Activities at Lochduhar Care Home

Lochduhar Care Home in Dumfries recently had an unannounced inspection by the Care Inspectorate and received a very positive report after being inspected against all six key questions.  The Care Inspectorate inspected the home on 30th and 31st January 2023 (the report was released on 9th March 3023) and rated the home, run by Barchester Healthcare, with a Very Good rating against 2 key questions and a Good rating for the remaining 4 key questions.

The report stated that “Staff interactions with people experiencing care were warm, gentle and encouraging. The home had a welcoming and friendly atmosphere. Relatives we spoke with confirmed this had informed their decision making when choosing a home for their loved ones”.  The report went on to say “We observed skilled activity staff carrying out events that people enjoyed. Relationships between people experiencing care were developed because of well provided activities.”

Across our services, our residents were treated to a special virtual sensory storytelling session.  Together with Art Historian Jon Sleigh and the Historic Royal Palaces community team, we explored several royal palaces through the theme of food, dining and celebration!

We enjoyed a fantastic taste-a-long experience from the comfort of our home, from Tudor treats to Stuart sweets. A lovely time was had by all.

Across our services we had a lovely time joining Mark Piesing for an exciting virtual event to discuss his book ‘N-4 Down: The Hunt for The Arctic Airship Italia’.

Our residents were thrilled to find out more about the book and the fascinating story of the world-famous exploring airship Italia, returning from the North Pole on May 24, 1928. The airship was struck by a terrible storm and crashed somewhere over the Arctic ice, triggering the largest polar rescue mission in history

Staff and residents at Barchester’s Lochduhar care home in Dumfries took a walk on the wild side when they celebrated UN World Wildlife Day on 3rd March.

World Wildlife Day is an annual global event to celebrate and raise awareness of the world’s wild animals and plants.  World Wildlife Day 2023 is celebrated under the theme ‘Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation’ to highlight the people who are making a difference and celebrate all conservation efforts from marine life and our oceans to collaborations with businesses which are helping to reverse the loss in biodiversity on our planet through sustainability and wildlife protection.

Residents had a brilliant time when they visited nearby Mabie Forest. They enjoyed watching the different birds and the rabbits and seeing the spring flowers appearing. They also took time to enjoy the forest and the surrounding views.

The staff and residents at Lochduhar care home in Dumfries have been flipping and turning pancakes all morning in preparation for their annual Shrove Tuesday Pancake Day celebrations.

Lochduhar has marked this year’s Pancake Day with pupils visiting from St. Theresa’s school who were invited to take part in a pancake race with some of the staff and of course, lots of pancakes were available! Evelyn, head chef at the home, made lots of pancakes, serving them up with sweet and savoury fillings for all the eager staff and residents.

To celebrate National Pizza day, some of our residents set about creating their own pizzas.

The residents had great fun prepping their pizza and choosing their toppings. Our Head Chef Evelyn and our activities team Sally and Maggie, helped the residents, while they too made their very own pizza.

When the pizzas were cooked we all enjoyed a taste test. We can confirm the pizzas were delicious. The residents are looking forward to our next baking day.