Developing a culture of relationship-centred care in a care home group
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence & Practice    

Developing a culture of relationship-centred care in a care home group

Christine Smith Director of quality and strategic policy, Summerhill Care Homes Group, Bettws, Newport, Wales

This article outlines the development of a new way of working across a group of care homes in south east Wales, based on a philosophy of relationship-centred care and an ethos of empowerment for older people in the homes. The underpinning aim was to enable residents to have a good quality of life, reflecting recommendations made by the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales in a 2014 review into the quality of life and care of older people living in care homes in the country.

After the introduction of the new way of working, the care home group were approached by a university to take part in a collaborative project offering nursing students clinical placements in the care homes, mentored by registered nurses employed there. The collaboration between the university and the care homes meant that nursing students became enveloped in the person-centred culture, receiving positive exposure to nursing older people early in their careers. It is hoped that the clinical placements may encourage them to consider careers in the specialty.

Nursing Older People. doi: 10.7748/nop.2016.e851

Correspondence

christinesmith31a@gmail.com

Peer review

This article has been subject to double-blind peer review and has been checked using antiplagiarism software

Received: 01 July 2016

Accepted: 18 August 2016

Published online: 16 September 2016

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