A new kind of business: Wellbeing and You. Caring for the people who care for adults in Nottingham 2017
When you’re running a great business as Stephanie was, Real Quality Care, where she slowly and carefully built up a bespoke care service for adults from all backgrounds, you can be proud of your achievements.
Coming from London to Nottingham with three young children and a project manager husband in the 90’s, for many years Stephanie studied, learned, qualified, specialising in helping small businesses secure funding working with ACE (African Caribbean Enterprise Ltd) throughout Nottingham.
Nottingham African Caribbean students at Trent 2016
After divorce and having a mum diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, although she was one of seven caring children who really worked with their father to care for their mother, she was struck by the varying quality of care in different parts of the system and country and was driven to find out if she could create a higher quality of home care service service that would support a person’s quality of life and well being.
Starting as a care worker, Stephanie learnt, studied and qualified so that she could create her own company Real Quality Care Ltd, a care at home service with quality workers and a quality service.
And then she had a stroke.
It was a mild stroke and she received prompt and brilliant care but she knew that although she was right to prioritise her clients care, the truth was that the visionary service, small is beautiful, was working but she hadn’t realised the impact that some many years of unrelenting effort and work had had on her own health and wellbeing.
Stroke, good word that, a stroke to make you realise that you need to think again.
So as she got better, slowly, Stephanie started by changing her eating habits, eating plenty of green vegetables, more fruit and reducing salt and sugar in her diet and drank plenty of water. She joined the YMCA gym, going twice a week and meditated most days.
Over two years she learnt about getting well, particularly working on how to overcome the post stroke fatigue. Typical of Stephanie, she also began to think about how this knowledge might benefit other people at every level who care for adults.
How could she share these insights with people who care for adults to help them care for themselves?
It was like a revelation.
Why don’t I just talk to them? Pre the stroke she had wanted to podcast about home care.
After the stroke came the idea of creating a new self care service. Over a two year period Stephanie evolved the idea of Wellbeing and You where she could podcast conversations with medical professionals, complementary therapists and carers from all walks of life. She could build workshops, resources and awareness of the importance of all round self care. Real Quality Care has become Wellbeing and You.
I was really enthused by Stephanie’s determination to learn and to share. It chimed with me when she said: “after my stroke I felt the blood crawled through my body, everything seemed to be heightened but slowed down”.
“I began to talk to doctors, nurses, holistic practitioners about what they do to improve their physical well being and realised how energising sharing things you do with others is. I found this amazing morning drink. I juice of two lemons, root ginger, cayenne, turmeric, apple cider vinegar and a dollop of honey”.
“It is heaven. I drink this and my body feels nourished”.
That made me smile because it reminded me so much about how I gave up smoking a couple of years ago. I’d been thinking for ages that I lacked vitamin E and how when I’d taken vitamin E capsules years ago my cravings for cigarettes seemed to diminish. Not enough then to stop but enough to leave a memory that vitamin E was good for me. So I started taking liquid vitamin E and that, combined with a realisation that no-one these days knows what goes into cigarettes or what kind of madness cigarette production finances, I’ve been able to stop.
And Stephanie is taking this journey forward with the establishment of Wellbeing and You to enable people to integrate the skills of self care into their daily routines, through life coaching, (face to face and online), workshops and group talks.
In the meantime, come and meet Stephanie and other interesting people at networking events throughout the city.You can contact Stephanie: stephaniepalmerja@gmail.com
More to follow!
signsofanopencity 
http://www.skillsforhealth.org.uk/resources/service-area/31-integrating-health-and-social-care
Integrating Health and Social care
Working together: a summary of health and social care integration projects
Skills for Health and Skills for Care have worked closely for a number of years and have recently taken stock of our work with many employers across both sectors. Our review has resulted in the development of engaging case studies. These share valuable lessons and outcomes in workforce development which will benefit many organisations in both health and social care.
Impacts
We examined projects which demonstrated impacts on key objectives which are important to people in health and social care.
The four key impacts are:
reducing avoidable hospital admissions
reablement and timely hospital discharges
smoother transitions
better use of resources.
For a comprehensive summary of all the case studies please click here.
The case studies are available to download below – listed under the four key impacts. There are currently 25 case studies in total, and many of them appear under serveral of the key impact areas.
Reducing avoidable hospital admissions
Assessment and crisis management make big impact (West Sussex Integrated Dementia Crisis Service) click here
Champions for learning disabilities (Enable Care and Home Support – End of Life Project) click here
Culture change (Jewish Care, Dementia Care Development Project) click here
Embracing change for early intervention (Hampshire County Council Sensory and Deaf Services) click here
Integrating health and social care (Nottingham City Council, JackDawe Service) click here
It’s a WRAP! (Hampshire County Council and Southern Healthcare Trust) click here
Meeting a growing need (Housing 21, End of Life Care Learning Resource Pack) click here
New job role delivers seamless service (St Monica Trust) click here
Partnership with health that delivers (Care2Care Services Ltd) click here
Peer support provides solutions (Sutton Mental Health Foundation) click here
Right place, right time, right team (Thurrock Rapid Response – Eastern region) click here
Using assistive technology to improve lives (Norfolk County Council) click here
Case management makes savings (Bennett House) click here
End of Life Care delivery pilot hailed a success (Community Services Bury) click here
Staff engagement “vital” in service redesign of integrated care (Knowsley Integrated Service) click here
Reablement and timely hospital discharges
Assessment and crisis management make big impact (West Sussex Integrated Dementia Crisis Service) click here
Champions for learning disabilities (Enable Care and Home Support – End of Life Project) click here
Culture change (Jewish Care, Dementia Care Development Project) click here
Embracing change for early intervention (Hampshire County Council Sensory and Deaf Services) click here
‘Home first’ policy saves money (Community Dementia Support Team, Bracknell Forest Borough Council) click here
Integrating health and social care (Nottingham City Council, JackDawe Service) click here
It’s a WRAP! (Hampshire County Council and Southern Healthcare Trust) click here
Meeting a growing need (Housing 21, End of Life Care Learning Resource Pack) click here
New job role delivers seamless service (St Monica Trust) click here
Partnership with health that delivers (Care2Care Services Ltd) click here
Reablement for independent living (Leeds Adult Services) click here
Right place, right time, right team (Thurrock Rapid Response – Eastern region) click here
Rolling out modernisation (County Durham Care and Support Learning Disability Day Services) click here
Service users can also be service providers (Gateshead and South Tyneside Sight Service) click here
Smoother transitions
Culture change (Jewish Care, Dementia Care Development Project) click here
Embracing change for early intervention (Hampshire County Council Sensory and Deaf Services) click here
Meeting a growing need (Housing 21, End of Life Care Learning Resource Pack) click here
Peer support provides solutions (Sutton Mental Health Foundation click here
Personalisation through play (Whose Shoes? Nutshell Communications) click here
Rolling out modernisation (County Durham Care and Support Learning Disability Day Services) click here
Service users can also be service providers (Gateshead and South Tyneside Sight Service) click here
Using assistive technology to improve lives (Norfolk County Council) click here
Better use of resources
A lifeline for people with low vision (Gateshead and South Tyneside Sight Service) click here
Adapting materials on end of life care (Gateshead and South Tyneside Sight Service) click here
Assistant practitioners get the job done (North of England Cancer Network) click here
Comprehensive end of life care training (Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust) click here
Counselling skills make the difference (Service to Children Requiring Intensive Psychological Therapies) click here
Culture change (Jewish Care, Dementia Care Development Project) click here
Embracing change for early intervention (Hampshire County Council Sensory and Deaf Services) click here
Holistic mental health care (Mind in Taunton and West Somerset) click here
‘Home first’ policy saves money (Community Dementia Support Team, Bracknell Forest Borough Council) click here
Integrating health and social care (Nottingham City Council, JackDawe Service) click here
It’s a WRAP! (Hampshire County Council and Southern Healthcare Trust) click here
Meeting a growing need (Housing 21, End of Life Care Learning Resource Pack) click here
New job role delivers seamless service (St Monica Trust) click here
Peer support provides solutions (Sutton Mental Health Foundation) click here
Reablement for independent living (Leeds Adult Services) click here
Right place, right time, right team (Thurrock Rapid Response – Eastern region) click here
Rolling out modernisation (County Durham Care and Support Learning Disability Day Services) click here
Service users can also be service providers (Gateshead and South Tyneside Sight Service) click here
Using assistive technology to improve lives (Norfolk County Council) click here
Case management makes savings (Bennett House) click here
Delivering Outstanding End of Life Care by driving up skills and knowledge (Community Care Western Cheshire) click here
Redesign of paediatric integrated therapy service brings dramatic improvements (Somerset Community Health) click here
While the case studies bring us up to date with the projects’ achievements, many of them also produced materials, including: videos and resources, such as action plans, joint protocols and job descriptions. Web links to this material are in the case studies and you can find other relevant projects on our website or by visiting http://www.skillsforcare.org.uk.
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And Stephanie is keen to publicise events supporting care and carers in NottinghamHelp shape the future of your health and care
Posted on 12 Jan 2017
The organisations that commission and provide health and social care services across Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire County are seeking the views of patients and the wider public on their joint five year Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP).
The draft STP for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire was published in November last year, and outlines how local NHS providers, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), councils, and other health and care services collectively plan to improve the quality of care, their population’s health and manage finances across the system. The full plan, appendices and a summary guide are available at http://www.stpnotts.org.uk.
Since publication on 24 November, people have been able to provide general feedback on the draft plan and raise specific questions via email, post or telephone.
To provide more opportunity for public feedback, a series of events has now been planned during January and February across the City and County. Local people are invited to attend, hear more about the STP and how it will affect patients, citizens, carers and service users and take part in discussion with representatives from the STP partner organisations.
The events will take place as follows and are open to all:
10 am to 12 noon Tuesday 24 January 2017
City Ground (Nottingham Forest Football Club), Trent Bridge, Nottingham NG2 5FJ
6 to 8pm Thursday 9 February 2017
Newark Town Hall, Market Place, Newark-on-Trent NG24 1DU
2 to 4pm Friday 10 February 2017
Mansfield Central Library, Four Seasons Centre, West Gate, Mansfield NG18 1NH
5 to 7pm Wednesday 22 February 2017
Council House, Market Square, Nottingham NG1 2DT
In addition, the draft STP will be discussed at a meeting for Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust public members from 10am to 12 noon on Tuesday 31 January at the Education Conference Centre, Nottingham City Hospital, NG5 1PB.
The public events will include a presentation on the draft STP and examples of how things might change in the way local services are delivered. There will be an opportunity for people to discuss the five ‘high impact areas’ outlined in the plan and suggest other areas for focus.
The high impact areas for change detailed in the draft plan are:
Promote wellbeing, prevention, independence and self-care
Strengthen primary, community, social care and carer services
Simplify urgent and emergency care
Deliver technology enabled care
Ensure consistent and evidenced based pathways in planned care.
David Pearson, STP lead for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, said: “The health and care organisations in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire have come together over the last few months to find ways to change services in our City and County – using the money we have in the best way. To get this right, we want to work closely with local people to inform how our draft plan is developed and delivered.
“We want to talk to those people who live and work in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire about how our draft plan can be improved and what needs to be done to make this happen. We are listening to citizens, patients, service-users and carers to understand the support that people want and need to help them live healthier, more independent lives. I would urge people to attend these events, find out more about our local plans and give us their feedback so we can use this in the development and delivery of the STP.”
As well as attending the public events, people can provide comments and feedback via email to STP@nottscc.gov.uk or by post to:
STP FEEDBACK
David Pearson
County Hall
Loughborough Rd
Nottingham
NG2 7QP
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Stephanie is a real example of a lifelong learner who grows with her adversity and shares her knowledge with others. Brilliant!
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