Holistic

At Ashton Care we believe in a holistic approach to care. This means looking at the individual as a whole considering their mental, physical, emotional, social, and spiritual wellbeing. This means we work closely with a number of other health professionals and agencies to be able to offer the best care and support for the people who live with us. These include:

WAMHS (Working age Mental Health Services)

Offer mental health support to those of working age.

DOPMHS (Dementia & Older Personal Community Mental Health Services)

Offer a range of community-based services and specialist inpatient care to support older people with complex mental health difficulties and people living with dementia whose mental health difficulties are complicated by some of the health and social issues that come with ageing.

SALT Team (Speech & Language Therapy Team)

assess difficulties with swallowing and communication. They can offer support through swallowing and speech exercises, dietary advice, and changes to medication. Difficulties in swallowing, known as dysphagia, may arise from a number of medical causes.

GP’S

All of our service users are registered with a local GP practice and will have a choice in which practice this is. Staff then support them to attend appointments, or they will visit our service users at the care home. GP’s will also carry out annual medication reviews or more frequent as appropriate. For those who use our community based domiciliary care team we can liaise with GP’s to support in and provide feedback for changing health, medication reviews and referrals for additional support services.

District Nurses

(in our residential care homes and care in the community team)

Our service users can be referred to the district nurse team for things such as diabetes management, wound care or blood analysis. In our nursing home a registered nurse is present 24 hours a day, 7 days a week so they can carry out these tasks.

Specialist Nurses

(for example TVN (Tissue viability nurses))

TVNs specialise in wound care but wound care is not the only aspect of the job; TVNs also deliver education, develop practice, and undertake audit and research.

IMCA’S (Independent Mental Capacity Assessors)

It may be appropriate to refer some service users to advocacy services. The management team in the home will ensure this is completed for anyone who needs this service.

Occupational Therapists (OT’s)

OT’s are a branch of health care that helps people of all ages who have physical, sensory, or cognitive problems. OT’s can help them regain independence in all areas of their lives. Occupational therapists help with barriers that affect a person’s emotional, social, and physical needs. For those living in their own homes we can work with OT’s to source and implement aids such as hoists, stand aids, handrails and the like.

We also have good relationships with some domiciliary health care providers who can offer support to our service users who cannot or do not want to go out. This is things like:

Domiciliary Opticians*

We have annual opticians visits at the home. They can carry out eye examinations and make changes to prescriptions. They will also make referrals where appropriate to Ophthalmology.

Domiciliary Dentist*

Where our service users cannot access the community or they would prefer to have dentistry in the comfort of the home we have regular dentist visits from a domiciliary dental provider. This has proved to be very beneficial to some of our service users.

Podiatrist/Chiropodist*

We have a visiting chiropodist every 6 weeks who will keep feet and nails healthy. We can also make referrals to podiatrist for other foot conditions such as diabetes relating conditions.

Hairdresser*

We have a visiting hairdresser who will come and pamper you or your loved one. At our nursing home we have a Hairdressing salon room.

*Extra charges may apply for these services.

We also utilise some of the community hubs in the local area as part of our activities programme so that our service users can maintain a healthy social life and participate in activities they enjoy. Some of these include:

Sage House

Sage House is a centre of excellence delivering seamless, holistic, and integrated care for people living with dementia. They work in partnership with the NHS, County Council, and other statutory, voluntary, and charitable organisations from within the community.

Laburnum Centre

The Laburnum Centre has a large and varied programme of activities including Pilates, cardio pop, dance fit, strictly fit and yoga as well as classes in French, German and a variety of arts and crafts including calligraphy to name a few!

The Chestnuts

Chestnuts is a day opportunity service very near Bognor town centre, providing person-centred support for people over the age of 18 with a variety of care and support needs. The day opportunity service hub is all on the ground floor with the outside area having accessible pathways supporting outside sessions including raised beds for gardening, gazebo, seating areas.

The Aldingbourne Centre

The Aldingbourne Trust provides opportunities for adults with learning disabilities or autism to live meaningful and fulfilled lives and to positively contribute to their communities.

We also take opportunities with universities and researchers. We took part in the Vivaldi study around covid which in turn gave us fast access to services and support.