred approach is a way of  ‘being ‘with individuals living with dementia. The emphasis is upon the PERSON rather than the DEMENTIA. By focusing upon experiential learning all trainees have a genuine experience of a person centred way of being that enriches the whole ethos of care at Stanfield.


References:
Tom Kitwood - ‘Dementia Reconsidered’
Dawn Brooker - ‘Person-centred dementia care’

Graham Stokes – ‘Challenging Behaviour in Dementia’