It has been a busy and successful year for everyone at Windsor Court, both staff and residents have had an exciting year full of positive changes and chances to make new memories.
It has been lovely to have a full home for much of the year as we have welcomed new permanent residents to the home, as well as those visiting us for short-term respite stays. We are pleased to have extended our services in 2023 to also support residents with learning disabilities, allowing us to offer assistance to even more individuals in need of care.
Having these new residents join us has allowed us to further expand our team, to ensure we are able to fully support all the residents in our care. We have welcomed several new members of staff and seen current team members progress to new roles in the home, such as Ali who has taken on the role of Senior Care Assistant. We are lucky to have some very loyal team members who have been with Windsor Court for many years, Caroline celebrated her 20th anniversary as a member of our care team during 2023.
Both our new and existing staff, including our management team, took part in a variety of training sessions during the year, in order to learn new skills and keep up to date with industry best practices. The team also completed the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism, to ensure that we have the right skills and knowledge to provide safe, compassionate and informed care to autistic people and people with a learning disability.
We wanted to thank our team for the dedication and commitment they show every day to the home and our residents, so earlier in the year we arranged for the Dorset Staff Wellbeing Service to visit the home with their coffee van to give out free drinks to all our staff. We had a lovely time enjoying some delicious coffees and hot chocolates, and the team from the Dorset Staff Wellbeing Service were on hand to provide us with helpful information about mental health and staff wellbeing.
2023 also saw the introduction of the Immedicare system to Windsor Court, which was an extremely positive and beneficial move for the home. Immedicare is a telemedicine service designed to support our residents with their medical needs by giving our staff access to 24/7 support from experienced healthcare professionals via video call. As well as providing advice, these healthcare professionals are able to raise prescriptions and arrange medical appointments for residents on our behalf, allowing for a faster response to any medial needs. The Immedicare system has benefitted the home immensely and we are glad it has enabled us to further improve the care we provide to our residents. You can find out more about this system on our website; https://beritazcare.co.uk/utilising-technology-to-further-enhance-our-care-services/
During 2023 we made several improvements to the home aimed at improving the experience of our residents and staff. We completed the makeover of our lovely gardens in time for the summer season, our residents love to spend time outside enjoying the fresh air and sunshine during the warmer weather, so we wanted to ensure the garden looked beautiful for them. We have also carried out renovations to our kitchen, installing a new gas cooker and other general upgrades throughout in order to better equip our kitchen team to provide the residents with delicious freshly made meals every day. Our first floor dining room was also decorated and updated to support resident independence during mealtimes.
The residents at Windsor Court have enjoyed a variety of fun activities both within and outside of the home during this past year. We arranged several trips throughout the year in our minibus so the residents could explore some of their favourite places in the local area, including the local garden centres and the Royal National Lifeboat Institute on Poole Quay.
Within the home, residents have continued to enjoy our ever-popular clubs, with book club, poetry club and our comedy club being favourites with many of our residents. We welcomed many entertainers to the home, from singers to musicians and even dancers. Our residents were also visited by birds of prey, who they really enjoyed getting to see up close.
We like to encourage residents to continue with their favourite hobbies and pastimes at Windsor Court, with our staff on-hand to support them whenever needed. Our residents have been able to pursue hobbies like painting, drawing and flower arranging which has brought them a lot of enjoyment and a sense of independence.
Throughout the year we enjoyed many opportunities for celebration at the home, with our staff arranging themed activities and parties for our residents around events such as Burns Night, Chinese New Year, Remembrance Sunday, Halloween and the King’s Coronation. One of our favourite events of 2023 was our annual summer barbecue at Windsor Court. Despite the party being moved inside due to the weather, everyone had a wonderful time listening to the live music performance, playing games and enjoying the delicious barbecue food prepared by our kitchen team.
The year concluded with some wonderful Christmas celebrations at the home, which looked very festive having been decorated with the help of our residents. The residents enjoyed festive performances by the Salvation Army Band and the local school choir, we also hosted a mince pie and mulled wine evening for residents and their loved ones. It was a wonderful Christmas at Windsor Court and a lovely way to end the year. We look forward to enjoying everything that 2024 will bring to us and continuing to create a comfortable home for our residents.
