Glasgow Old People's Welfare Association

I always try to start this annual report with something quite quirky and never seem to quite manage it so... hello again and greetings from David Cargill House. Unbelievable as it may seem, it has been 12 months since our last annual report and we thought it high time that we bring you all up to date on life the David Cargill way. We have received excellent inspection reports from the Care Commission and Environmental Health. Our Care Commission Inspections were carried out on the 31st August and 11th September 2009, the 25th March 2010 and the 11th and 14th May 2010. Every inspection assesses the quality of care provided and gauges the level by which David Cargill House complies with each of the twenty care standards via a visit from a Care Commission Officer who observes our care practice and speaks with visitors, staff and residents. Relative opinion was also gauged via a sample of questionnaires sent out whilst we completed our self evaluation forms. Once again we have been awarded high grades which we are all very proud of. All staff at David Cargill House are pleased with these reports and it is felt that they mirror the endeavours by our team. We continue to work in line with the National Care Contract and again have been awarded the quality element.

We continue to strive to ensure our Health and Safety practices are of the highest standard for our physical environment and work alongside inspecting bodies to ensure this is the case. The houses were risk assessed in late May and the resulting report is available and we are working on recommendations made therein. We are in receipt of a very positive Food Hygiene report which is very favourable indeed. We received no recommendations in this report and are very proud to display the eat safe standard of excellence for food hygiene and preparation practices and highly commend Charles and the kitchen staff for their endeavours in this regard. Staff continue to work hard to continually develop themselves as professionals in their field and person centred training remains ongoing. We continue to offer regular moving and assisting, food hygiene, and dementia awareness courses, amongst others, in conjunction with Complete Training Inverclyde. All Senior staff are now registered with the SSSC and the registration process is being rolled out to Care Staff at time of writing. This is something that will take time but we aim to have our staff registered as soon as possible. Staff continue to work towards SVQ qualifications and we currently have 9 care staff undertaking levels 2, 3 and 4 with a further 15 care, domestic and administration staff waiting to commence levels 2,3 and 4.

The rolling programme of redecoration remains ongoing in David Cargill House, with support from our Secretary Eileen Herd and our Management Committee, and after an audit from staff at the Dementia Services Development Centre at Stirling University, we are currently looking at ways to ensure that the house is dementia and resident friendly as it can be. As such we aim to colour code each floor and using contrasting primary colour to enable residents to determine where they are in the house. We have commenced this programme in the connecting corridor on the ground floor and hope to roll it out through the house, in conjunction with local school pupils, in the coming months. Our rolling programme is documented through the mapping system in the office. Our garden has recently undergone an extensive makeover and we are sure that you will all agree that the appearance of this area has been greatly enhanced. A suggestion from our resident, Helen Gray, was all it took for our handyman Davey to completely revamp this area. All stairs have been removed and we are now the proud owners of a wheelchair, zimmer and dementia friendly garden area. Whilst the finishing touches are still being implemented our resident, Alan Deed, a retired architect, is currently drafting some drawings to enhance the space formerly used as the Secret Garden. We await the finished drawings with great anticipation. Meantime the flowers planted are in full bloom and the sections of the garden that have been revamped are now coming into their own and are greatly enjoyed by residents, staff and visitors alike.

We continue to pay particular attention to individual meaningful activity. We endeavour to provide activities that are person centred and tailored to each resident. We strive to promote everybody's individuality in all aspects of care provision and especially with regards to activity as we appreciate that each and every resident is unique and special in their own way and whilst they may appreciate group activities, person centred and meaningful activities are equally as important. As recommended by the Care Commission we are looking at ways to streamline our care plans as they are cumbersome despite being very thorough. We have developed a new person centred care plan and plan to keep the old plans for referencing and archiving purposes. Residents' individual risk assessments will also be adapted to become more person centred and as such we will be writing to all relatives in due course in order that we encapsulate as much of the individual as possible with input from the resident, their families and the staff here at the house.

The staff team have worked hard to ensure that there is a varied and detailed programme of outings and meaningful activities planned for the coming months. Highlights include pub lunches to the Auchinstarry Marina and Esquire House, themed nights in house such as our candlelit meal, fish supper night and Italian night. We also look forward to entertainment being provided by favourites such as Billy Adair, Lennie & Myra, Peter Chalmers and Billy Riddell. Residents are looking forward to spontaneous outings, weather permitting, to areas in the Campsies, picnics in the Botanic Gardens and Mugdock Park. Our much enjoyed regular activities such as outings to the friendship club, coffee mornings and the green fingered club continue weekly as well as Sacrament and Polyphonic Music sessions. Residents continue to enjoy the weekly lunch at Hyndland Parish Church Friendship Club. Outings have been planned to the Scottish Football Museum, the Art Galleries, the People's Palace, Burrell Collection and local museums. We also look forward to celebrations for Mary Ramsay's 101st Birthday in July, Mrs MacDonald's 100th Birthday and Miss Jackson's 104th Birthday in August and Denise Adamson's 102nd Birthday in January. Our Activity Co-ordinator role was vacated in July by Jean McAlpine who retired up north to be closer to her family. Roslyn Kirk has taken over the post and continues to develop her role for the benefit of our residents and to date she is doing very well indeed!

We would like to extend our thanks and very best wishes to the David Cargill Trust, Sheena Glass, Eileen Herd and all at Head Office, Keith Mitchell and all staff at the day centres and projects under the GOPWA umbrella for all positive networking opportunities that have arisen over the last year and we look forward to getting together for our Development Day in August to further enhance these links.

As you can see it is all go here at the house and we look forward to another fruitful and prosperous 12 months.