Orchard Care Homes, a leading provider of senior living in the UK, has launched a new Dementia Care Strategy outlining its vision to deliver safe, responsive,
high quality and compassionate care in an individually planned approach by a highly skilled, accountable and effective workforce.
With a portfolio of 24 care homes in the North of England and the Midlands, the organisation aims to be at the forefront of driving improvements, working together with residents, families, and commissioners to ensure positive outcomes are achieved by all those affected by dementia.
Orchard’s Dementia Strategy is underpinned by its core values of Enjoy Life, Welcoming, Kind, Positive, Professional and Respectful and will be led and monitored by the Director of Quality and Care, Cheryl Baird. Cheryl has worked in the health and social care sector for over 28 years and will provide leadership, guidance and support to colleagues across the organisation to deliver the key objectives of the action plan.
Four strategic priorities have been identified as a means of delivering the 5-year plan:-
- To deliver outstanding care dependent on individual’s needs, wants and wishes
- Provide a platform to build and strengthen dementia care
- Promote innovation
- Be more efficient with resources.
Within each priority are a series of actions required to achieve goals. Quarterly reports on progress will be provided to the senior leadership team and Board of non-executive Directors and details will include training progress and colleague feedback surveys to show the correlation between increased knowledge and positive resident experiences that are measurable.
“As an organisation we all support the strategy and fully endorse its core principles”, said Cheryl. “It sets out our vision and pledge to deliver high-quality and compassionate care that truly makes a difference. While the health and social care sector continues to go through challenges, it is our aim to empower and support our teams in being able to deliver the best care possible. Our welcoming environments provide an enriched experience for all residents living with dementia.
“We expect to see less incidents of distress response that has led to safeguarding referrals which will be evident via our established audit process. Auditing of care and support plans will provide detail on the effectiveness of outcome focused care. Regulatory reports and adherence to fundamental standards will also measure the impact of the strategy along with referral, occupancy data and resident satisfaction feedback, which is imperative to its success.”