A day in the life at St Georges

Wellburn Care Homes sent one of its senior staff to experience a typical day in the life of a pensioner living in its St Georges nursing care home in Washington, Tyne and Wear.

Area Manager Suzanne Hughes spent the day 'playing' the role of an elderly woman who had just suffered a stroke, meaning she had lost all feeling down the right side of her body.

It is part of an ongoing drive by the company to keep standards high throughout the 14 residential homes it operates in the North East and Yorkshire, as well as ensuring managers continue to understand the human side of its business.

Suzanne said: "It's very interesting to see life in a care home through the eyes of a resident and how as an able bodied person you take very simple things like being able to get up unaided from a chair for granted.

"This is something all managers at Wellburn will now do as part of their ongoing development and if we can learn from this and further improve the service and quality of life for our residents, then it is very worthwhile."

 

Wellburn Managing Director Karl Beckett added: “As a family run business we understand just how important it is to know that if you put an elderly relative in our care, this care is second to none and that the home they live in is of the highest possible standard.

“This is the responsibility of all our staff across the North East and Yorkshire but as the people running the business we feel it is vital that our senior managers spend as much time as possible in our homes so they can see what goes on day-to-day.

“By spending a full day living as a resident, the managers will learn what it feels like to be old, and in the majority of cases infirm, and more importantly what the standard of care is that people receive in one of our homes.

“It may be embarrassing for them to ask to be helped to the toilet but this is exactly the sort of situation our residents go through every day of their lives.”

The story about Suzanne's day in the life of experience was featured in the Sunderland Echo newspaper and it can be viewed here.

 

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