The Apple House Ltd Approach:

The world of management and strategic planning can be full of jargon-based terms and phrases, which can take the core meaning away from readers who want to see the direction and aims a company wants to work towards.

While it is crucial that our company has a clear strategic plan from directorship level, the methods which enable this plan to work through an operational route are key to achieving the common goal. This planning stage will assist the company forward through an ever-increasing demanding economy and climate.

For our Company, the aim is to protect the homes of the people we support and the jobs of the people whom we employ throughout our services.

An infographic is used to give an overview of our Operational Goal Planning.

–Romaine Lawson, Director of Operations, Apple House.

“Apple House Ltd believes that its employees represent its greatest asset.  By providing opportunities, facilities and financial support for training, the service aims to ensure that all of its employees are in possession of the knowledge, skills and experience necessary to perform their jobs to the highest standard.  To this end, the service is committed to functioning as a learning organisation, providing all of its employees with the opportunity for training and re-training in accordance with their own needs and that of our homes.

Without a skilled, committed and well-trained staff team, the service cannot possibly succeed in its aim to provide high-quality care.

Training should not only motivate staff, but also encourage their co-operation, imagination and personal development.  Without being stimulated by new learning, staff can become bored, take shortcuts, lapse into bad habits or feel undervalued.

A planned programme for the training and development of staff is essential to ensure good practice and the provision of a quality service for service users.  This is why we have 25 core training courses available to our staff with more being available if there is an individual speciality being undertaken.

If you would like to be part of our team and enjoy this environment of learning and fulfilment, please get in touch through our careers or contacts pages.  We’d love to hear from you.”

––Romaine Lawson, Director of Operations

• Care home policies on oral health and providing people with support to access dental services
• Oral health assessment and mouth care plans
• Daily mouth care
• Care staff knowledge and skills

CQC, during their discussions at the Regulation of Dental Services Programme Board and with other stakeholders across adult social care and primary care, highlighted that awareness and take-up of the NICE guidelines were still low.

CQCs review included dental inspectors attending 100 routine planned inspections of care homes alongside inspectors from their adult social care team. They spoke with managers and senior staff members as well as people who use services, and their relatives, to find out about their experiences of care.
Smiling Matters is a report of what was found in those homes, conclusions and recommendations for action.

In Apple House care homes, we have used the report to raise awareness of the importance of clear guidance within our own homes to ensure that access to regular dental check ups, care plan guidance and daily mouth care is and continues to be an important part of a person’s person-centred support. We have found that staff training is crucial and this goes hand in hand with the understanding of creative support plans which reduce barriers to people receiving oral healthcare. An area of action will be to include how people find this experience within our annual service user survey to gain the views of the people we support. An area of excellence was found to be specialised training received by members of staff which has been rolled out to the teams. The report has been discussed and communicated throughout the organisation at senior, team and service user meetings.
One of the recommendations from the CQC report is:
That NHS England and local commissioners:

• Work with the care home sector to avoid lengthy waiting times for appointments and treatment and provide emergency appointment times. 

• Work with GP practices and other primary care contractors, such as community pharmacists, to establish local arrangements to signpost people to dental provision. 

• Provide adequate capacity to provide routine and emergency treatment to people in care homes. This should be linked to a clear, measurable outcome around avoidance of GP appointments and A&E attendances resulting from dental crises.

You can read the full CQC report ‘Smiling Matters: Oral health care in care homes’ here.

Romaine Lawson, Director of Operations, Apple House care home group.

Presented as gold and silver awards, they represent an important step towards bringing recognition in line with the NHS workforce and recognise the extraordinary commitment of the adult social care workforce.

Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care Professor Deborah Study said:

The pandemic has shone a light on the exemplary efforts of our dedicated social care workforce, and I am committed to ensuring we recognise the selfless hard work they do day in and day out.

The social care workforce more than ever continues to demonstrate unwavering compassion, professionalism and dedication. Not only during the pandemic but every year.

I am extremely proud to present these awards to colleagues in social care which reflect those for colleagues in the NHS.

These individual awards recognise exceptional practice and care and rightly give recognition, acknowledgement and appreciation that those individuals deserve.

Professor Deborah Sturdy, Chief Nurse For Adult Social Care, joined our virtual weekly senior team meeting as a guest speaker before announcing the awards committee’s decision to honour Romaine with their Gold award. Romaine had no idea until Professor Sturdy asked me to present Romaine with her beautiful badge – it had been hard keeping a secret from Romaine but her reaction was priceless.

Professor Sturdy shared a fascinating update on social care, her aspirations for her new role, and spotlighted a keen interest in the learning disability sector. She also recognised the challenges faced by our team and all in social care throughout the pandemic.

It was an honour for us all to be joined by Deborah, and absolutely wonderful to share Romaine’s special moment of receiving this well deserved award.

— Jane Montrose, Managing Director

Details can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-award-to-recognise-exceptional-practice-in-adult-social-care-workforce

Last Friday, at the prestigious National Learning Disability and Autism Awards at the ICC in Birmingham, Apple House’s managing director, Jane Montrose, won the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Social Care’ award for England and Scotland. 

The National Learning Disabilities & Autism Awards celebrate excellence in the support for people with learning disabilities and aim to pay tribute to those individuals or organisations who excel in providing quality care.

Judges said: “Jane is impressive both on paper and in person. What shone through was her compassion and passion for her business and supporting the vulnerable people in her homes. She has the perfect blend of qualities that we look for in a provider: Behaviour, strategy, experience and commercial acumen. A clear winner.”

Jane said of her win, ‘I am so honoured to have won this award and pay tribute to my incredible team, fellow directors, Romaine and Guy, and office manager, Sarah-Jane, and Jayne, without whom I could never have achieved my dream to create Apple House. I am proud of everyone who works and lives in an Apple House care home. Congratulations to all winners and finalists of the awards announced on Friday!’

Finalist for The Frontline Leader Award

 Rebecca Blackmore:

Here are some of the things that our manager Sharron and the team have to say about Bex:

Rebecca who is known as Bex started working in our company in 2014.

Caring, compassionate and focused on helping and supporting people to be the best they can possibly be.

One of her strengths is also her cooking ability. Utilising this skill Bex is able to support individuals with healthy eating. She uses aids such as easy read menu’s and supportive technology, supporting individuals to understand the types of foods in their meals and understanding healthy options.

Bex has also inspired the individuals during house meetings to: choose a country, plan shopping lists, discuss a menu from the country, discuss utensils needed to make the meal, along with looking up information with individuals regarding the culture or the country. This will culminate once a month with the  person preparing the meal and hosting a lovely party. This creative use of skills in enhancing peoples lives and teaching independent living skills is wonderful and a real credit to Bex.

Her confidence has grown immensely, and this has transpired into Bex working and now achieving a senior role within Redcroft, taking on extra responsibilities such as Fire Marshal. Along with supporting staff as our advocate for dysphasia, oral health and supporting staff to be more confident in themselves.

She goes the extra mile when it comes to looking for fun ways to raise money for charities; Bex has helped to raise money for Macmillan, Red Nose Day and local Dorset charities. She rallies the residents round and gets them fully involved which gives people a sense of purpose and well-being. Bex has helped to raise awareness of these good causes and wanted the people she supports to feel a part of that experience. She is a shining example of a brilliant support worker and we are proud to nominate her for this award.

Thank you Bex for everything you do and we are all very proud of you.

The National Learning Disabilities & Autism Awards offer a unique opportunity to showcase and celebrate the successes of individuals, teams and businesses in the learning disabilities and autism sector – people and organisations who really do make a positive impact on people’s lives. They aim to pay tribute to people who specifically support those with learning disabilities and autism and recognise inspirational individuals with a learning disability and/or autism who make a real difference within their communities.

— Romaine Lawson, Director of Operations