My Career in Dementia Care, as a Home Manager with HC-One

"There are over 100 different types of dementias and new ones are being discovered every day."

Care Home Manager, Susan Watson, talks about her HC-One career in care. She shares her challenges & advice to others considering a job in dementia care.

My Career History And Background Working In Care

I started my career by doing my training in adult nursing at Northampton General Hospital in 1978 where I qualified as an Adult Nurse before progressing to working on the cruise liners as the ship’s Nurse.

I went on to work as a Nurse in the Middle East and progressed into cardioversion nursing particularly the elderly before moving into forensic nursing for six to seven years and then went on to do my mental health training, becoming dual qualified.

I then went back into working caring for the elderly, working as a Clinical Lead/Deputy Manager for County Care.

I turned around a brand new 80 bedded home in Welwyn Garden City which had only been open five months before being rated ‘Inadequate’ by the Care Quality Commission.

I managed to turn around the home within six months and the home went on to receive an ‘Outstanding’ rating by the Care Quality Commission.

I then moved to HC-One where I have worked for six years, joining Pytchley Court as a Deputy Home Manager for six months before progressing to the position of Home Manager.

Pytchley Court in Brixworth, Northampton is a 37 bed residential, nursing and dementia care home. When I first joined the home, Pytchley Court was in special measures and the home was being run by a Turnaround Manager.

As Home Manager, I’ve worked with my team to turn the home around, always achieving full occupancy levels with no agency staff and predominantly caring with those living with dementia with 37 residents living at the home and 95% of residents living with some form of dementia.

My background in mental health nursing means that I have developed the right skills for the job. I led and steered the home through the pandemic, working tirelessly to improve the quality of life for residents.

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What Drew Me To Working In Dementia Care

I love a challenge, and this is what drew me to working in dementia care. Following seeing the potential that Pytchley Court had and spending time with the individuals living and working at the home, I wanted to make their lives better.

I always like to participate in research opportunities and keep up to date with the latest developments in dementia care.

We recently introduced student nurses to Pytchley Court including student paramedics which has been a success, and this provides them with a different perspective of the day-to-day life in a care home which I believe is very important.

How I Build Relationships With The Local Community

I like to get our community involved in life at the care home and invited the local agricultural college for disabled people to the home, and they took part in a three-month project where they assisted the home with a garden project and planted flowers.

The activity was therapeutic for both parties, and we had a young disabled adult from the college attend who didn’t speak when she first came but by the time she left, she was chatting away.

The residents loved interacting with the visitors from the college. They also enjoy visits from the nursery located next door to the care home and local schools visiting.

We also opened a dementia care at the home called the Chatterbox Café.

It provides people living with dementia at the home and in the community the opportunity to meet there twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday, 2pm – 4pm), have a cup of tea and a piece of cake which also provides carers with the chance to have a break, share stories and find out about the support the home can provide to them.

We are currently involved in the National Institute for Health Research and are presently participating in a loneliness project taking place within care homes.

How I Deliver Person Centred Care To Residents Living At Pytchley Court Care Home

I believe in person centred care and making Pytchley Court a home from home by personalising residents’ bedrooms as if it was their own home including choosing their own wallpaper, colour schemes, door colours and decorating their rooms, which makes Residents feel relaxed when moving into the home.

We always make residents wishes come true at Pytchley Court. An example of this is a gentleman called David living at the home who has capacity and has a dream and ambition to build a 30-foot boat and wants to build it in the home’s garden.

Taking an interest in his passion and dream, the home organised a trip for him to go sailing at a local sailing club where they have a boat that can accommodate a wheelchair to go sailing.

The home has also organised a trip following the sailing trip for him to go on an outing to the local building yard so he can experience and watch how boats are made.

The home also has a gentleman called Colin who has mixed dementia and displays challenging behaviour, following moving to the home from a local psychiatric unit where he’d been on a ward and hadn’t been outside for a number of months.

A lot of other homes wouldn’t admit him due to the potential risk. He was a Major in the Army; he’s a gentleman and he’s lived at the home for eight months and he now never shows signs of any challenging behaviour.

He wrote a book called Delapre Abbey, a local landmark in Northamptonshire.

We took Colin on a trip to Delapre Abbey where he took his book with him, and they visited the café gift shop, had tea and cake and met the staff who work at the attraction who were thrilled to meet him.

Colin was able to engage in conversation with staff about his book and discuss Delapre Abbey with them. During this moment, you wouldn’t have known Colin had dementia as he remembered and loved talking about Delapre Abbey.

Colin’s wellbeing and mood improved significantly following the trip, as it had given him such a boost. I also admitted a gentleman called Graham to Pytchley Court from the hospital a few months ago (he’d been in hospital for over three months).

He was on end-of-life care and was catheterised. He was non-compliant with medication and weight loss due to not eating and drinking. The gentleman was receiving one to one care because of his challenging behaviour.

Since moving into the home, he is no longer on end-of-life care and was no longer catheterised the day following admission to the home. He now sits in the dining room, eating his full English breakfast.

His condition improved significantly through the person-centred care and support we pride ourselves on here at Pytchley Court. The gentleman’s quality of life has improved significantly since moving into the home, he’s put on weight and is receiving the appropriate physiotherapy which he previously didn’t receive due to having a fractured femur.

We also admitted another gentleman called Ken to the home from hospital. Fishing was his passion, and we took him out on a disabled boat fishing for the day. He caught a big trout and the Chef Manager at the home then cooked the fish for him which he ate for his tea, fulfilling his wish.

The Challenges Faced By Myself And My Colleagues Working In Dementia Care, And How We Overcome Them

Training is such as important element for us working in dementia care. There are so many different types of dementia and whilst the main types of dementia are taught such as Alzheimer’s and Vascular dementia - there are over 100 different types of dementias and new ones are being discovered every day.

I am a Dementia Friend following completing a programme through the Alzheimer's Society and I think it’s important for all individuals to complete this programme.

I can now train colleagues following completing the Dementia Friend programme which helps improve colleagues’ knowledge and skills. Colleagues will experience highly pressured situations with residents who display challenging behaviour and staff need to be aware and be trained in how to manage the behaviour in the most effective manner.

We also have a dementia training programme here at HC-One which provides a future-focused tiered proposition delivered through both e-learning and face-to-face delivery.

This further equips colleagues working at Pytchley Court with the skills and expertise needed to provide residents living in our care with the best possible care, including those with complex behaviours.

We also need to try to attract and retain staff working in dementia care. We need care staff to learn to take pride in what they do, showcase quality, show empathy and respect.

It’s important to upskill colleagues and ensure colleagues feel supported. My door is always open to colleagues to reach out to me for support and help.

Those working in care homes need to receive the right recognition, pay and rewards, as well as being given the same abilities and responsibilities given to those in similar roles.

Colleagues working in dementia care can face challenging and stressful situations, I believe it’s important for the right wellbeing support to be provided.

We recently opened a Wellbeing Hub at Pytchley Court, transforming a previous visiting pod used during the COVID pandemic and transformed it into a Wellbeing Hub.

The Wellbeing Hub has electricity, heating, a coffee machine, a fish tank, fairy lights, air fresheners, sofa chairs, rugs, cushions and information leaflets and brochures for staff, relatives and visitors.

The hub provides a safe, peaceful and quiet environment, and individuals also have access to the home’s two mental health first aiders who can be reached out to for support with myself being one of the home’s mental health first aiders.

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