Iris Care Group Newsletter July 23 (external version)

Introduction from Peter Kinsey

Thank you for reading the first edition of our Iris Care Group newsletter.

It’s been an exciting time for all of us as we have been working hard to combine Holmleigh Care and Ludlow Street Healthcare to launch our new organisation, Iris Care Group.

While the process has been challenging at times, it’s been fantastic to see our staff working together to support this merger and form a strong foundation and vision for Iris Care Group. We were delighted to see the creative ways you celebrated the ICG launch in your services, and I’d like to thank you sincerely for your support and enthusiasm for our exciting new future.

This newsletter is shorter than our past newsletters, but this is only because there are still a lot of projects still to complete and these have to be our primary focus. However, we look forward to growing the newsletter. We have been really pleased to see how we are receiving more and more stories about the great work you have been doing and this is an area we will want to expand.

We also need to decide what we call our new newsletter. For the moment we have called it ‘In the Know’ but we want to hear what you think we should call it. Look out for the details of our newsletter naming competition which we are hoping lots of you will enter.

We are also launching a summer competition for the services which make the most use of their outdoor garden space, whether that be planting more flowers, growing vegetables, or decorating the space to make it a more fun place to be.

I’d like to thank you all for your continued hard work during this time –your support, dedication, and ideas have been instrumental in shaping our new organisation, and I am incredibly proud of everything we have achieved so far.

I am confident in the positive new direction Iris Care Group is already taking, and I look forward to a bright future improving the lives of the people we support with all our brilliant teams.

Staff Updates

Welcome to all the new staff who have joined us recently, we can’t name you all but we do want to send each and every one of you a very warm welcome.

As part of the organisation’s ambitious plans to create an organisation where we provide the highest levels of care for the people we support and where all our staff feel valued and encouraged to achieve their own potential, we have also recently filled some crucial senior roles.

Yvonne Murray, Group People Director

An experienced HR Practitioner, Yvonne joined us in March as the new GroupPeople Director. She has held senior posts in several organisations and was, most recently, the Director of People & Organisational Development at the Brandon Trust, a learning and disability charity. Prior to this, her employment included working for two national charities, Cardiff Airport, various NHS organisations and Tesco.

Yvonne is person-centred, collaborative and is committed to upholding the highest standards of fairness and integrity. She is passionate about promoting wellbeing, equality, diversity and inclusion.

She has a deep understanding of the challenges facing the social care sector and is already formulating a strategy to tackle them in order to improve outcomes for those that we support.

She lives in South Wales with her family and has a range of interests including music and gardening.

Chris Saunders: Group Chief Financial Officer

Chris is our new Group Chief Financial Officer, joining Iris Care Group from Sears Healthcare. Chris is responsible for all the financial aspects of running Iris Care Group, as well as overseeing other key areas of risk, such as cyber and IT security.

Chris qualified as an accountant, with RSM in 2010, and has worked in number of finance roles.

Having joined Portman Dental Care and Sears Healthcare when they launched, Chris has experienced first-hand how companies grow and thrive and brings that experience with him to Iris Care Group.

Chris said: “It’s been great meeting some of the teams and I’m really looking forward to getting around the services and meeting more of you along with the people we support.”

Carole Crocker: Head of Quality

Carole has recently joined the Iris Care Group as our Head of Quality. Carole has worked in health and social care as a nurse since 1977. She has worked in several general and specialist areas including being part of the Learning Disability Review Team post Winterbourne View, and was part of the lead team for NHS England on Learning Disability provision – ‘care nearer to home’.

Shine Bright

‘Looking back now I was lost

I was in a dark place With no hope of getting out

Then one day I saw a sparkle

And I knew it was my chance of getting out So I said to myself Stop the bad stuff And I did

Suddenly the light got brighter – so I took my chance And I did it I am out of the dark

I am now in the light’

AR, Caerau Manor

Carole is a Florence Nightingale Scholar having won a scholarship to support the Clinical Futures Programme, for Gwent and the Welsh Assembly Government on single room provision healthcare with a focus on safeguarding vulnerable people including children in a single room environment, including safe infection, prevention and control practice, nutrition, hydration and well-being. Carole travelled across the UK and America to advise the Futures Programme and clinical teams on tried & tested best practice. She has won a top Wales award for leadership, management and transformational change in partnership with Wales & Harvard University.

Her passion is care at the right time, in the right place; she gets her greatest pleasure from engaging and nurturing the people we support patients and staff to achieve their best.

Carole loves to bake and makes a mean Gin & Tonic Cake; she loves her car, classic car meets and her Boxer dog called Nucky.

Pirton Grange and Beechwood College achieve excellent reports in their service inspections

Beechwood College received a fantastic ESTYN report recently and were praised for their inclusive learning environment and strong staff team.

Also, after a phenomenal effort from the entire Pirton Grange team and the fantastic leadership of Pirton’s Home Manager, Suzanne Parker, the service has achieved a ‘Good’ rating in the Safe, Effective, and Well-led categories of their latest CQC inspection.

Well done to everyone involved at Pirton Grange and Beechwood College.

Latest News

Michelle and Cat raise a whopping £945 for the Care Workers’ Charity

Michelle Cox-Coley, our Operations Director Social Care England, and Cat Lambkin, our Assistant HR Officer in Gloucester, took on the challenge of swimming a mile across Lake Windermere at the beginning of June. They both undertook gruelling regular training on top of their busy work and personal lives.

They finished the swim in 1hr and 7mins, which is all the more impressive when you know they are both beginners!

Congratulations to both of them on this amazing feat.

Who are the Care Workers’ Charity?

The Care Workers’ Charity supports care workers by providing crisis grants to people experiencing unforeseen or life-changing circumstances, such as bereavement, illness, or injury who have no resources to meet associated costs which could include funeral expenses, moving home, travel to hospital expenses and home repairs.

If you want to find out more about the charity and the support they can offer, visit their website www.thecareworkerscharity.org.uk

Our new Vision & Values

By now everyone should be aware of the vision and values you have helped us to set ourselves. You should be seeing them referred to in supervisions and our operational policies.

We have created a new Values video for all our new joiners and you can watch it here:

http://bit.ly/ICGourvalues

Care at Home celebrates 30 years and Awards win

In early June, Care at Home, our Domiciliary Care Service in Cheltenham, welcomed colleagues past and present to a get together to celebrate their 30th birthday. Everyone enjoyed the catch-up, reminiscing and swapping stories. And they had even more to celebrate a few weeks later as Clare Harper won the Awesome Administrator Award in the Home Care section of the Stars of Social Care Awards earlier in June, and Katie Eckworth was Highly Commended in the Inspirational Home Care Worker Award.

What the judges had to say about Clare:

“The passion and commitment Clare has for her organisation is evident, having worked for Care at Home for 19 years. Her efficiency and knowledge of the service is outstanding and has significantly contributed to positive outcomes for the company and the people they support. Her flexible approach and dedication to care is demonstrated by undertaking training in her own time and has even extended to covering shifts during Covid and beyond. A truly Awesome Administrator!”

More Awards News...

We would also like to congratulate Scott Jones, the Care at Home Team, Sarah Rankin and Michelle Cox-Coley (all from Care at Home and our Supported Living teams) who were also finalists in the Stars of Social Care Awards.

We were also delighted to have a number of staff named as finalists in the Learning Disability & Autism Awards: Naima Dodd (Ocean Community Services), Antonia Smith (Mantley Chase), the William St team, and Michelle Cox-Coley (Supported Living). James Murfin, one of the people we support, was also highly commended in the People’s Award for all the volunteering work he does around our Gloucester office.

Announcing our Summer Garden competition

We have seen some amazing examples of services working to improve their outdoor areas to make the spaces even more enjoyable for everyone.

To reward these efforts and encourage others to get involved, we are running a competition for the best new garden development. Whether this be planting new flowers beds, establishing a vegetable patch, or decorating an outdoor space.

To enter just send pics of your entry to marketing@iriscaregroup.co.uk by August 31st.

There will be separate prizes for best entries from a) supported living homes, b) residential homes and c) hospitals and Beechwood College.

The prize in each category will be £100 of B&Q garden vouchers to spend making even more improvements.

Fancy naming our newsletter?

Send your suggestions for the newsletter’s new name to marketing@iriscaregroup.co.uk by 31st August, and the one that we like the most will win a £100 Amazon voucher

Competition Terms & Conditions can be viewed in the marketing sections of Sharepoint and Staffnet.

Forthcoming Events

Here’s a flavour of some of the events that we have coming up over the next few months:

Celebrating the people we support

Thank you to everyone who has shared with us the stories of all the ways we support the people in our care to reach their potential and live their lives to the fullest.

We have brought together some of our favourite recent stories, some you may have seen (we couldn’t resist showing them again as they are so amazing) but some will be new. Enjoy!

Beechwood College

Who let the dogs out?

T from Southfields loved getting out and about and meeting the dogs at a local event (almost as much as the dogs loved getting out and meeting T!)

Supported Living Care at Home

A trip to remember

M from Southfields was delighted with his recent trip to the aquarium organised by his Support Worker! He enjoyed travelling on the train, and had a great time seeing the varieties of interesting fish.

Beechwood’s end of term celebrations

After another incredible term, the students and staff of Beechwood spent an afternoon celebrating in the sunshine.

Pinetree Hospital

Another Pinetree Sports Day success

Activities included the classic egg and spoon race, the 3 legged-race and the sack race. Everyone who participated got their own certificate, and lots of fun was had by all - huge thanks to the staff at Pinetree who organised such a fun day!

Visiting our pigeon pals

CB had a fantastic day with the Care at Home team doing what he loves best - he visited the local park to kindly feed the pigeons, and found a street sweeper!

Residential St Peter’s Hospital

The OCS multiverse is in full effect

MB from Riverdale and JH from Westminster Court met up for a lovely pub meal in Birchgrove.

Ty Mynydd has two new team members!

TJ and LG decided it was time to welcome some more team members to the home – introducing George and Mildred the fish!

Sweet wheels at St Peter’s

This patient is a keen lover of motorcycles, so the team at St Peter regularly take him to visit Thunder Road motorcycle shop in Cwmbran.

LM loves looking at the different bikes and reminiscing back to his old riding days.

Heatherwood Hospital

Heatherwood celebrates Glad to Care Week

Heatherwood patients and staff celebrated Glad to Care Week recently.

Ain’t no party like an OCS party!

To celebrate the launch of Iris Care Group, people we support from all across OCS came together to dance the night away – Helen of course led the conga line!

In glorious weather everyone enjoyed a BBQ in the sunshine with some very British strawberries and cream to finish. DJ CC did a great job of providing entertainment for the party, and lots of fun was had by all.

Update from the Health & Safety Team

Understanding COSHH

What is COSHH?

COSHH stands for ‘Control of Substances Hazardous to Health’, and is a set of regulations used to protect workers from illness and injury when working with certain materials or substances. It is a criminal offence for a employer or employee to breach COSHH regulations, and they can be heavily fined. COSHH was introduced as a way to control exposure to hazardous substances in the workplace.

Why is COSHH important?

Hazardous or harmful substances can cause various short and long-term health problems. They can also cause fires, explosions, and can even be fatal if they are not controlled or managed efficiently. Following COSHH guidelines is vital as it encourages managers to conduct thorough risk assessments and raise awareness around any potentially harmful substances used or stored on site.

Mild effects from exposure to dangerous substances include eye or skin irritation. More severe effects include respiratory diseases and even some forms of cancer.

Staff Responsibilities

It’s not just managers that are responsible for complying with COSHH regulations, all staff must play their part!

Here are some examples of responsibilities we all have when it comes to COSHH:

• Complying with all instructions, training, and information supplied in relation to COSHH.

• Wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) whenever necessary.

• Using facilities and control measures put in place by management.

• Maintaining a high level of personal hygiene at all times.

• Removing potentially contaminated PPE before drinking, eating, or making contact with other staff, residents, or guests.

Health & Safety IRIS CARE GROUP

Know your COSHH Hazard Symbols

There is a total of nine primary hazard symbols that relate to COSHH. The following information will present and explain these symbols.

TOXIC – This symbol refers to chemicals that can cause damage to health at low levels.

DANGEROUS TO THE ENVIRONMENT – This symbol refers to chemical that can present a danger to the environment. This includes weather systems, humans, plant life and wildlife.

CORROSIVE – This symbol means that a substance can cause a chemical reaction which damages or destroys other substances when it comes into contact with them.

LONG-TERM HEALTH HAZARDS – This symbol indicates the presence of a carcinogenic agent that leads to damage over time.

OXIDISING – This symbol refers to preparations or chemicals that often combust when mixed with other chemicals.

CAUTION – This symbol represents slightly less hazardous substances, but ones that still need to be handled carefully in the workplace.

FLAMMABLE PRODUCTS

EXPLOSIVE PRODUCTS

COMPRESSED GAS

For further training on COSHH, please consult the company e-learning package which can be found on StaffNet (Welsh & Bristol services) and Grey Matter (English services). If you have any questions regarding COSHH or COSHH products, please contact the Health and Safety TeamRachael Hussey (Rachael.Hussey@iriscaregroup. co.uk) or George Cassell (George.Cassell@ iriscaregroup.co.uk) - who will be happy to help!

Knowledge Sharing: How to reduce the risk of choking

At Iris Care Group we promote positive eating throughout all our services. We know from research that people with swallowing difficulties and/or learning disability have a further increased risk of choking. For example, every year people with learning disabilities die from choking while eating and drinking even though these incidents could have been prevented.

It is important that information on choking is discussed with staff in supervisions and included on risk assessments. Training on choking will also be provided through eLearning and as part of First Aid training.

We know that many of the people we support require ongoing support to recognise the health & safety aspects of eating and drinking, for example: the amount they can eat, the temperature, rate of intake and presence of inedible foods. Others are unable to fully understand their risk of choking and rely solely on support to foster a safe eating environment through safe eating strategies and safe food choices.

It is important to ensure that people who have identified swallowing difficulties or who have a choking risk are supported by staff when eating and drinking and appropriate care plans/ PBS/ safety and support plans are followed.

If the person is on a textured dysphagia food diet (IDDSI) or has been prescribed thickened fluids, check the food and drink provided is the correct consistency and temperature and is prepared as recommended. Be cautious that no hard skin has formed.

All incidents of choking must be recorded and, if identified as a need, training is available through the Speech & Language team and/or the Learning & Development Department.

You can read more about how to prevent choking by viewing the leaflet the Therapies Team have produced by scanning this barcode or following this link:

http://bit.ly/PreventingChoking

St Peter’s recently organised a cycling competition for Bike Week 2023 with competitions for both patients and staff.

If you have any comments on this newsletter or ideas for the next newsletter email marketing@iriscaregroup.co.uk