Activities at Laurel Bank Care Home

Residents spent time colouring rainbows and posing for photographs to send to their families recently at Laurel Bank to let them know that we’re doing well here, keeping busy and keeping hope alive. We will get through this together!

In these unprecedented times, providing a range of engaging activities for our residents is more important than ever. Residents really enjoyed the choice of teas, cakes and events for National Tea Day and, as a nation who truly loves their tea, it was great excuse for an afternoon brew and a natter. It was also a good way to celebrate our longest reigning monarch!

Staff at Laurel Bank prepared an Easter surprise for residents to lift their spirits in these tough times. The Easter Fayre was scheduled for Good Friday, and there was supposed to be afternoon tea, live music, games and a raffle. However, due to the circumstances at the moment, this was all cancelled, and instead, staff took the time to take everybody into the garden to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air.

What also came as a nice surprise for the residents were Easter eggs for all! Every member of staff and every resident was treated to a traditional chocolate egg, which put a lot of smiles on a lot of faces!

Many residents also enjoyed virtual church services, either on one of the tablets in the home or through the BBC's ‘Songs of Praise’. Many residents at the home survived World War 2, and are used to coming together through tough times.

Laurel Bank and Lancaster Steiner School have recently made a connection, with the children coming in on Shrove Tuesday to make pancakes with our residents. Now due to the recent lockdown, future visits have been put on hold, but it hasn’t stopped the children putting a big smile on our residents faces! They have sent in lots of lovely pictures, some even including short stories and they were much appreciated in our home. A big thanks to Lancaster Steiner School!

Residents put the stresses of the outside world to one side for an evening of cheese and wine with the manager, Lyndsay Scott. This gave everybody the opportunity to voice any concerns they have, and for staff to reassure everybody that we’ll get through this situation together, as one big family. Cheers to that!

We passed a recent Care Quality Commission inspection with an overall 'Good' rating after being praised for a responsive, safe, effective, caring and well-led service.

The CQC inspected the home on the 7th and 13th February (the report was released on 6th March) and rated the home as 'Good' overall. The report stated that, 'People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests.'

The report went on to say that, "The service had an extensive programme of resident-led activities. All the people who lived at the service told us they were happy with the activities and they enjoyed them."