The charity Age Concern Cymru and Help the Aged in Wales has announced the launch of ‘My Home Life Wales’, a new programme designed to improve the quality of life of residents of Welsh care homes. Recent research has shown that care home residents are amongst the most socially disadvantaged groups in the UK, with mental health problems affecting around two thirds of the population. Staff and management working in the care home sector, whilst doing their best to provide high standards of care for residents, are frequently hampered by bureaucracy and a lack of resources and support. Age Concern and Help the Aged (now merged) has responded to these problems by setting up the ‘My Home Life’ programme which will operate across the UK, with implementation in Wales being handled by the Welsh arm of the charity, supported by the Welsh Assembly. The programme will focus on eight wide-ranging areas that research has identified as necessary to improving the quality of life for care home staff and residents. The concepts of relationship-centred care and the Six Senses Framework will underpin the programme’s work in all eight areas. These concepts consider a care home to be a community where the staff, residents and their friends and families all have six basic ‘senses’ that must be fulfilled: security, continuity, belonging, purpose, achievement and significance. Crucially, ‘My Home Life’ will be run by the care home sector rather than a regulatory body, allowing care homes to take ownership of and manager their own programmes, using existing expertise and positive examples from within the sector to reinforce best practice. For more information on the programme, please visit www.myhomelife.org.uk.
posted by Cheselden Continuing Care at
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