Location and Description

Avens Court Nursing Home is a 60 bedded nursing facility providing nursing care for service users over 60 years of age all of whom have Dementia. We are located in the village of Pyrford in Woking, which is very accessible to local towns (Woking, Byfleet & Guildford) and to major roads (A3 & M25). The home is a large building over 3 floors, divided into 2 separate independent units.

The Orchard unit is situated on the ground floor and lends itself very well to the service user who are actively mobile enabling them to walk freely around the unit in a safe environment.

The Lily unit occupies both the first and second floor of the building. The unit is divided into smaller communities with two separate living spaces enabling the staff team to facilitate a person centred approach to care. We have a safe, secure garden where residents are encouraged to use during fine weather.

Accommodation

Avens Court has 52 bedrooms 47 are single and 4 bedrooms are shared. 24 have en suite WC facilities. We encourage residents to personalise their rooms as much as possible. Suggested items include pictures, photographs, favourite chair and ornaments. Televisions and audio equipment are also encouraged and will be safety checked by our maintenance team.

Our Aims & Objectives

1. To provide a safe, homely and calm environment.
2. To provide good quality health care that also encourages external professionals to participate for the full benefit of holistic person centred care planning thus meeting and exceeding the National Minimum Standards for older people.
3. To encourage service users to be individual members of society and have access to our local community.
4. To include family/friends of service users in the care planning prcess.
5. To offer a supportive environment within which service user can feel free to walk and maintain their maximum level of independence.
6. To be aware of and encourage each service user to establish their own individuality and preferences in all aspects of their life.
7. To be aware of and encourage service users' choices and preferences.
8. To acknowledge and promote all the rights of the service users.

Management

The Registered manager of the home is Mrs Sarah-Jane Parkin, she is a Mental Health nurse who qualified in 1986 and is in procession of her Registered Managers Award. Sarah has a twenty-six year background of working with people with mental illness including acute psychiatry, young people with mental health problems and forensic psychiatry and in recent years has been working with elderly people with Dementia. Sarah is committed to her field and works very closely with the staff team, relatives and care professionals to achieve the highest level of care for our residents as possible.

Admission Procedure

We accept applicants who are both self-funded and referred by Social Services/ hospitals. The first contact is generally initiated by a care manager (Social worker) or a relative seeking a placement. The care managers would have assessed funding and checked on the home's criteria for admission. A health care professional with close liaison with the care manager from Social Services would be instructed to provide a Health Care needs Assessment. This Assessment should give clear indications regarding the level of care that is required for each individual. Based on this preliminary enquiry, the managers/ senior nurses will visit the applicant with all pre assessment being conducted by two nurses who will verify the information provided to make a decision on suitability. Avens Court will not consider service users with challenging behaviour of such severity and/or frequency that presents an immediate and serious risk to self and/or others. The risks are so serious that they require access to an urgent and skilled response at all times for safe care. Our aim is to ensure that the admission process is unrushed and that the family has also had time to visit us, ask questions and discuss their plans. We do encourage this prior to assessments. All service users are accepted for an initial probationary period of three months. On very rare occasions this period can be extended for a further three months. During this time, the individual has a chance to settle into their new home and surroundings. It also gives us the opportunity to ascertain the accuracy of the information contained in the initial assessment documents and decide if the placement is successful on each side. Social Services normally hold a review after the first 6 weeks following admission. Avens Court will consider emergency referrals. The same pre-admission assessment will apply. Occasionally we will consider under taking a pre-admission in the home.

Service Users Charter

The reason for a service user's chart is to set out the standards and the quality of the service that we strive to provide. The service provided must always be based on the service user's need's and choices. The service user should be given as much information as possible to help then to make informed choices according to their ability. Each service user should be accorded equality in the way they are cared for and should not be discriminated against on the grounds of race, gender, sexuality, intellectual functioning and disability.