Essex home care agency tackling 'loneliness' by taking elderly into community

Home care agency Doris Jones in Westcliff-on-sea is working in partnership with Age Concern to create a local 'hub' providing a place for older people to get out of the house and into the community.

The Haven hub, located in a disused department store in Southend on Sea has an activity timetable which includes armchair keep fit, line dancing, belly dancing and Tai Chi. There is also a café and adult colouring, crafts and jigsaws are available for all.

’Loneliness is a big issue for so many’

Doris Jones Limited director Austin Heraty said: "[The hub will] provide for our clients and provide them to have a bit of a change of scene. In terms of getting groups of people out, that is proving to be a pretty useful resource which we are really excited about.

“We will be taking a lot of our home care clients getting them to the daycare centres to have a change of scenery.”

The club currently has over 280 members from all over Southend ranging from 50-97 years old.

Mr Heraty said: “Loneliness is such a big issue for so many of the people that we look after. They are not as mobile as they once were so may well be stuck at home.

“With the lack of family living nearby because sons and daughters are spread out across the country or the world, quite often there are not that many people that they see, so being able to provide that opportunity is brilliant and breaks down that loneliness.”

The care workers from Doris Jones Limited have also taken clients out to do a spot of fishing as well as a trip to the theatre and cinema.

Mr Heraty said: “We had a couple that liked to go and have fish and chips on a bench overlooking the sea. So, we would pick them up and drop them off but they were quite capable of getting back by themselves. They would get the bus back but we were there to drop them off and get their fish and chips for them.”

'We spent time building a very well-trained team'

The agency was rated ‘outstanding’ in August following a routine inspection by the independent care sector regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

To celebrate the team’s success, the majority of the team had a party in a local café. Every member of the team received a thank you gift and was given an outstanding badge for everyone to wear.

Mr Heraty said: “We had a Doris award where we picked out some of the outstanding things that some of the team had done. That went down really well."

The company has now decided to make the Doris awards an annual event, providing an opportunity to spotlight successes and celebrate the outstanding work done by team members throughout the year.

When homecare.co.uk asked what makes your care company different from other homecare companies? Mr Heraty said: “Probably our leadership. Between us, I think we have a good background in terms of the clinical and business side.

"We have spent time building a very well-trained team providing all the infostructure so the staff can do an excellent job for their clients and their families.”

In the report, CQC stated there was a strong collaborative working relationship between the provider, management team and staff.

Staff were proud to work in the service and were extremely positive about the level of support they received from management and the provider.

One staff member said, "The registered manager has a high standard of care and picks staff very carefully. They also boost you up and praise you when you do things well, they notice! No wonder staff stay and work for Doris Jones."

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