A visit to Belong
Here at WIGO we have an amazing Advisory Group – people who support us and our vision and bring amazing, diverse expertise and connections. Vic Rayner is a valued Advisory Group member and CEO of the National Care Forum (NCF), the umbrella body for non-profit care provider organisations. We try very hard to be neutral on care models and providers, challenging where we need to but valuing good stuff too. Despite this Vic spotted we sometimes had a downer on the care home model and pushed back with an offer to organise a WIGO trip to an NCF member – all in the name of balance you understand.
So, a couple of months later saw me, Jo Mawdsley, Advisory Group member, Sue Batty, ally and WIGO ‘doer’ and Vic at Belong Care Village in Chester, hosted by the organisation’s CEO Martin Rix and Chester Manager Caroline Ray.
I would like to think we went with an open mind – but the reality, for me at least, was a bit more sceptical. My lovely Dad lives with dementia; he is a funny, active people person who needs a lot of help to live his life. Whenever I consider care homes from his perspective, I think square peg/round hole – and this was firmly in my mind as I got off the train in Chester…however hard I tried to dispel it.
So what did we see and learn?
The ‘village’ is not a village, it’s a modern multi storey building, in the centre of town, overlooking the canal and its bars and restaurants. It has automatic ‘swishing’ doors on to the street that led straight to a busy café serving hot and cold fare and drinks. I have no idea who the folks eating in the café were but if I had to take a guess, they were a mix of older people who live in the place, members of the public, staff and people like us…there for a nosy! I got a sense that people from outside didn’t know or care that they were in a care home (tick).
On the same floor were separate hair and beauty salons – both run by independent professionals, renting the space. Both used by the public and people who live in the building. Caroline told us a lovely tale of an older lady, resident in the block, who lives with dementia. Her granddaughter was getting married and Grandma hosted all the ‘hens’ in the salon – robes, nails, treatments and gossip. The prosecco flowed and proud Gran sat beaming in the midst, maybe not even aware that she hadn’t left the building. (delightful).
Another communal space, just off the café, hosted a bar (with 3 real ales…tick from my Dad), comfy chairs, board games and a place for gathering and activities – an exercise class was going on when we were there.
Downstairs was the courtyard garden, art studio and…. children’s nursery complete with rumbunctious little boys readying themselves for a trip upstairs for a drink and chat with their ‘Grand friends’. Another tale, this time from the nursery manager, of a man in his 90s who used to be a carpenter, slowly building the QE2 with small groups of children in classes they loved and in which he revelled in fun new relationships and rediscovered expertise (WIGO vision big tick).
We were told the building had 20 odd 1- and 2-bedroom apartments, purchased or rented by older people who got access to all the facilities and a supportive community, but who largely lived their own lives without support.
Then we get to the ‘care home’ bit – not language the people at Belong used…ever…they prefer ‘households’. 6, self-contained large apartments, 2 on each floor, 11 people live in each. A large, ordinary communal kitchen, kettle, fridge, table and the like, a lounge, bedrooms off (no long corridors) and balcony with chairs and tables overlooking the canal and town centre. Staff didn’t wear uniforms, so it wasn’t always immediately obvious who was who (another thumbs up from my distant Dad). It was clean and smart but felt ordinary, homely and not too staged and ‘hotel shiny’. People, including folks who live there and children from the nursery, were coming and going, living lives not waiting for ‘activities’ (WIGO and Dad tick combined). People move into a ‘household’ and stay put, forging relationships that endure regardless of how their needs change (once again the daughter in me nodded in approval…I HATE the thought of ‘moving up a floor’ when things get trickier – one place I know even has a [difficult?] ‘men’s floor’).
I know it won’t be perfect, Martin and Caroline shared tales of staffing challenges, regulator questions and the real enduring struggle of helping people live real lives in communal settings. Making the money stack up is a constant issue too and as Joanna pointed out the fees would be well out of reach of many of the people she knows.
BUT I would like to think my cynical BS radar is highly tuned – both from a professional and personal perspective – and it didn’t go beep at any point in our visit. I came away with hope, that better is possible, that square holes exist, that institutions can support and respect at the same time and that my older self (or even my lovely tricky older Dad) can get help to live our lives our way…as long as we move out West!