Report to:Dignity in Care Coordinating Group

Date:March 2011

Report Author:Annie O’Reilly

Subject:Me Myself & I

  1. PURPOSE OF THE REPORT

To provide the Dignity in Care Coordinating Group with a report outlining the response to the Me Myself & I booklet distributed in the South West area.

  1. THE PROJECT

The funding enabled the printing of 5,500 Me, Myself & I booklets – and the distribution of these booklets to social care providers in South West Wales.

The booklet is an autobiographical or biographical document to support carers to give focussed, person centred care to those being cared for. The content of the document contains information about those being cared for in sufficient detail to ensure that individual idiosyncrasies are acknowledged and embraced to make sure that those being cared for are treated with dignity and respect.

Me, Myself & I was initially distributed at the South West Regional Partnership’s annual conference in 2010, the theme being – The Workforce of the Future Delivering Person Centred Care, an ideal launch pad for the document and fully endorsed by the speakers. Further distribution has been through the SCDWP partnerships in each local authority and through 10 other employment engagement events between November and February and each provider forum that the coordinator has attended. Booklets have been delivered directly to service providers and have been collected directly from the coordinator. The Partnership has also been working to promote the Care Council for Wales’s Code of Practice and every opportunity has been taken to link the booklet tothe ethos of the code.

Finally the Partnership co coordinator has elicited feedback on the use of Me, Myself and I through a range of methods:

  1. Face to face
  2. E mail
  3. Telephone calls
  4. Anecdotal information

Question asked

a)Have you received copies of Me, Myself & I

b)What do you think about the Me, Myself & I

c)Will you use Me, Myself and I

d)Would you like any further information on Person Centred Care

  1. ISSUES IDENTIFIED

Using the information in the booklet has helped understand some long term“perceived“ behaviour problems and enabled the carer to alleviate a residents ill being.

Completing the booklets has given the care providersopportunities to speak to residents families to request information and has resulted in greater engagement with their families in activities within the setting.

Using the information in the booklet has led to activities to engage the residents, for example, theme days such as St David’s Day with relatives and friends joining in or musical evenings.

Booklets distributed to partner agencies – doesn’t necessarily meant that they are distributed further.

Booklets given directly to service providers may not be distributed further within their own organisation

FE Colleges have used them as examples of good practice with students.

4.QUESTIONAIRE RESPONSES

Response from emailing the Partnership membership list has been disappointing but did highlight an area of the region that had not received copies of the document. This has now been rectified.

Face to face and telephone calls have been more productive.

Appendix 1 lists some examples of responses received.

APPENDIX 1

Have you received copies of Me, Myself & I

From the email data base there were several responses from pockets of the region that hadn’t received copies of the booklet The positive to be taken form this is that partners were interested enough in the concept to respond and request a copy, in addition it gave me an opportunity to speak to them and explain the purpose behind the booklet.

What do you think about the Me, Myself & I

  • When completed it gives a very thorough knowledge of the resident.
  • Quite good
  • I think it is excellent
  • Handy size for staff to use and well put together
  • Excellent idea, our clients were happy to complete the booklets and families also helped with extra information.
  • It addresses issues about touch and comforting residents which fulfils requirement, allowing staff to comfort residents appropriately.

Will you use Me, Myself and I?

  • We are starting to use them
  • They are discussed during our dementia training day
  • We are intending to use them
  • We do use the booklet
  • Everybody uses them, so handy
  • We use the booklet as part of the staff introduction to the clients; also I ask new staff questions about their clients to see if there is good interaction and communication for person centred care.

Would you like any further information on Person Centred Care?

  • Anything that can easily be passed on to staff
  • Not at the moment
  • I would welcome more information on person centred care. We are introducing it more and more , but I would live support on how we can develop it in our home
  • Any information about person centred planning and commissioning
  • Any new information would be appreciated.

Additional Comments

  • It can be a useful tool if used correctly; I do inform providers of itsavailability. (Monitoring Officer)
  • We have added pictures – it really is a living document
  • Our CSSIW inspector really liked it.
  • One client gave photographs of himself and his friends in the AirSea rescue andof his wedding day.