We were so busy in the run up to Christmas that we didn’t get the chance to publish our December newsletter wishing everybody a Merry Christmas, so we’re writing a slightly early Happy New Year one instead.
December is always a busy time in the care industry, with hospitals trying very hard to get people home for Christmas, but it is proving more and more challenging with the number of care home places reducing and demand both for care home places and home care services rising.
elderly person in hospital discussing care needs – picture courtesy of www.dailymail.co.uk
We were pleased to have been able to help a number of our clients who had engaged our services have a better time over the festive holidays. We were able to set up a care at home service to help one client, helping them come home from hospital, put a live-in care package in place so another client didn’t have to go into a nursing home, set up Emergency Support as part of our Peace of Mind package to help a vulnerable gentleman stay at home and have also found a care home place for another client to move into in the New Year – all in the week before Christmas.
The delivery of care doesn’t stop at Christmas and we think carers are the unsung heroes as they give up their family time on Christmas Day to continue delivering care, either in the community or in care homes. It is also a particularly challenging time for those in need of care as it can heighten their sense of loneliness and isolation, so it was nice to see a number of stories in both the local and national press relating to organisations working to help with this.
Carers on Christmas Day – photo courtesy of www.torquayheraldexpress.co.uk
A number of care homes invited non-residents to join them for lunch on Christmas Day and local café’s and food outlets were opening on Christmas Day providing free meals. Again work didn’t stop for us either as we have been helping some of our Peace of Mind clients over the holiday period too.
We hope you all have a very Happy New Year, and we are looking forwards to helping many more people find care and support for elderly relatives in 2016, both locally and we hope further afield as we look to expand our services next year.
