Croft House, Williton

In need of some fresh air after the morning spent in the Boardroom I took a trip out to Williton this afternoon to see how our building project to create our new Croft House is coming on. It is wonderful to see the progress that our contractor colleagues of Kennet Construction are making. The project is on target and the team are making the most of the fine weather. I asked Kennet's site manager Lloyd Bridges to tell me how things are going and you can hear his update in the clip below:

The new building will be a prominent addition to the Williton skyline and it is great to think that our residents can now see their new home rising out of the ground. The views from the first floor rooms will be stunning as you can see below.










After visiting the site I called in at our dear old Croft House to show some of the residents the photos. I also had a chance for a chat with some of the staff on duty.


Here are two of our senior Croft House team, Sue Hawkins and Maggie Thrush. They shared their thoughts on how we will need to plan the moving day for our residents with great care. They also updated me on the work going on at Croft leading towards the Gold Standard Framework for care at the end of life. As in a number of our homes this project is helping us build our reputation and collective skills base in this very important aspect of care.

Maggie reported how well the training was being received by the staff team, although she commented that several members of the team had remarked that much of the best practice advocated through the programme is already firmly embedded in the culture of the home and has been for many years. This I guess is to be expected and it may be that there is little new, but I am sure it is very helpful, and of course invaluable for newer staff, to have that best practice validated and codified within the framework and the associated training.

Maggie also shared a thought that is clearly an important by-product of the training and the recognition it brings. It appears that other health and social care "professionals" who have dealings with the home are now seeing and acknowledging the professional competence and credibility of the residential care home staff in a different light. Maybe they have collectively undervalued care staff and are now recognising how valuable and important they are. This can only be a good thing as it must enhance our professional image. I would very much welcome comment from others on this point. Do let me know what you think by posting a comment.

Enough for now. Best wishes to all blog readers.

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