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Improving Quality of Life for Older People in Long-Stay Care ...

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7. Independence – develop support systems that enable and protect theautonomy <strong>of</strong> all residents.8. <strong>Life</strong>style – facilitate the development <strong>of</strong> procedures that promote healthylifestyle choices among residents.9. Healthy staff – establish practices and procedures that acknowledge and meetstaff development and tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g requirements.10. Family friendly – create an organisational environment that encourages thecont<strong>in</strong>ued <strong>in</strong>volvement and participation <strong>of</strong> the resident <strong>in</strong> family andcommunity activities.The Ten Steps provide a framework <strong>for</strong> care facilities to realise and act upon theirhealth promot<strong>in</strong>g capacity and, thus, improve the quality <strong>of</strong> life <strong>of</strong> residents. S<strong>in</strong>cethe <strong>in</strong>itiative has been launched, a wide range <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>novative projects and activitieshave been undertaken <strong>in</strong> order to improve the quality <strong>of</strong> life <strong>of</strong> residents. Suchprojects <strong>in</strong>clude: arts <strong>in</strong> residential care sett<strong>in</strong>gs; holiday schemes; music; danc<strong>in</strong>gand physical exercise; and rem<strong>in</strong>iscence therapy.56Essence <strong>of</strong> <strong>Care</strong> is a patient-focused quality <strong>in</strong>itiative that is now used at localand regional levels as a way <strong>of</strong> improv<strong>in</strong>g quality <strong>of</strong> care <strong>for</strong> older people throughprovid<strong>in</strong>g a supportive environment <strong>for</strong> carers. It achieves this by benchmark<strong>in</strong>gbest practice <strong>in</strong> n<strong>in</strong>e areas <strong>of</strong> care: privacy and dignity; food and nutrition;recordkeep<strong>in</strong>g; cont<strong>in</strong>ence; personal and oral hygiene; pressure ulcers; pr<strong>in</strong>ciples<strong>of</strong> self-care; safety; and communication. Essence <strong>of</strong> <strong>Care</strong> is particularly appropriate<strong>for</strong> residential care sett<strong>in</strong>gs as it provides a more holistic, person-centred, socialand collaborative model <strong>of</strong> care.Essence <strong>of</strong> <strong>Care</strong> was first implemented <strong>in</strong> the North Western Health Board (NWHB).It has been successfully implemented by the HSE <strong>in</strong> the Southern Area. A sevenmembersteer<strong>in</strong>g group was established and 27 implementation sites deal<strong>in</strong>g withthe care <strong>of</strong> older people were identified. These sites <strong>in</strong>cluded community, voluntaryand acute hospitals, welfare homes and mental health areas. An implementationstrategy was developed based on an excellence model us<strong>in</strong>g an emancipatorypractice development approach. A facilitator tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g programme, road showsand roll-over sessions were put <strong>in</strong> place. The benchmark<strong>in</strong>g cycle was thenimplemented at all 27 sites. Evaluation <strong>of</strong> the Essence <strong>of</strong> <strong>Care</strong> programme atall <strong>of</strong> these sites was carried out us<strong>in</strong>g semi-structured <strong>in</strong>terviews, progressquestionnaires, focus groups and feedback from facilitators.<strong>Improv<strong>in</strong>g</strong> <strong>Quality</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Life</strong> <strong>for</strong> <strong>Older</strong> <strong>People</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Long</strong>-<strong>Stay</strong> <strong>Care</strong> Sett<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong> Ireland

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