Kingsley Healthcare embarks on wide-scale investment in their dementia care provision
DSDC are delighted to be supporting Kingsley Healthcare, a care home group based in England, who have embarked on wide-scale investment in their dementia care provision. Kingsley have commissioned DSDC to provide staff from their 24 care homes with specialist dementia training beginning with senior managers who will be supporting their front-line staff through DSDC’s accredited Best Practice in Dementia Care Learning programme and Dementia Design School. This approach ensures that the learning is effective throughout the organisation as a whole. Staff are fully supported not only by their managers through every step of their training but also by ensuring that people are cared for within specially designed care environments. Kingsley CEO Daya Thayan said: “I am delighted to announce we are working in partnership with the renowned Stirling University Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC) which is an international centre of knowledge and expertise dedicated to improving the lives of people with dementia. He described the programme as an “opportunity to work with multi-award winning, internationally acclaimed experts in dementia care” .
Kingsley Operations Director Debbie McGovern said: “This inspirational programme will allow us all to improve our expertise and the lives of the people we support.” Shirley Law, Head of Learning & Development, at the Dementia Services Development Centre says “Kingsley Healthcare have recognised Dementia as a specialist field of practice where staff need additional knowledge and support. As an organisation they are committing to helping their staff to become more confident working with people with dementia and their families. We have worked with individuals and organisations for over 25 years and draw on research and practice from across the world to provide a comprehensive, up-to-date resource on all aspects of dementia. We really look forward working with Kingsley Healthcare Group in developing the best dementia Care Practice for their staff across the group. Several home managers and members of the senior management team also attended a Dementia Design School programme at the university.
This will enable them to understand the principles of dementia friendly design and environment from experts. The aim is to convert all Kingsley care homes, as well as the head office, into dementia friendly environments. Examples of feedback from Manager’s training (managers of the care homes undertaking Best Practice): - ‘I enjoyed the course as it is very relevant to my job role. It has given me more knowledge and skills to cascade down to my team, and give them an opportunity to build on their skills to provide better care’ - ‘ Well thought out, engaging presentation. Informative presentations/delivery. Good to have presentations from industry expert – not salesperson. Real life examples – not fluffy’ Examples of feedback from Best Practice facilitator training: - ‘can’t wait to get started’ - ‘gave me full understanding of what was expected from me’ - ‘These 2 days built up my confidence and made me wish to share my knowledge with my colleagues’ Examples of feedback from design school: - ‘super all round knowledge of how to make our care homes work for people with dementia’ - ‘great presentations and I appreciated the passion shown by all involved’
Source: dementia.stir.ac.uk
