May 2020
Latest update: 7th May 2020
Latest update for family and friends
Dear family member or friend,
I would like to begin this update by thanking you, on behalf of myself and all my colleagues across The Orders of St John Care Trust (OSJCT), for all the valued messages of support we have received from families, friends and local communities. Each day I speak to colleagues in our homes and extra care housing (ECH) schemes where morale is high, and these gestures of support even further enhance our dedication to the care we are providing.
As I mentioned in my video message of 24th April, we at OSJCT are doing all we can at a national level to push forward key issues around social care. We have played a significant role in improving testing arrangements, and last week the government accelerated the pace of testing nationally. Whilst this is being rolled out it is fair to say that it is not as quickly as we would like and we continue to raise this issue at local and national levels on the behalf or our residents, tenants and colleagues. Despite this more and more individuals are getting tested including our employees whether or not they are symptomatic and to any symptomatic members of their households. This enables our employees to return to work more quickly and more safely.
One of the biggest challenges felt by everyone during this time is being apart from our loved ones. We are committed to ensuring channels of communication between residents and their friends and families remain open, and I am delighted so many of you are making use of the video call facilities available in all our homes and ECH schemes.
We are also putting in place additional protocols to manage ways of increasing interactions between residents and their loved ones in a safe way in our outdoor spaces, as and when it becomes possible to do so. More updates about this will follow in due course.
In addition to this, our activities teams are thinking creatively and working hard to ensure that day-to-day life in our homes continues to be fun and vibrant while we maintain social distancing guidelines. We have seen some great examples of corridor exercise classes and music sessions, as well as individual activities and treats being delivered to residents’ rooms. To stay up to date with all the activities in your loved one’s home, please follow the home’s or region’s Facebook page where regular updates are posted.
As I am sure you are aware, tomorrow is the 75th anniversary of VE Day: a day that has a deep and profound meaning to the generation of people who live in our care; many of whom have personal memories of the very first VE Day.
Although we have had to postpone planned VE Day celebrations with friends and family, the teams at our homes are providing residents with a packed schedule of activities throughout the day. There will be opportunities for reflection, including observing two minutes’ silence, raising a toast to the heroes of The Second World War and watching the Queen’s address, along with celebratory activities such as themed crafts, specialised 1940s street party menus and musical singalongs. Please continue to check Facebook and the homes’ blogs pages for coverage of these activities.
We at OSJCT remain absolutely committed to promoting the health and wellbeing of our residents and we place those in our care at the heart of all our decisions. I hope that these regular updates are informative and of comfort as we share the measures we are taking and we are looking at how we can improve our communications further.
Throughout this crisis we have worked tirelessly to keep your loved ones and our employees safe. With no end date to the pandemic yet in sight we must now continue to follow guidance from the government and Public Health England and observe the strict protocols we have put in place at our homes and ECH schemes. We will of course continue to provide further updates regularly, as and when there are new developments.
I would like to take the opportunity to wish you peace and happiness over this special bank holiday which has such great meaning to so many people, and I thank you again for your ongoing support as we do our utmost to provide devoted care for your loved ones.
With all best wishes,
Dan Hayes
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If you wish to view further information for visitors, please click on this link to take you to our visitor information news page.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your home or our enquiry line 0800 988 8133 will be manned Monday to Friday 8.30am – 6pm and 8.30 – 5pm on Saturday whereby we will endeavour to answer your questions.