Since lockdown began, the team at our Jellicoe Court supported living service in Basingstoke have gone the extra mile to make life feel as normal as possible for the people they support.
The impact of coronavirus has had a huge impact on all our services – from the closure of many community day services to government guidance around visits home. Staff at Jellicoe Court have been coming up with creative ways to make sure the people we support don’t miss out. From organising activities to replace the day service visits, to recreating home cooked meals to replace weekends with their family, staff have worked tirelessly to create their ‘Jellicoe Court family’. And the team have even more reason to celebrate their successes with their recent CQC rating of ‘good’ across the board.
Deputy manager Claire said: “Lots of our residents go to day services so that was one of the biggest changes initially. We have some really big personalities at Jellicoe Court so once they weren’t out at different day services it took some adjusting to get used to being around each other so much. We tried to make the weeks feel similar to a day service with activities in our communal area such as painting, colouring and baking.
“Baking became a really popular activity, food is something that brings us all together. At the weekends we try to make it feel similar to how the people we support would feel at home with their families, by all cooking together. We started having weekly roast dinners and then started doing brunches and other dishes like curries. Our residents enjoy activities more when everyone is involved so these evenings has definitely become a staple at Jellicoe Court.
“This inspired our ‘healthy eating week’, where they tried to ‘eat the rainbow’. We introduced the people we support to new foods, making a note of the colours of the food they had eaten and what they liked and didn’t like.
“Lockdown has been a great for us to spend more time with the people we support. Sally who never usually comes out of her flat very much has become much more sociable. Since lockdown she has been coming to have a cup of tea with staff, we think that with everyone being in the service more she possibly feels more comfortable with us all.
“I am just amazed at how well our staff have coped through all of lockdown. The service has gone through a complete change over the past year with a brand new management team in place and a complete workplace culture change, the service has really been completely rebuilt. Not only that, but staff have had to adapt to acting like a day service on top of their normal roles – they really have been pushed out of their comfort zone. They have all been so resilient and I’m proud to have such an amazing team at Jellicoe Court.”
Speaking about their recent CQC rating, service manager Christine said: “We are really proud of what we have achieved. We had really given it our all and the brilliant news just came at the exact right time for us. The appreciation we have had for the hard work we have put in is on another level, everyone has been so supportive.”
