Occupational Therapy News OTNews March 2020 | Page 40

FEATURE DEMENTIA CARE
A culture of dignity and
compassion
L
td company 360 Forward has developed ‘Ask
and Answer’ cards to find the experiences
of people with moderate dementia and the
relationships around them.
This is about involving people with dementia to find
out how person-centred a care environment is for them,
based on evidence of what matters most to them. The tool
measures the quality of care and is flexible to use for carers,
families and management to monitor and sustain wellbeing.
Rosemary Hurtley talks about delivering
outcomes for people with dementia in
a culture of dignity, compassion and
continuous quality improvement
What matters most?
What are the things that matter most to residents in care
homes and how do we ensure that people living with
dementia have a voice?
This was the question we set out to address when
developing the 360 Standard Framework (360SF) for a care
culture demonstrating dignity and compassion involving
residents, relatives and staff.
Using two MSc degrees from the University of Surrey, we
set out to create a tool that helps to provide the basis for a
sustainable culture that is demonstrably person centred.
It was a privilege to work with Patricia Duff OBE, a nurse
adviser to a large charity operating care homes with a
distinguished nursing education and quality improvement
background.
The combined professions of nursing and occupational
therapy are ideal for creating an outcomes-based
continuous quality improvement tool that gives people who
are seldom heard a voice.
The 360SF for resident centred care homes and home
care provides a systematic approach to finding out whether
services providing health and social care demonstrate
achievement of the ‘6Cs’, as laid out in Compassion in
practice (DH 2012), and dignity.
It measures person-centred behaviours, giving teams
insight into their strengths and the actions they can take
to further improve their alignment with the ‘6Cs’. A tool for
continuous improvement, it measures the quality of care
from the perspective of the person.
The care home population often comprises the oldest
and frailest members of our society and their safety and
wellbeing are critical elements of care and support that
need to be quality assured.
This means that, more than ever, health and
social care practitioners, including nurses and care
workers, along-with service managers and professional
leaders need to acquire the necessary levels of expert
40 OTnews March 2020
knowledge, skills and behaviours that deliver good
person-centred outcomes within the scope of legitimate
practice.
An opportunity to be heard
We set out to create a practical ‘affirming’ tool that
engages people with moderate dementia, as part of
a whole systems approach to quality improvement in
delivering resident centred outcomes.
This focuses on people functioning at the planned and
exploratory levels (Pool 2011). It involves a method for
asking the right fundamental questions related to a person’s
quality of life experience and how they feel about their care;
one that gives them more influence and involvement in their
daily living choices.
Using evidence-based topics we found a systematic
way for care providers to know how the people feel about
their quality of life, that is, how they feel about:
• the relationships around them;
• care and support;
• the activities and daily life;
• the food and dining; and