I’ve worked in different environments with different people requiring a lot of different support.
Different age groups, young, older and in the middle. At Surrey Court I seem to have it all. Different age groups and gender, different support and nursing care is required.
At Surrey Court we share the building with 1st Wessex, our landlord. The building also has another 50 flats. It is a tailor made sheltered living building.
Everyone has their own flat, they live independent lives. Support is there for whatever people need and staff take a step back when someone can do something independently. Some people require a lot of support, other people not so much.
This has been a challenge for myself and all staff. It can be difficult taking the step back, more difficult than stepping in and supporting. The fact people live in their own flats means that it is not really communal living any more. Learning to stand back is not always easy.
The people we support are thriving, and have become more independent. One lady is speaking more because she is not just given what other people are having. She lives in her own house for the first time in her life.....she decides what she needs and wants. Truly this is support that she wants, when she wants it.
One person has come to us after having lived in a care home for 2 years. His mobility was very limited and he always used a wheelchair. He now gets about more easily, walking daily with a zimmer frame or a walking stick.
One lady in her eighties has had a birthday party. She has a lovely party every year, gifts, cake, cards, all that is usual for a birthday celebration, but this year it was different. This year it wasn’t just other people who lived with her and staff at her party. At 81 years young, she invited her friends to her birthday celebrations. For the first time ever!
She has got to know other people in the building. She goes to the hairdresser downstairs every week. She also likes to go downstairs to the restaurant and sit, even when they’re closed she will sit inside. Other people in the building have got to know her, first as the lady with the flower in her hair, but now they are on first name terms, Hazel.
To see Hazel and other people develop, evolve and thrive in their new environment is wonderful. For me, it’s what it is all about.
It has renewed me: age is just a number.
MacIntyre has been consulting with the people that use MacIntyre services to renew the commitments and make promises to the people they support. I’ve seen the early versions of these promises and at Surrey Court we live by these promises and look at them every morning, as our brief for the day.
Helen McQuarrie
Head of Service
Surrey Court