Every year the Quality team gives people the opportunity to comment on the services we provide through surveys to Residents and their families. In our 2017 Surveys Te Hopai scored an average of 87% satisfaction from Residents, 89% from Families and 84% from Staff. We appreciate everyone who fills out the Surveys, and we take these and any concerns raised very seriously. Following on from comments in recent Surveys we are now providing the Happy or Not Terminals to get direct feedback after every meal for our catering team. We have also trialled a one menu choice option and worked on increasing the quality overall including increasing availability of fruit options. After food, our most common area of concern is laundry services. We continue to work with our laundry provider to increase quality and consistency. Adding our own in-house laundry for smaller items has also helped address some of the issues. We still ned to take greater care with some woollen items and staff need to be aware of which clothes a family may choose to wash themselves. One recent Survey respondent mentioned that she though senior staff should support their junior colleagues more. We do have designated senior caregivers who have completed a minimum Level 4 Certificate in Health & Wellbeing. These senior staff are heavily involved in our comprehensive Orientation Programme and act as 'buddies' alongside for new staff. All staff are encouraged and supported to complete qualifications and we are now looking to add greater team building skills to develop a more collaborative environment with the facility. A final comment from our Surveys related to the happiness of Residents. Some stated that they require more support when they are feeling low. In response we have started a Meditation/Mindfulness Group run by a trained Alexander Technique Practitioner. In July we held a social evening for relatives with a guest speaker who talked about stress, resilience and burnout, and how to manage these. Further Quality initiatives will be:Infection control - identifying urinary tract infections early in order to reduce overuse of antibioticsIncreasing the literacy and numeracy of staffSetting up and using electronic medication management systemsand improving Staff health. We warmly welcome any suggestions for Quality projects in 2018 and our team are always available to answer any questions.Sam OgilvieQuality Manager
