Contact search icon
Contact search icon

Living in lockdown with dementia

Alzheimer’s Society’s report, ‘Worst hit: dementia during coronavirus’, shows the devastating impact that coronavirus has had on people living with dementia and those who care for them. However, there are steps we can take to reduce the impact of lockdown and improve the quality of life of those affected by dementia.

Have a sing-along

Music and singing have long been shown to help people living with dementia. We had been able to take advantage of wonderful events by partnering with Music In Hospitals & Care. However, choirs and singing groups have been forced to disband to comply with social distancing guidelines. Fortunately, Age UK North Tyneside are still providing a virtual weekly singing group to keep those sing-along memories alive. Services like Singing for the Brain and Goldies Live have also found a new virtual home online. It’s now possible to join a group sing-along from the comfort of your home.

Stay active

Being physically active is important for both your mind and body and could potentially make you more resilient to COVID-19. You don’t need to go outside to stay active. In fact, you don’t even need to leave your chair! Check out these lockdown exercises for the over 60s. Don’t worry if you’re younger than 60, you’re welcome to give them a try too! Programmes like the NHS’s HowFit programme can also help you take small steps to feeling good, and Dancercise Gold is a great way to have fun and stay fit.

In out three wellbeing centres and our extra care schemes we promote ‘exercise snacking’. It encourages our customers to stay mobile and be active at least twice each day- even if it’s chair based exercise our customers love to join in.

Ask for help

We know that the current pandemic has made things harder for everyone, especially those caring for people living with dementia and other long term health conditions. Please don’t be afraid to ask for help. Age UK North Tyneside’s Carer Support Group can provide you with guidance and support. They also offer bereavement support and a Transitions Into Care group, both of which are now held virtually. We don’t claim to have all the answers, but we can certainly guide you through these challenging times. The North Tyneside Carers’ Centre also provides a confidential support service for carers in North Tyneside.

Grab a coffee

Cafés aren’t the bustling busy hubs they used to be. Unfortunately, the pandemic has changed the atmosphere considerably. Despite this, our love for coffee remains strong! Every Friday, you can have a Lockdown Coffee with Charly. This informal group chat can be a great place for a natter and a brew (although you’ll have to make your own coffee!). To join in, email Charly at charlotte@linskill.org or phone 07561 778 827.

Build some Healthy Habits

Being a carer can sometimes mean you forget to look after your own health. Tom, the Healthy Habits Coordinator for Age UK North Tyneside, hosts a peer-to-peer support network for people wanting to develop healthier habits. Tom has also recently been joined by Rachel, the new Healthy Habits Coordinating Officer. Whether you wish to improve your diet, increase your physical activity, reduce your alcohol intake, or quit smoking, Tom and Rachel can help you. In partnership with YMCA North Tyneside, this programme will have a profound effect on your physical and mental health.

Maintenance Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (mCST)

Cognitive Stimulation is the only non-drug treatment recommended to improve cognition, independence and well-being in people with mild to moderate dementia as reported by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Group members take part in meaningful and stimulating activities, proven to help maintain memory and mental functioning. The groups provide a fun, supportive environment where people can build new friendships. Age UK North Tyneside’s Dementia Connections team deliver these sessions as do we at EveryDay Care & Support.

Prepare for winter

Winter is here, and this year is likely to be tougher than ever. Ensure you’re prepared by getting in touch with Age UK North Tyneside’s Information and Advice team. These friendly advisors will ensure you get all of the help you’re entitled to. Get in touch to find out more about services like carer’s allowance, attendance allowance and winter fuel payments.

Social and Physical Activities

Age UK North Tyneside’s Virtually 2020 Christmas programme is currently live! They have a range of social and physical activities that you can do you from the comfort of your home. In January, they will also be launching their Winter Warmers & Workouts programme which will offer even more fun events and activities.

Lockdown doesn’t need to equal loneliness. There are still plenty of social events taking place during lockdownthat you can join in with from a safe social distance. While we are unable to take new customers, our Wellbeing Centres are also still hosting activities to help reduce isolation. To find out more about the services available call us on 0191 287 7028 or email enquiries@everydayuk.org.

Carers Rights Day 2020

Each year Carers Rights Day brings organisations across the UK together to help carers in their local community know their rights and find out how to get the help and support they are entitled to.

Join North Tyneside Carer’s Centre on 26th November 2020 for one, or more of the following sessions. These will be held online via Zoom.

Rights when going into hospital or care home: 10am – 11am

In this session we will be discussing what to consider and what your rights are if your loved one goes into hospital or a care home.

Benefits Hints and Tips: 11am – 12pm
In this session we will be discussing how to become and appointee for someone and giving you some useful information about how to successfully apply for benefits for you or the person you care for.

Mental Capacity and managing someone’s affairs: 1pm – 2pm
This session will look at how mental capacity is assessed and how this needs to be carefully considered when managing somebody’s affairs

Caring during COVID – session for professionals: 2pm – 3pm 
We’re inviting professionals from a range of backgrounds to join us to hear more about the challenges that adult carers are facing during this difficult period and discuss the support that North Tyneside Carers’ Centre is offering during this time.

Carers Rights in work: 3pm – 4pm
This session will look at your rights as a carer in work including how to request flexible working arrangements.

Commonsense Confidentiality: 4pm – 5pm 
This session is for carers who support someone with a mental health condition. Paul Nicol from Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust will deliver an information session about Commonsense Confidentiality and how this can empower carers to request the information they need to continue caring.

How to get the best from a Carers’ Wellbeing Assessment: 6pm -7pm 
Join us to find out about Carers’ Wellbeing Assessments and how they could be of benefit to you in your caring role.

To sign up for any of these free sessions on 26th November 2020 please

Design For Dementia

 

As Havelock Place, takes shape we’re always looking to provide the very best environment for those living with dementia. EveryDay Care & Support and Age UK North Tyneside have been involved in the design of this specialist housing development from it’s conception.

Site Image Havelock Place 6.11.2020

Site Image Havelock Place 6.11.2020

 

Aspirational Living

People living with dementia need well designed, beautiful buildings. We all expect this for ourselves and from our living accommodation. They also need buildings that are suitable which do not cause them unnecessary upset or confusion.

Understand dementia

To understand and achieve this we need to appreciate the impairments of dementia. As weel as how we can compensate for them as we would do for someone with mobility issues in a wheelchair for instance.

We need to acknowledge that everyone living with dementia is different in every possible way: different age, different degrees of impairment, different backgrounds and life experience, different physical and sensory impairments, different attitudes, different tastes and so on.

 Adapted Environments

People living with dementia have very specific needs. Their environments have to be adapted to fulfil those needs and aspirations. Whether designing homes, gardens or outdoor spaces for people living with dementia, there are certain rules that we consider.

 Create spaces for integration

It is healthy for people living with dementia to be integrated into their environment and relate to others. We encourage socialisation by designing spaces to invite people to interact and share time together.

Make customers and residents feel at home

Keeping a decorative style which people living with dementia are used to is going to help them. Their apartments or dwelling’s furniture and decoration must be comfortable for the customer.

Encourage and stimulate brain activity

Colours and objects are beneficial to stimulate the brain of a person living with dementia. It helps them as a guide to know where they are or where to go, and as a reference to identify what things are or what they mean. Stimulating their brain will help decrease their dementia symptoms and anxieties and slow down the degenerative process. Environments have to be calm and easy to digest to make them feel stable and relaxed.

Create open spaces

It is important, both for the person with the diagnosis and their carer, to be able to see each other from anywhere in their room. In order to feel comfortable, residents have to be able to process the whole environment that surrounds them.

Large rooms with big windows connected to open hallways are going to give them visual access to important objects and spaces. For caregivers, it is essential always to know where their loved one is and to be positioned comfortably to keep an eye on them.

 Create places for distraction

Whether indoors or outdoors, it is important that people living with dementia have a safe and unique space to distract themselves. A place where they can do simple activities like gardening, listening to music, sewing or knitting, or anything that they enjoy doing, but that they can identify and relate this particular places to a certain activity.

Havelock Place

EveryDay Homes’ new specialist dementia housing development is due to open in 2022. We can’t wait to be part of this beautiful and unique property.

EveryDay Care & Support will be providing the professional care service within it to meet the needs of those in North Tyneside who are living with dementia.

Have your say

We always love to hear from our customers. Whether you’re singing our praises or suggesting new ways we can improve, we want to hear what you’ve got to say. You can take a look at our customer testimonials here. We also welcome testimonials from our staff, you can read those here.

There are plenty of ways to give us your feedback. We complete an Annual Customer Satisfaction survey each year, however we welcome feedback throughout the year.

To have your say, call us on 0191 287 7028 or email enquiries@everydayuk.org.

Care Quality Commission

Alternatively, there are several third parties where you can leave feedback. We are registered with the Care Quality Commission. If you would like to leave feedback with them, you can head to our page and click “Give feedback on this service”.

Homecare.co.uk

You can also leave a review with Homecare.co.uk. Once again, head to our page and this time click “Submit a Review”.

Healthwatch North Tyneside

If you’d rather use a local service, you can leave feedback with Healthwatch North Tyneside. Again, just head to our page and click “Leave your feedback”.

Finally, we always welcome reviews via our Facebook page and Google listing.

Big Social Care Review 2020

The Care and Support Alliance has launched its ‘Big Social Care Review’ to find out about the experiences of those needing care during the pandemic. The survey is open to all those who need care in England and aims to get a picture of what care people have needed since March, what they have received, and what could have made things better.

The Care & Support Alliance – a coalition of 70 of Britain’s leading charities (including Age UK) campaigning for better social care – recognise only too well how hard it has been for those relying on care during the pandemic. This survey aims to gather the views of those in receipt of care, in order to demonstrate to the Government what it has been like, and make care better for those who rely on it now, and for those who may need it in the future. This Government has promised to reform social care, so your views really do matter.

If you are able to get involved, please click the link below. The survey closes Friday 4th December.

https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/BigSocialCareReview2020

The Great British North East Care Awards 2020 Nominations

 

Awards season is upon us! Once again, we are delighted to be receiving recognition from The Great British North East Care Awards. This year, we are extremely proud to have four nominations, with three of those nominations already being shortlisted.

Our staff work extremely hard without any expectation of accolade, but we know it means a lot to them when their hard work is recognised.

Dawn McNally, our Chief Executive, was thrilled to be able to praise these staff saying “So incredibly proud of you all and fantastic recognition for the work that you do, many congratulations and good luck!”

Great British Care Awards

Kerry Parker

Home Care Registered Manager Award
Shortlisted

Kerry Parker is not only a talented and professional Home Care Registered Manager, she is the Head of Service for our organisation and is second to none. To say she is hardworking and dedicated is an understatement, Kerry is unstoppable!

Kerry fronts a service for customers that strives to be the best, providing a person-centred approach to care delivery, and to recruit and train personal support staff to the highest standard. Kerry demonstrates excellent leadership skills and knows exactly how to get the job done. She expects her team to work together and to react to change in an organised and structured way for the benefit of our customers and staff. She works tirelessly to implement best practice, producing guidelines and standard operating procedures throughout the service. Kerry has developed a structure for staff development, inductions, training, appraisals and talent management within the staffing team. She is determined to bring out the best in people, pushing for the best outcome for our customers and always encouraging others to be proactive and confident in their approach.

When the effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic gripped the country earlier this year, the response from Kerry was immediate, implementing robust infection control regimes within all areas of the service. Kerry developed plans of action, a daily tracking system of any changes to services and partnership working with the local authority. It’s been a difficult time for customers having to isolate and Kerry has been instrumental in providing and encouraging new technology to help bring people together in different ways. This has worked really well.

To sum up, Kerry is a people person who leads from the front and will never back away. She is inspiring and wants the best for everyone in the service. She truly deserves recognition for her constant efforts and dedication

 

Michael Caithness

Home Care Worker Award
Shortlisted

He is very kind, caring and thoughtful with his customers and also with the staff he works with. The customers see Michael as a ray of sunshine and even more so in the last few months when they have been locked down due to COVID-19. Michael goes above and beyond what is requested from him in his day to day role. Michael kept everyone’s spirits up and realised that some customers needed more support as they had no family to support them so he would do little errands for the customer in the extra care scheme where he works, this was doing things like collecting prescriptions, getting a newspaper, or just being someone to talk to in a very worrying time. Michael does far more than is stated in his contract but nothing ever seems to be a bother for him and I feel he should be recognised for being the lovely person he is.

 

Clare Robb

Care Newcomer Award
Shortlisted

Clare is a relatively new member of the team in the wellbeing centres and she has proven to be a dedicated team member and works great with staff and the customers. Clare was new to care work and was looking to get into care as she thought this would be a rewarding role. Clare also agreed to work for the domiciliary care team in our company along with working hours in the wellbeing centres. Clare had no previous experience in care but her nature and personality shone through at the interview and she has proven in the last 10 months that she definitely has a caring nature. Clare always goes that extra mile to ensure her customers are happy and are aware of all the services that are offered within the organisation. Clare is hardworking, reliable, empathetic and has a good understanding of the needs of others. Clare is keen to progress and learn new skills to broaden her knowledge and enhance her chance of climbing the ladder in the organisation. I do think she will do well in her future.

 

Cath Alderson

Home Carer Award
Nominated

Cath has worked for EveryDay Care & Support since 2011 providing good quality services to customers living in their own homes in the Whitley Bay area. She began caring for Sallie in Jan 2017 providing four calls per day for personal care, medication and meals. Sallie had suffered a previous stroke which left her with right-sided weakness and she was unable to weight bear. She needed two staff at all times for transferring. Cath was her main carer who was allocated to her calls five days per week also covering her on a night time.

Cath built up an excellent relationship with Sallie and her daughter Christine. Over the years Sallie’s needs increased due to deterioration in her health and mobility and Cath was always there to work with Sallie ensuring she received the best care and support available.

From December 2019 Sallie was admitted in and out of the hospital a number of times and each time she came home she was weaker than the previous time. Cath worked alongside district nurses and occupational therapists, meeting them at Sallie’s home prior to discharge to ensure new equipment was fully in place for her return home.

However, in late January 2020, Sallie was to return home for the last time as it was her wish to die at home. Overnight sits were requested for Sallie so she had someone with her at all times. Her family were with her throughout the day but needed support throughout the night.

Cath was the first person I rang to ask if she would consider looking after Sallie overnight. Cath’s reply to me was “I would love to, it would be an honour.”

Cath looked after Sallie in her last days of life in her own home giving her the best quality care she could. Cath showed dignity, respect, empathy and pure dedication to Sallie and her family at a very difficult time.

Cath is a credit to EveryDay Care & Support and an inspiration to others. She has shown what caring for someone at home in their last days of life all is about.

Cath certainly went the extra mile for Sallie (giving up her days off to look after her) and I hope she will be recognised for this.

A look back at our lockdown journey

In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the world into lockdown. It felt like we were split in two. Our essential care and support services needed to continue as normal, but most of our existing charity services were paused.  This meant we had to consider new and innovative ways to deliver charity services remotely. As a result of this, some staff had to work from home and some staff were furloughed.

This was a very trying and worrying time for everyone at the Age UK North Tyneside Group. We were juggling ways to keep customers connected while also working to keep our staff safe.

Looking after our staff

Our care staff continued to provide vital services to older people in extreme conditions. This meant that daily support was crucial. We improved communication by using technology to ensure we could maintain daily contact. We also had to ensure the correct issue and effective use of PPE to keep both staff and customers safe.

Staff Turnover

Staff turnover during COVID-19 was the lowest it has ever been, meeting the care sector industry average of 30%. The staff sickness rate is also at an all-time low of 5%. This shows that, despite putting themselves at risk for the benefit of our customers, our staff have taken every precaution to keep themselves safe.

Supporting Mental Health

Through carrying out a staff engagement survey, we quickly realised that mental health was a priority during lockdown. Furloughed staff and staff working from home were having limited face to face contact with customers and colleagues. As a result, some were facing difficulties with anxiety and mental health.

People were experiencing fear around the pandemic and how they were going to cope. Many had worries about how we were going to get through lockdown and return to normality.

To tackle this, we put a focus on the mental wellbeing of all our customers and staff. Staff were able to find support through the usual channels (line managers, HR, and external counsellors).

On top of this, we also offered the following support;

Responding to the staff engagement survey

The staff engagement survey also highlighted that staff working from home were not coping well with the lack of interaction. Once again, we used technology to tackle this. We set up WhatsApp and Messenger groups so that teams could communicate with each other. We also introduced Zoom, WhatsApp, and Microsoft Teams calls to maintain daily communication. This helped reduce the feeling of being alone and out of touch.

Mental Health First Aiders

We’re proud to have 13 Mental Health First Aiders at Age UK North Tyneside Group. During the lockdown, we promoted their services to all staff. We put up posters in buildings and sent out information to staff working from home.

The staff engagement survey showed us that some staff had concerns about returning to work. To ease this, we introduced COVID-19 Risk Assessments. We introduced an organisation-wide Risk Assessment, as well as service-specific Risk Assessments. These were sent to all staff.

Global Handwashing Day

We took part in and promoted Global Handwashing Day. This was already part of our care staff’s daily routine, but we felt it was important to reinforce the message that this is the most effective way of minimising the risk of COVID-19.

We shared information about the importance of exercising and wellbeing. We provided mindful living tips to help relieve stress and we encouraged staff to carry out acts of kindness. Our staff shared some great pictures and texts demonstrating this kindness.

Reward Me Now

To improve wellbeing, we launched a new ‘Reward Me Now’ app which offers discounts and benefits to staff. To date, 55 employees have taken advantage of this offer. They have received discounts on many retail items including food and white goods.

We also rolled out a code for high street shops and other leading supermarkets. This gave our care staff priority for online and face to face shopping so they didn’t have to stand in long queues and stress about getting to work.

What’s next?

Work is now underway to bring some type of normality back. We want to get as many as possible of the charity staff safely back to work. We have prepared our head office for this return to work with several safety measures now in place. These measures include one way systems, sanitisation stations, and Perspex screens. We’ve also introduced systems to reduce the number of staff allowed in the building at any one time.

Thank you all

Throughout this difficult time, our customers’ and staff’s mental health and wellbeing have been a huge concern for us. This meant that major changes had to take place with new services being introduced for the most vulnerable in our society.

We are very proud of our staff who, despite facing their own difficulties, have still managed to put their customers first. Whether this has been through daily wellbeing calls, social distanced bingo, singalongs, or even hairdressing.

 

On behalf of the Age UK North Tyneside Group, the HR Team would like to say a big “thank you” to all our staff. You have been magnificent during such a challenging time. We’re grateful that we know we can rely on your continued support going forward, and in turn, we will continue to support you in any way we can.

Our thanks go to Angela Dawson, Head of Corporate Support, Suzanne Enguita, HR Manager and Harriet Ingram HR Officer for putting this article together and continuing to support our staff and customers during lockdown.

New Measures Introduced

Extra Care Housing

We are making immediate changes to our Extra Care Housing Schemes. They will regrettably be ‘locking down’ immediately. In partnership with North Tyneside local authority, we have agreed to restrict access to essential caregivers only.

With the number of local cases and with the virus increasing we have taken the decision to lock down all Extra Care Housing Schemes. Kerry Parker, Head of Professional Care is working with our Landlords and Managers within each individual Scheme. This will mean reverting to the way we operated during the lockdown earlier in the year.

Covid Case

We have one customer and two members of staff who have tested positive with C19.  We have taken immediate action and are working closely with NTC Public Health Protection Team and continue to support our customer at home who is currently in isolation.

Wellbeing Centres

For now, Wellbeing Centres will remain open where we will maintain the current ‘bubbles’ and not introduce any new customers.

Bradbury Centre

From Monday 19th October the Customer Service, Information & Advice and Finance Teams will go back to working from home. They can all be reached by phone and e mail.

Data Analysis & Control Measures

Our Leadership Team will revert to daily meetings to review our data and we will communicate any further changes by all means possible.

We must emphasise that all of our controls have been upheld extremely well.  We must take immediate action to prevent the virus from spreading further and we all must all play our part outside of work as well as in work.

Contact Us

Should you like to discuss any concerns you may have please do not hesitate to contact us Tel: 0191 2877028 or e mail: enquiries@everydayuk.org.

Our social media platforms will also share regular updates for the benefit of our stakeholders.

 

Silver Sunday

We are now in Phase 4 and working to implement our new world, aligning it with our new 2025 strategy. This has been the focus of our Chief Executive, Dawn McNally’s Special Briefing this week. This carries on from the customer consultation and engagement exercise we carried out during Phase 2 and 3.

Staff Update

Our statistics this week and largely unchanged:

Positive Aging

October is historically Age Takes Centre Stage month which would normally mean a month-long festival of events celebrating aging. As we are limited in what we can do out in our communities the focus this year will be on promoting positive aging.

Get Involved

Sunday October 6th is Silver Sunday and we would love to be able to share your imagery of positive aging on our various social media platforms.

Our New World

Having reviewed the latest Government Guidance we are not making any immediate changes to services. We will introduce some additional controls. As we are entering Phase 4, which does mean we will be opening up more services in a safe,  planned and phased way.

Staff Absence

Staff absence rate remain between 5-7%. However, we have seen the number of staff reporting the need to self- isolate increasing this week. This has not been related to the work environment. Staff have been reminded that if they feel unwell that they must contact their Line Manager before even thinking about coming into work (even if it’s a cold).

Service Update

Wellbeing Centres

All care services continue to operate face to face essential services, including the Wellbeing Centres with increased controls in place.

These services are constantly monitored by North Tyneside Council who regularly review our Risk Assessments. Furthermore, North Tyneside Council this week inspected Linskill Park Wellbeing Centre and we are pleased to report out of 40 categories tested we had one recommendation, which was that all staff watch the NTC Video for “donning and doffing PPE”, which we addressed immediately.

Newcastle Care Provision

Allerdale House, Newcastle  is planned to open on 5 October 2020, with 14 customers ready to move in in the first week.

The Bradbury Centre

Our HQ building remains open to the public Monday to Friday 10 am to 2 pm with a ‘one in one out’ system for customers, we must remember that most contact with customers is via telephone and therefore numbers are very low, even then we will offer a telephone appointment to follow up.

The Customer Service and Information and Advice Teams will have staff available in the Bradbury Centre Monday to Friday at the times noted above

Track & Trace

All business premises must, from 24.09.2020 display a poster with a QR Code to track and trace visitors to their premises. We have this signage in place. We are encouraging all staff members to download the new NHS Covid-19 App and add themselves for ease.

Phase 4

Our 2020 strategy ended on 31 March 2020 and we were about the launch of our new 2025 strategy when C19 hit. As a result we had to put this on hold. We immediately implemented our C19 Plan which included Four Phases:

 

As reported last week we are about to move into Phase 4, our new world, where we will align what our customers and staff have told us during the consultation and engagement phases with the new 2025 strategy. We would like to focus on the most immediate changes next week our CE will communicate with staff what we are striving to achieve with our new strategy.

 

Winter is coming

We would encourage customers who feel they would like a FREE benefit check to contact our qualified team of advisors ensuring they have access

to the benefits they may well be entitled to.

Tel: 0191 2808484  

Change Is On The Horizon

We appreciate that it can feel overwhelming with so many changes and constant messages but let’s not forget how well we, as an organisation have done in keeping customers, staff, and volunteers safe. We feel that it’s only right that we ensure that all of our stakeholders remained informed at all times.

Ahead Of The Curve

We were ahead of the curve last week with the changes we announced which stood us in good stead for the changes the Government announced yesterday.

Public Health Monitoring

On a daily basis our Leadership Team is monitoring the number of C-19 cases across the North East. This means we can implement changes quickly and then cross-check our changes with those our local Director of Public Health or Government may announce at any one time.

We Remain Optimistic

We continue to be optimistic and responsive in these tough times. Winter is approaching which will be a challenging time for us all . We remain confident and proud that we will continue to support our older people no matter what.

Further Clarification

We wanted to therefore start by clarifying some of the messages from last week, and to encourage our stakeholders to seek further clarification if necessary. Tel: 0191 2877028 for our Customer Service Team.

Customer Service

To allow us to reach older people and their families who prefer to speak to us face to face, we continue to operate a “one in one out” system for customers at the Bradbury Centre. This does not include those customers where we directly provide their care .

Around 99% of our contact with customers is now being done over the telephone, by video and other digital means and therefore numbers will be low for those needing us face to face.

We have implemented, and continue to monitor, all of the controls we feel are necessary to keep all of us safe.

Consultation

We are committed to consulting with all of our stakeholders regularly to understand what additional steps we need to take on this journey but we must continue to be available for those in greatest need.

The Customer Service Team are doing a fantastic job at managing access to our services and their triaging statistics are outstanding. They deal with over 70% of calls/walk-ins themselves without having to refer to other services.

Some team members are working from home currently. This does not apply to essential workers like our care teams, where we will continue to manage the risk differently. In reality, our care staff predominantly work in their local area and are not using public transport to a great extent.

Wellbeing Centres

We can continue to keep our Wellbeing Centres open. Public Health in North Tyneside is confident that the controls we have in place will continue to keep our customers and staff members safe.

Our team members in the Wellbeing Centres will be reminding customers about the new rules around socialising at home and in particular the potential risk if children are visiting now that they have returned to school.

Extra Care Housing Customers

Visiting in our Extra Care Housing Schemes is limited to “essential adult visitors” only. We have encouraged our Digital Champions in our Schemes to support customers to access technology more where they can. We are conscious as winter approaches that we need to try to offer different ways for families to remain connected.

Phase 3 and preparing for Phase 4 after Lockdown

We are preparing for Phase 4 which will commence on 1 October 2020. We have engaged and consulted with all of our customers during Phase 2 and 3. We are now reviewing services and preparing to implement changes from 1 October 2020 as we plan to continue to provide services in the new world.

Neighbourhood Network

We are keen to start implementing our Locality Plans and most importantly our plans for a Neighbourhood Network.

The Neighbourhood Network will involve the recruitment of Volunteer Ambassadors who will keep an eye on their older neighbours. These Ambassadors will develop a working relationship with our own key staff in localities and can support them to support their older neighbours. This network should allow us to reach more older people and help them make more of life.

Unpaid Carers

Caring for someone can be especially challenging during these difficult times. We are supporting Carers UK who are repeating their survey aimed at evidence gathering from carers .They are building on the one first in April. This had a really good impact in terms of awareness, but getting to hear about change that carers see in their every-day life is becoming even more challenging.

The opportunity to share your thoughts and feelings is a short one. The survey closes on Sunday 27 September, the link to the survey is https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/CNTJ8GM .

Please complete the survey if you can, especially if you took part the first time. This information is invaluable to providing unpaid carers with the support they need.

Useful information

For anyone who wants to review the changes for North Tyneside and Newcastle announced this week around C19 or just a good refresh of the rules here are the links to the respective websites.

https://my.northtyneside.gov.uk/page/26134/coronavirus-covid-19

https://www.newcastle.gov.uk/services/public-health-wellbeing-and-leisure/public-health-services/coronavirus-covid-19

Our Customer Service Team is able to take your call, give us a ring Telephone 0191 2877028 for advice, information or further clarification .

Stay safe.

Skip to content