If you provide care for a family member, friend or neighbour there may be times when a break is required. It can be challenging for carers to admit that they need additional support or tell others they may need some time off to take a holiday and relax from personal care pressures.
We know that caring for an individual is never a nine to five job, and the day-to-day routine of early mornings, late nights, and long hours can eventually lead to tiredness and even extreme exhaustion.
We recommend that carers always remember to when possible, take a short break to look after their own health care and wellbeing. For example, it may be that regular replacement overnight care is required so they can catch up on their sleep. Getting plenty of rest will ensure they are ready for the day ahead. Caregivers must remember they cannot do the job alone. It’s impossible.
Westwood Care provides bespoke care packages to meet individual requirements. Our assistants are professional, friendly and highly skilled in respite, home care, elderly care and residential care services. They give peace of mind that the individual will be well taken care of at all times.
There can be many benefits to respite care for all parties involved. Social interaction with different people can be very beneficial. After spending most of one’s time with the same carer, a short break can be an excellent opportunity to speak to new people.
Our services can also provide invaluable support to a carer when the person they care for requires increased assistance after an operation or a visit to the hospital. This can remove some of the pressure and stress these medical appointments can bring.
Different types of help include sitting with the person they care for and keeping them company, preparing meals, helping them get up, washing and dressing. Our assistants can also provide social activities, such as taking the person shopping or completing other domestic duties when required.
Finally, make sure anyone who takes over has all the information they need to look after the individual. This may include what they like to eat and at what time, as well as more complex information about medication. Always leave a list of contact numbers in case of an emergency. This should include the main carer’s numbers, nearby family members, friends and their local doctor.
At Westwood Care and Support, we have 3 residential homes Langdale, Fossdale & Dales House. Our professional care packages are designed to achieve positive outcomes for everyone, whether permanent care or shorter stays. So, if you have a question about any of our home care services, call us on 01482 629 506 or visit our website for more information.
Many people have heard of our company division Westwood Care and Support Services and may have even seen our fantastic home care staff out and about, but are less familiar with our respite care services in Hull and the surrounding areas. As well as home care services and shopping and domestic services, we operate residential homes.
Every carer providing support at our homes has completed a full induction and gained the Care Certificate to ensure our residents are safeguarded. Additionally, our homes are regulated by the Care Quality Commission.
Our homes provide around-the-clock short and long term respite care to suit the individual needs of our users.
Dales House
The first residential home we opened, Dales House, offers person-centred care services to adults aged 18+ with profound learning and physical disabilities. With a friendly atmosphere, Dales House caters to the complex needs of our residents with the following facilities:
• Indoor Lift
• Ceiling Tracking Hoists
• Change Tables
• Specialist Equipment
• Sensory Room
• Dining Room
Fossdale House
Fossdale specialises in short term respire and day care support to adults with complex needs, and learning and physical disabilities. The facilities here are to the same high standard as in Dales House, with communal areas like our games room and sensory room allowing us to provide excellent support services to our users.
In each of our homes, residents are encouraged to actively participate in meal preparation, gardening and social activities. We also promote residents making decisions about the decoration of their own rooms.
If you’d like to enquire about any of our residential homes, please contact us here.
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We would like to take an opportunity to say a huge thank you to all of our team members at both Westwood Care and Support Services & Westwood Care Group.
Right now, we are faced with an unprecedented situation that nobody could have expected or prepared for at the beginning of the year. The coronavirus outbreak has completely flipped the way we live our lives and it is something we’ve had to adapt to very quickly, but our fantastic carers have continued to go above and beyond providing home care services and respite care across Hull and East Yorkshire.
Our home carers are driven by helping service users live a fulfilling life in their own home, always ensuring they’re on hand to provide assistance whether it be personal care or shopping and domestic services. Having a helping hand is more vital now than ever during this pandemic and we’re really proud of our Team Westwood.
As well as providing home care services in Hull and East Yorkshire, we have dedicated staff working tirelessly at our residential care homes – Dales House and Fossdale House.
We’d like to assure you that we are doing everything possible to safely support our service users and staff. All of our staff are working in line with government advice, ensuring regular hand washing is completed and PPE is worn when dealing with personal care tasks.
We hope you all stay safe.
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Taking care of your body and mind is very important whilst staying safe at home, you might start to feel frustrated, bored, or lonely. So, keep on reading for some tips on how to keep on top of your mental well being and cope with how you may feel.
Stay connected with others
Keeping in touch and maintaining healthy relationships with people you trust is important for your mental wellbeing. Think about how you can stay in touch with friends and family while you are all staying at home, by phone, messaging, video calls or social media.
Do not stay glued to the news
Try to limit the time you send watching, reading or listening to coverage of the outbreak. To help you could set a specific time to read updates.
Take time to relax
Relaxing can help with difficult emotions and worries and improve our wellbeing. Relaxation tips can also help with feeling of anxiety.
Relaxation Tips
Think about your daily routine
Your life is going to change for a while, and you are more than likely going to see some disruption in your normal routine. Writing a plan for your day or week maybe helpful, if you are working from home, try and get up and ready in the same way as normal. Set new tasks such as a daily home workout and pick a time to do something that makes you happy.
Look after your sleep
Having a good night’s sleep makes a big difference to how you feel, so it’s important to get enough. Sticking to good sleep practices and regular sleeping patterns will help keep your moral high.
Keep your mind active
Find something that works for you. Keeping your mind active with reading, playing games, drawing and painting the longer it isn’t focusing on the negatives.
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We offer a variety of home care services from help with preparing and cooking meals to helping with the more personal care. Our personal assistants understand the need to be able to stay in your own home therefore all our care packages are tailored around each individual’s needs.
We know that balancing your own life and caring for someone else can be a difficult job so having a personal assistant, who will be able to help when you’re not there can be very beneficial for you and the service user. Our trained professionals will be able to assess safety risks and help make these less of a danger.
Food Preparation
Are your loved ones getting the right nutrition? We can help with preparing and cooking food for your loved one making sure they are staying healthy. This will help the service users gain independence and benefit from a freshly cooked meal.
GP and/or Hospital Appointments
We help our service users attend routine health appointments easily and on time. Our personal assistants can take them to anything from GP appointments to dental appointments. This can help with maintaining our individual’s independence.
Medication Administration
When caring for someone you might forget some of the smaller things like the right medication at the correct time. Our team of professionals can help provide support with the administration of medication using our Medication Record Chart, this will provide their families with piece of mind.
Night Sits
We have two different night care services one including a personal assistant who is on duty throughout the night who can come and provide care and support when needed. Our other service is a waking nights service which provides a personal assistant, who sleeps at the property and can be woken to offer care and support at any time.
Personal Care
Our personal assistants will be able to help with day-to-day activities including personal care. We offer a wide variety of personal care including bathing and personal hygiene. The assistance of these activities can help the service user keep their dignity by being in the comfort of their own homes. Helping with these in their own home we will be able to maintain the service user’s independence with top quality care.
Shopping & Domestic Services/Duties
Struggling to get to the shops? We provide shopping services to ensure all items are still in reach of our service users, they can stay at home or come along for a trip out. Our personal assistants are able to help with domesticated duties around the home with help from laundry and cleaning to doing the shopping.
Social Inclusion/Activities
We aim towards bringing our service users together with a wide variety of activities, which promotes social interactions. People of all ages will be able to benefit from our social inclusion service. You can participate in many activities including bingo, bowling, cinema, theatre, horse riding and many more.
We provide home care services all across Hull, if you would like to know more about what we offer contact us on 01482 629506.
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Caring for someone and balancing your own life can be challenging so sometimes a break is needed. When caring for someone it is difficult for you to admit that you might need additional help or to tell others that you need a small break. All our staff are experienced and have, or are working towards, NVQ level 2 as a minimum (some are working towards a higher level) in health and social care, and will be able to help you.
Located in Cottingham Dales House is long term care where we like to encourage a relaxed and homely atmosphere within a safe and secure environment. Dales house caters for adults aged 18 plus who have complex/multiple needs with a person-centred care service. Fossdale House in Market Weighton offers respite and day care for adults with complex needs, learning and physical disabilities. All of the homes have specialist equipment with tailored activities for every resident, including at Fossdale we have exciting communal areas such as a games room, quiet room and sensory room.
Within the homes links between an individual’s family, friends and pets are encouraged. We promote our residents to fully participate in family and social life to focus on achieving their individual goals. We provide a range of activities, which are tailored to our residents to help encourage a happy environment. We even have a garden featuring a vegetable plot so our residents can engage in gardening activities.
If you are looking for a break or help with caring for an individual, then give us a call on 01482 629506 or visit our website for more information.
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At Westwood Care and Support Services we deliver professional and personal care services in Hull which can achieve positive outcomes for each individual. Our service is highly personal with the support we deliver.
Our home services include food preparations, Personal Care, Social Activities, Night Sits, and Medication Administration.
Food Preparation
On a day to day basis our personal assistants either take care of or aid with the preparation of food. With this help our service users are benefiting from a freshly prepared meal that is cooked in the comfort of their own home. Our personal assistants are highly trained professionals at to provide for any dietary needs.
Personal Care
We provide a list of personal care services to our clients, our workers help with bathing and personal hygiene, along with dressing and undressing. They include the management of alternative feeding methods. The personal assistants also support the service users with communication needs.
Social Activities
Our personal assistants will help with people of all ages by accessing activities, day trips. Some of the activities include bingo, bowling, cinema and craft groups. Sometimes individuals find it hard to get out, so Westwood provide day trips to ensure the service user get out and about.
Night Sits
At Westwood we provide both waking night and sleeping night services to make sure the person is always receiving care when they need it most. Our waking night service will provide a personal assistant who is on duty throughout the night. The sleeping night service is one of our personal assistants sleeping at the property and can be woken when needed.
Medication Administration
The personal assistants can provide the administration of medication for people who can no longer manage the job themselves. With a Medication Record Chart our personal assistants can ensure the right medication is given at the right time and place.
For more information on our tailored care services in and around Hull check out our website.
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If you or your loved one has dementia, daily tasks can suddenly cause practical issues. No one wants to have to rely on other people to do the simple things for them and having dementia may make people feel vulnerable so here are our tips for caring for someone with the illness.
Make them feel assured whilst keeping their independence
Helping someone with dementia to feel secure in their own home is helped by creating a routine and a relaxed environment. Offering support to someone with dementia is critical but ensure that you do not take control or undermine what they do, it is important that they feel useful. Memory aids such as photographs on cupboards can be useful and may help them to remain independent for longer. Home care professionals can be on hand to help with any domestic tasks from shopping to cleaning. It is our job to make your loved one’s life at home as comfortable as possible.
Keeping up with hobbies
Hobbies are very important to those suffering with dementia. If they like cooking, help them to make a meal. Go out and get some fresh air for some exercise or let them look after a pet. Whatever their interests, these things can trigger memories and bring a real sense of joy. We offer a range of social inclusion activities and day trips to help people to get out and about.
Also, if the person you are caring for was once very sociable it is important to keep up regular visits from family and friends, try to keep it to one or two people at a time so as not to overwhelm them.
Maintain good health and nutrition
It is always important that an individual has a healthy, balanced diet and exercises to maintain a healthy lifestyle. This is no less important when an individual suffers from dementia.
People with dementia often don’t recognise foods, forget what they like or refuse food which creates added difficulty to those caring for them. Try to involve the person you care for in preparing food and ensure that you stay calm. If you grow even more concerned, then you should consult a GP.
Sleep Well
Dementia is known to cause restless sleep and these problems will get worse as the illness progresses. Medication can cause tiredness during the day and so ruin sleep during the evening which often leads to the prescription of sleeping pills. It is best to avoid alcohol and caffeine at night and stick to regular routine and bedtimes. Night sit care is always available with experts available to stay with your loved one throughout the night or to call in when needed, even in the early hours.
Self-Care
The final thing you should remember when taking care of someone with dementia is that you must look after yourself too. Support is on hand in the form of respite care and home care workers like us are only a phone call away. You cannot be expected to care for others 24/7 which is where our services come in.
For more information about how our home care professionals can help care for your loved one call 01482 629506 or email [email protected].
Westwood Care & Support provide a range of tailored care packages for individuals in and around East Yorkshire. Some of the services provided by us include bespoke personal care services, night care services, shopping and domestic duties.
There are many benefits to using our home care services. For many elderly people, living in their own home provides a feeling of comfort and contentment, it can improve confidence and a sense of personal well-being.
If you’re a carer for somebody, then you will know it’s nearly impossible to balance your own life and provide the right care that is required when dealing with an elderly relative. We know it can be stressful and exhausting trying to deal with every situation that arises. That’s why our professional personal assistants dedicate their time and full attention to the person who needs it when they need it the most.
One of the major advantages of home care is that it allows your relative to continue to be part of the family. Being part of the community is also extremely important for most people. Interacting with family, friends and neighbours can provide a feeling of independence, which helps people to feel safe, secure and remain in their daily routine.
For any relative who has been in a hospital, our emergency home solutions and services allow them time to recover in the comfort of their own home. Research suggests that elderly people returning from hospital heal a lot quicker in their own surroundings.
Our care services are designed to achieve positive outcomes for people and that’s why our personal assistants commit to delivering bespoke care, ensuring the person is always at the centre of everything they do.
The ability to stay living at home also means that your family member does not have to part with their beloved pet. Having a pet companion can ease loneliness, reduce heart disease and anxiety, so it’s vital that people are not removed from the people and things they love.
If you know someone who finds it difficult to complete everyday tasks on their own, then contact Westwood Care & Support on 01482 629 506, who will talk you through the range of services available.
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It is extremely important that we deliver outstanding home care services, which is why we offer a variety of different training courses. These courses provide our staff members with the necessary information to ensure they are comfortable and confident within their job role.
We explore all different areas within our training to ensure all aspects of care are covered. Whether it’s health & safety or epilepsy care, it’s important our staff members are prepared for all care requirements.
Here are just a few examples of some of the courses we provide:
Fluids & Nutrition
When working with individuals in care it’s important you understand their nutritional requirements. Our course describes the importance of food safety including hygiene and the preparation & handling of food. It also highlights the signs and symptoms of poor nutrition and hydration.
Stoma Care
This course allows our staff members to identify the different types of stoma, why they are formed and their normal function, as well as recognise stoma abnormalities. It also describes the support a patient may need to become independent with stoma care.
Duty of Care
It’s important our staff members understand the duty of care and how it affects their work role. This course allows them to understand what they can and cannot do in relation to managing conflicts and dilemmas as well as describe where to get additional support and advice.
We work in partnership with the Grimsby Institute to support existing staff with development; they offer a wide range of short courses along with diplomas in Health & Social Care. All of our staff members are awarded a certificate upon completion.
If you require more information about our training or any of our other services, feel free to browse the rest of our website or call us on 01482 629 506.
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