Enhanced Health in Care Homes celebrate achievements in the local care home sector

East Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group, held a celebratory event on 10 April with Airedale NHS Foundation Trust and Partners, to mark the success of the vanguard programme work over the last three years in implementing the Enhanced Health in Care Homes framework (EHCH).

The Airedale and Partners Enhanced Health in Care Homes is one of six vanguards across England, that has been working to improve the quality of life, healthcare and health planning for people living in care homes.

The celebratory event highlighted many successes. Some of these included; the telemedicine initiative which provides remote video consultations between health professionals and patients, the red bag scheme which ensures a smooth process when a care home resident needs to go into hospital, and dementia music therapy which utilises specially created playlists that help evoke memories to a person living with dementia.

Adele Thornburn, Vanguard Programme Manager, said:

“This event was a great opportunity to thank partners and care homes for all their hard work and to look back on the vanguard progress.

“We have made some fantastic achievements. The telemedicine initiative has enabled care home staff to access clinical advice for their residents, and we are also now using telemedicine to deliver remote education and training, which means that staff can dial into the virtual training room and take part in education sessions without leaving the home. A prevention-focused education programme for care homes across Pennine Lancashire has included medicines management, pressure sore prevention, falls prevention, nutrition and hydration and many other subjects. The red bag scheme has brought a smoother process and better communications between care homes, ambulance staff and hospitals and the monthly Care Home Quality Forum provides a fantastic forum to bring together organisations across the health and social care system to work together to improve experiences of care for care home residents. The music therapy scheme has been remarkable and improved the lives of those living with dementia in care homes.”

Jackie Hanson, Chief Nurse at NHS East Lancashire CCG & Programme Director, said:

“Care homes play a vital role in the care and service offered to residents. When an individual becomes a care home resident it is a significant change for them and their families. There is always a risk of losing independence and poor health as a result of this change and so we worked with care homes to enhance the support offered to residents.

“We could not have achieved this without all of our care home colleagues and partners who have worked so hard to implement the Enhanced Health in Care Homes framework.”