Basingstoke home celebrates receiving Six Steps accreditation

Cherry Blossom Manor Care Home in Basingstoke hosted a cream tea party to celebrate completing the Six Steps End of Life Care Training Programme and achieving accreditation, along with five other care homes in North Hampshire.

The North Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group’s Chief Nurse and Director of Quality, Jan Baptiste-Grant and Programme Facilitator, Sue Martin attended the event at Cherry Blossom Manor to present accreditation certificates to all six homes.

The Six Steps End of Life Care training programme was originally developed in the North West as a programme of learning for care homes to develop awareness and knowledge of end of life care. It is now being adopted throughout the country in a range of settings.

Since taking part in the training programme, Cherry Blossom Manor has made a number of significant improvements to its approach to end of life care, as well as its communication processes.

Laura Linwood, Clinical Development Nurse and Six Steps Nurse Champion at Cherry Blossom Manor, said that they took a whole-home approach to implementing the new care philosophy and practice: “The Six Steps Champions created our new ‘spiritual space’ and remembrance tree with careful consideration, and the Activities Team are planning an annual remembrance event for November. We have also been running short training sessions about how we are implementing Six Steps at Cherry Blossom Manor with Housekeeping, Kitchen, Maintenance and Administration staff as they are all involved in our residents’ lives.  We may have completed the course but our six steps journey is only just beginning!"

Bryony Fraser, HCA Champion at Cherry Blossom Manor said: "I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in the six steps programme as a HCA champion – it has given me skills to care better for our residents and confidence when speaking with families.  I now have the knowledge to alert the nurse and team if I’ve picked up changes in a resident’s condition, and I now understand more about the nurses’ role, MCA assessments, syringe drivers etc.  It feels like we’ve become a stronger team, with comfort that we are doing the right thing by our residents."

Sue Martin, Six Steps Programme Facilitator and Clinical Nurse Specialist said: “I have worked closely with Cherry Blossom Manor in my role of Six Steps end of life care education and practice development facilitator. The home embraced the programme and used the learning gained to review and improve their communication and end of life planning systems and processes. Over the course of the programme (September 2015 to June 2016) I saw a transformation in the knowledge, skill and confidence of all staff in planning and delivering end of life care.”