This week, the regional judging of our latest competition, The Excelcare Sweet and Savoury Bake-Off took place! This round saw winners from each home go up against other homes in the region to be crowned the winner and go through to the final! After careful deliberation from members of the regional teams, they each chose their winners! Dionne, Lifestyle Coordinator from Water Hall won the regional round in Milton Keynes. Gerry, a resident from Windmill Lodge won the regional round in London. Camelia, Team Leader from St Georges Court won the regional round in Cambridge. Odelia, Lifestyle Coordinator from Okeley won the regional round in Essex. Congratulations to all of the winners! We now look forward to the final round where a group winner will be crowned. This is taking place on the 4th of August in a star-studded ceremony at the Marriott Hotel, so keep an eye out for updates in the coming weeks! Read more: https://www.excelcareholdings.com/news/excelcare-bake-regional-winner-announcement #Excelcare #ExcelcareBakeOff

The Excelcare Wellbeing Lottery provides you with a chance to win £25,000 whilst raising money for the people we care for in the process! To get involved, simply sign up using the link below: https://bit.ly/3j38beX #Excelcare #Care #Lottery #Win #Support

Today is #WorldEmojiDay! Emojis are often used to convey emotions or feelings in a visual way, and have been proven to provide an important tool in care, as they can help to overcome language barriers between residents and the people who care for them. Our favourite emoji is 🦋 as it symbolises positive change and a new start! Share your favourite emoji in the comment section below!

𝗖𝗢𝗩𝗜𝗗-𝟭𝟵 𝗨𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 - 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟰 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝟭𝟵 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 Following the Health and Social Care Minister Mr. Sajid Javid recent announcement that ‘Freedom Day’ on 19 July will bring an end to restrictions on visitors for care home residents in England, the government’s guidance was updated to allow every care home resident to have ‘named visitors’ to enter the care home for regular visits, with there being no limit on the number of ‘named visitors’ that a single resident can have and no nationally set limit on the number who can visit in a single day. This guidance was set despite Mr. Sajid Javid admitting that cases of COVID-19 are rising and that they will continue to rise significantly; whereby he also said that the NHS are now protected so the lifting of many restrictions could now take place. The changes to the guidance for care home visiting from the 19 July has not taken into account the questions posed by the Independent Care Group, whereby the chair, Mr. Mike Padgham, has rightly expressed concern over relaxing visiting rules, as per the below - He said: “Everyone wants to get life back to normal, but as the Prime Minister said at the start of his announcement, we are ‘very far from the end of dealing with this virus’. Cases are still rising, and people of all ages being looked after in care and nursing homes, as well as in their own homes, remain the most vulnerable to COVID-19. I would therefore say that masks should remain compulsory for all those working in and visiting care settings for the foreseeable future. I also believe that care settings have to remain vigilant and careful around visiting and not let it become a free for all.” 𝗛𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗱: “𝗜𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝟯𝟮,𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝗢𝗩𝗜𝗗-𝟭𝟵 – 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗮𝘂𝗻𝘁𝘀, 𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀.” Within Excelcare our mission throughout COVID-19 has been to keep people as safe as possible, and this remains our focus for your loved ones. With this in mind, we have detailed the latest government guidance below which we believe opens the door to higher risks of infection. The guidance states “Friends and family should be advised that their ability to visit care homes is still subject to the specific circumstances of the care home and those living and working within it. This is likely to mean that the frequency of visits is limited and/or controlled and that it is recommended that the home has an arrangement to enable booking/appointments for visitors. Ad hoc visits cannot be enabled.” SIC Your loved one’s safety is paramount to us. Based on the above, as well as our own internal risk assessments, with cases rising, we need to remain cautious across all of our homes. With this in mind, we will be keeping key protections in place at step 4 from 19th July. 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 We are happy that there is no limit on the number of ‘named visitors’ that a single resident can have. However, the UK is currently seeing cases of COVID-19 rise on a daily basis. With this in mind we want to do all that we can to keep people as safe as possible and to mitigate the risk of outbreaks within our care homes. We are taking a cautious view given the prevalence of COVID-19 in our communities – therefore we do need to continue to manage visits and the numbers of people visiting our homes by following the below: • Two visitors from the same household can visit at the same time - subject to the visiting arrangements specific to each care home or any local guidance issued by Directors of Public Health. • We will continue to support all care home residents to nominate an essential care giver, who will be able to visit the person, even if they are quarantining. This role is not included within the numbers quoted above. • All visits must be pre-booked to enable us to manage them safely and ensure the appropriate cleaning measures and use of PPE are followed at all times. These visits are offered to named visitors through arrangements such as outdoor visiting, rooms with substantial screens, visiting pods, or from behind windows, as well as visiting loved ones in our designated spaces within the homes. • Where a visit cannot take place in the designated area due to a person’s frailty, it is still important to us that these visits happen. Under these circumstances, a visit can be arranged in the person’s room, which we will support and encourage. Please note that more than 2 visitors in a person’s room at any one time is difficult to manage – due to air circulation increasing the risk of infection. • We require proof of a negative COVID-19 test before a visit can take place. We need visitors to continue to upload the result of the LFD test carried out at home onto both our portal and the NHS Track and Trace. The home’s administration team will share this link with you if you do not already have it. In exceptional circumstances where a person cannot use the portal, a member of the care home team will provide support in carrying out the test prior to the visit. Please note that there will be up to a 30-minute wait, outside of the home, whilst the test result appears. • All visitors to a care home are required to continue to follow Excelcare guidance on infection prevention and control measures: wearing PPE and keeping social distance from other residents, visitors, and team members. This includes wearing a mask at all times within the care home. Each care home's capacity is different and local COVID-19 prevalence will be taken into account - we remain vigilant as England opens and therefore a flexible approach to care home visiting is important. All our plans are subject to local Variants of Concern prevalence and local Public Health guidance. We see the number of COVID-19 cases rising across counties currently, so what we do and how we do it, will be further determined by local information. Please contact the home for more detail on what is happening locally. For more information, please read our FAQ document by clicking here: https://bit.ly/Excelcare-FAQ 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 • In most cases, residents who go on a visit out of a care home will no longer need to quarantine for 14 days when they return. Residents returning from high-risk visits out of the care home, such as an overnight stay in hospital, or to attend a large gathering, will still be required to quarantine on return to the home. • Decisions on risk will be made collaboratively, following a risk assessment by the care home. This will consider the number of cases locally, the risk rating of the visit out and the person’s ability to quarantine on return. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your ongoing support, our teams have loved the kind messages of thanks and encouragement, so please do keep these coming as we face into a winter none of us have encountered before. Please contact covid19helpline@excelcareholdings.com with any queries you may have.

Join us tonight at 6:30pm for the next webinar in our series of monthly webinars discussing dementia! Our webinar, hosted by Director of Care Quality & Transformation Samantha Crawley, will offer an open discussion around caring and supporting someone with dementia. You can join us for topics such as: • Living with dementia • Sharing experiences; a Q&A session • Effective communication • How to support your loved ones with confidence • Working in partnership If you would still like to sign up, you can do so, before 12 noon here: https://forms.gle/fewXWnxv5LesZ2ip6

Could £25,000 save your summer plans? By signing up to the Excelcare Wellbeing Lottery, you could win this staggering amount of money. By pledging just £1 per week, you could be a lucky winner! 50% of proceeds go towards Excelcare’s Wellbeing Fund – to help the people living in our care homes live life to the fullest! Click here to sign up!: https://bit.ly/3j38beX

Tomorrow, Rajiv (Operations Support Manager) is celebrating his 40th birthday! His colleagues at Windmill Care Home - Excelcare marked the occasion today with a party in the garden, but we’d like to take the time to raise a glass too and wish you a brilliant birthday! We hope you have a great day, From everyone in the Excelcare Family

Castlemead Court is getting in the football spirit and cheering on our National Team as they head for the finals of #EURO2020 Team members and residents are very excited to see if England can bring it home after all these years! #Excelcare #Carehome #ComeOnEngland #ItsComingHome

Have you signed up for our free webinar, taking place on Wednesday? On Wednesday 14th July at 6:30pm, Samantha Crawley (Director of Care Quality & Transformation) will be hosting a free webinar, titled ‘Let’s Discuss Dementia’. This webinar will offer an open discussion as we focus on those living with dementia and how their loved ones who care for them can work in partnership to support them in their day-to-day lives. Follow the link here to register: https://forms.gle/MKnU42qiud61BQcf9

ANNOUNCEMENT – CHANGE OF DATE Due to an unexpected medical appointment our free ‘Let’s Discuss Dementia’ webinar has had to be moved from this Thursday 8th July to next Wednesday 14th July. We apologise for this last-minute change, but look forward to welcoming you next Wednesday, as we have an open and honest conversation around dementia. If you had registered for this event already, then you have an automatic space for this new date and will be emailed a link to join closer to the event. If you still wish to register, we still have some places available! You can follow this link here to sign up for more information: https://forms.gle/spPpyM8zizUa4dqP9 Thank you for your cooperation. We look forward to talking to you on Wednesday!

Do you want to be in with the chance of winning £25,000 this month? By pledging just £1 per week to the Excelcare Wellbeing Lottery, you could be a lucky winner! 50% of proceeds go towards Excelcare’s Wellbeing Fund – to help the people living in our care homes live life to the fullest! Click here to sign up!: https://bit.ly/3j38beX

Former TOWIE star, Billie Shepherd has raised smiles across the Excelcare group as blossoming bouquets were delivered to each of our care homes with the help of floristry and event owner, Fatma of Cupid Creative Read more: https://www.excelcareholdings.com/news/flowers-billie-shepherd-bring-smiles-around-group

#GladtoCareWeek is being celebrated across the UK, which is all about honouring frontline teams and those who work in social care. The last year has been challenging for everyone, especially for the people working in the NHS, emergency services and social care sector, so we’ll be honouring all of their hard work this week! Each of our care homes will be posting updates throughout the week along with reasons why they are glad to care! Keep an eye on our social pages for updates! #Excelcare #Care #Family #Celebrate #Frontline

This month, we’re celebrating #GoodcareMonth, which focuses on inspiring people to consider social care as a great career choice while showcasing the great work people who work in care do each and every day. In spirit of raising the profile of carers, we would like to share a case study about Amm and how she used her experience in the hotel industry, to make a positive change to the people living at Okeley Care Home. Please click the link below to read about her journey. https://bit.ly/3jQ55f5

The first round of the Excelcare sweet and savoury bake-off came to close this week, as homes around the group announced their winners, who will now go head-to-head in the regional round! We’ve seen some wonderful entries from many talented residents and team members, here are some of our favourites so far! Which one would you like to try? #ExcelcareBakeOff #Excelcare #Care #HiddenTalents #Sweet #Savoury

Have you signed up for our free webinar, taking place next Thursday? On Thursday 8th July at 6:30pm, Samantha Crawley (Director of Care Quality & Transformation) will be hosting a free webinar, titled ‘Let’s Discuss Dementia’. This webinar will offer an open discussion as we focus on those living with dementia and how their loved ones who care for them can work in partnership to support them in their day-to-day lives. Follow the link here to register: https://forms.gle/6is8uZnf6rLnUyRB9

This month is #TalkToUsMonth, with a focus on helping people to become better listeners and take the time to hear people’s thoughts and learn about what makes them happy. Here at Excelcare, we understand the importance of listening to people and supporting their individuality and choices, in collaboration with their loved ones. Throughout July, we’re encouraging you to sit down with a loved one and take the time to listen to what they have to say. You never know, you may learn something new about them!