Author Archive

      

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More Christmas paper chains, a special edition of cakes with icing and decorations, lively discussions, washing up and drying, catching up on reading and socialising. What is not to like?

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Our Indies are hilarious to watch; they are also tame and enjoy cuddles. Last week we had lots of Indie cuddles and managed to catch some of those moments on the camera on Thursday.

 

 

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Following the daily Coronavirus briefing by the Government yesterday afternoon, it is clear that the Government is now stepping up their efforts to dampen down the spread of the virus.  It is encouraging that the Government has now explicitly declared that the protection of vulnerable and elderly people is a priority. This had been sadly lacking until now and we will have to see if and when this translates into specific support for care homes such as ourselves – none has been forthcoming so far and so we have been working on the basis that for the moment we are reliant on our own efforts.

All of us are being asked to minimise social contact and travel to the essential, as well as persisting with regular hand-washing. We think this measure is sensible and somewhat overdue. Doing so protects yourself and prevents the transmission of the virus to other people.

Those over 70 and people with existing health conditions are specifically asked to effectively self-isolate for a period of three months. Clearly our residents are in that category and last week we suspended visits to Rose Lodge to the absolutely essential and this will continue going forward.

There has been some panic buying by consumers for both hygiene and food products. We have diversified our suppliers and stepped up the purchasing of those items to ensure continued service. We expect this to be a temporary challenge as the supply chain catches up with the temporary increased demand for goods. As far as I can see the problem is not with the supply chain itself which is largely operating, but over-stocking by consumers. We are expecting the Government to put pressure on the major retailers to prioritise people that are self-isolating us and this will help.

Clearly this is a rapidly changing situation which will affect all our lives and the Rose Lodge management team is coordinating on a daily basis to make sure we stay ‘ahead of the curve’ and so minimise the infection risk to our residents and staff, as well as making sure that, as much as possible, the daily lives of residents continue as much as before.

 

 

 

 

 

The Coronavirus infection is unprecedented and so we have to make difficult decisions based on incomplete information and considerable uncertainly about how the infection will develop.

We are keeping updated not only with UK government advice but also the World Health Organisation and the actions of other Governments around the world.

The UK government is coming under criticism over it’s ‘keep calm and carry on’ policy which some have described as a ‘survival of the fittest’ strategy which will affect the older population dis-proportionally.

While the UK government understandably needs to balance Public Health concerns with concerns for the UK economy, we have a clear and simple objective which is to safeguard the lives of our residents and staff.

Last Monday we suspended all non-essential building work and suspended social activities involving non-core staff. We have also suspended visits by prospective residents and their families.

I want to be clear with you that preservation of life will, for the moment, take priority over quality of life.

From Thursday 12 March we have stopped all routine visits by friends and family members. Any exceptions to this in extraordinary circumstances will need to be authorised by our Manager and will involve special precautions during those visits. We have also suspended our day care service.

Many of you are already aware of our new measures and you have been very understanding and supportive, and we thank you for this.

We appreciate that these measures will cause distress to you and we will do what we can to make sure you remain in contact with your loved one, through phone and Skype.

We will keep our measures under daily review and we will relax them as soon as we consider it safe to do so.

Going forward, we will put in place an isolated reception room where any new residents can be cared for while keeping existing residents safe.

Peter de Groot

Nominated Individual for Rose Lodge.