Excelcare and COVID-19

The Government has just announced new testing and infection, prevention and control (IPC) measures for COVID-19 across adult social care settings.

The Government is moving towards a model of more targeted testing because they feel that the risk of harm from COVID-19 across adult social care has now been significantly reduced. Their view is that there is now high vaccination coverage amongst those receiving care, prior immunity, and access to COVID-19 treatments to enable these to be targeted at those at the highest risk.

From 3 April 2023, the following changes will therefore be made to the testing regime within care homes:

• COVID-19 testing will be focused on those who are eligible for COVID-19 treatments and therefore at the highest risk from COVID-19. This means that team members and residents who are not eligible for COVID-19 treatments will no longer test.
• In a suspected or confirmed outbreak, there is no longer a need to test the whole home to identify COVID-19 cases. Instead, only the first 5 linked symptomatic residents should take a lateral flow test to assess if there is an outbreak if 2 or more residents display respiratory symptoms within 14 days. Rapid response testing in the event of a single positive case is no longer advised.
• PCR tests are no longer advised and will not be processed by labs from 1 April 2023. Care homes will use LFDs instead.

Outbreak measures will continue to focus on protecting those who are at the highest-risk from COVID-19 but can now be lifted 5 days after the last positive or suspected case of COVID-19. As ever, local health protection team (HPT) support is available if required.

Full details can be found within the updated COVID-19 supplement to the infection prevention and control resource for adult social care. Please click here to visit the page.

In our last update in December 2022, we said that as the winter ended we would reassess the need to wear face masks in our care homes. We have now decided that they don’t need to be worn in most circumstances.

We continue to facilitate visits in a risk-managed way, and in practice this means that there may be times that face masks need to be worn, for example, if there is an outbreak.

We will continue to do all that we can to mitigate the risk of outbreaks within our care homes. Thank you for your ongoing support with this.

To be clear, visitors do not need to wear face masks unless they are asked to, following a risk assessment, although each person is still welcome to wear one, based on personal preference.

As ever, it remains to be the case that visitors should not enter the care home if they are feeling unwell, even if they have tested negative for COVID-19, are fully vaccinated and have received their booster. Transmissible viruses such as flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and norovirus can be just as dangerous to people living in a care home as COVID-19 can. If visitors have any symptoms that suggest other transmissible viruses and infections, such as a cough, high temperature, diarrhoea or vomiting, they should avoid the care home until at least 5 days after they feel better.

Kindly note that these new arrangements are subject to local IPC/PHE and local rates of COVID-19 including any surge testing. Any further relevant National guidance from the Government and Public Health England (PHE) when issued will override the guidance set out here.

Please note that if a care home is closed through local Health Protection Teams – it is not within the gift of the home to alter their closure dates – should there be ongoing positive cases of COVID-19, the local Health Protection Team may take further closure action. We will always keep you up to date during these types of closures.

We continue to support with many innovative methods to keep people in touch with loved ones; our homes can arrange video calls, and for people who aren’t able to visit, residents continue to enjoy receiving handwritten notes and handmade gifts - which have helped to keep people in touch with each other and brought lots of joy to the people who live in our care homes.

We will continue to do all that we can to mitigate the risk of outbreaks within our care homes, and we thank you for your ongoing support with this.

Please note that we regularly review our visiting policy and therefore welcome any feedback from your visits, preferably by email to info@excelcareholdings.com. Your feedback will help us to make any improvements needed.

Each of our care homes continue to communicate updates around COVID-19 with residents' nominated family members. If you would like to receive any further information, please contact the home directly or our Quality team on cqt@excelcareholdings.com who will be happy to help you with any queries.

We hope that you join us in our relief at hearing this positive news, and joining us as we take another step closer to normality. Many of the people living in our care homes have already expressed how wonderful it is to be able to see everyone’s smiling faces once again.

The Government has released some new guidance on the wearing of face masks, in which they state that they don’t need to be worn in every circumstance.

That said, the Government still expect care providers to facilitate visits in a risk-managed way to ensure that the people living and working in our care homes remain as safe as possible. This means our care homes continue to need to demonstrate safe and effective management of visiting at all times.

At Excelcare, we continue to do all we can to keep residents, visitors, and team members as safe as possible. With cases of respiratory illness (e.g., flu) on the rise we have decided to continue the use of face masks, as we have been, and we will reassess this as winter ends. We will continue to do all that we can to mitigate the risk of outbreaks within our care homes. Thank you for your ongoing support with this.

In doing so we are supporting safe visiting practices considering the size and layout of the care homes.

To be clear, visitors do need to continue to wear face masks.

Visitors should not enter the care home if they are feeling unwell, even if they have tested negative for COVID-19 and are fully vaccinated and have received their booster. Transmissible viruses such as flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and norovirus can be just as dangerous to care home residents as COVID-19. If visitors have any symptoms that suggest other transmissible viruses and infections, such as cough, high temperature, diarrhoea, or vomiting, they should avoid the care home until at least 5 days after they feel better.

Please note where homes are closed through local Health Protection Teams – it is not within the gift of the home to alter closure dates – should there be ongoing positive cases the local Health Protection Teams may take further closure action – we will continue to keep you up to date during these types of closures.

We continue to support with many innovative methods to keep people in touch with loved ones; you can arrange a video call and for people who can’t visit, residents continue to enjoy receiving handwritten notes and handmade gifts, which have helped to keep people in touch with each other and brought lots of joy to the people in the homes.

Please note that we regularly review our visiting policy and therefore welcome any feedback from your visits, preferably by email. Your feedback will help us to make any improvements needed.

Each of our care homes continue to communicate updates around COVID-19 with residents' nominated family members. If you would like to receive any further information, please contact the homes directly or our Quality team on cqt@excelcareholdings.com who will be happy to help you with any queries.

Kindly note that these new arrangements are subject to local IPC/PHE and local rates of COVID-19 including any surge testing. Any further relevant National guidance from the Government and Public Health England (PHE) when issued will override the guidance set out here.

The UK government continues to require that providers carry out their own risk assessments. Each risk assessment takes into consideration, local prevenance of COVID-19, vaccination status, relevant clinical advice and whether any individuals are at higher risk of severe COVID-19 infection.

People living in care homes are typically more vulnerable to severe illness as a result of coronavirus (COVID-19). While vaccination is proving very effective, we are still seeing some cases of severe illness, hospitalisation and sadly death of care home residents who have been fully vaccinated.

Our priority continues to be the safety of your loved ones, and whilst many communities no longer follow previous COVID-19 governance, we want to ensure that through working in partnership with the people who live and work in our care homes, as well as any visitors, we can all stay as safe as possible. We can do this by continuing to take simple precautions, such as physical distancing, wearing a mask, keeping rooms well ventilated, avoiding crowds, cleaning our hands, and coughing into a bent elbow or tissue.

COVID-19 remains an ongoing threat to the lives of the people who live in our care homes, and it is therefore important that the measures in place continue to be a part of normal day-to-day living, so that we can keep everyone as safe as possible, whilst also ensuring a quality of life is high on the agenda.

It remains the case that the appropriate PPE must be worn by care home team members and visitors.

Children under the age of 11 who are visiting a care home may choose whether to wear face masks. However, they should be encouraged to follow the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) guidelines, such as practising hand hygiene.

We continue to require all of our visitors to evidence negative COVID-19 lateral flow test result from a lateral flow device before entering a care home, unless medically exempt.

• If you attend once or twice a week, you should only test once per week, prior to your first visit (testing can be completed at home or on site).
• If you visit more than twice in a week, you should test a maximum of twice weekly, 3 to 4 days apart.

You, and any other people accompanying you during a visit, must provide proof of your negative test result prior to entry to the care home. This may be by showing an email or text reporting the result, a date stamped photo of the test cartridge, or any other dated proof you may have. If any visitors are not able to produce a negative test, they may be asked to reschedule.

Please do not enter the care home if you are feeling unwell, even if you have tested negative for COVID-19, are fully vaccinated and have received your booster. Transmissible viruses such as flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and norovirus can be just as dangerous to care home residents as COVID-19. If you have any symptoms that suggest other transmissible viruses and infections, such as cough, high temperature, diarrhoea or vomiting, you should avoid the care home until at least 5 days after you feel better.

Symptoms of COVID-19, flu and common respiratory infections include:

• continuous cough
• high temperature, fever, or chills
• loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell
• shortness of breath
• unexplained tiredness, lack of energy
• muscle aches or pains that are not due to exercise
• not wanting to eat or not feeling hungry
• headache that is unusual or longer lasting than usual
• sore throat, stuffy or runny nose
• diarrhoea, feeling sick or being sick

In the event of an outbreak in a care home, outbreak restrictions will be in place for different lengths of time, depending on the characteristics of the home, the outbreak, and the results of outbreak testing. This may mean changes to visiting, but some forms of visiting will continue subject to individual risk assessments being carried out. In these circumstances one visitor at a time per person should always be able to visit inside the care home. If there are changes made to this by local Public Health teams we will keep you updated.

As we have been able to reopen with more flexibility, it has been heart-warming to hear and see the laughter of families again; the fulfilment of your visits and involvement in activities again – so let’s do we all we can to keep the happy times happening, whilst following measures to keep as safe as possible.

We thank you for your continued support.

We hope you are all well and enjoying welcoming in the sunshine and warmth of spring. We are writing today as the Government, as we’re sure you’re aware, have announced the next steps on ‘Living with COVID’. Our dedicated COVID-19 Support Team have had a series of important discussions around blending this advice against the backdrop of a high rate of COVID-19 infections.

We’re writing this update as we’d like to let you know what this means for you and for our care home teams. As of today:

• We are pleased to announce that visitors to our care homes will no longer need to book their visits, and can visit the care home at any time, as they did in the days before the pandemic. You can now spend time on your visit in communal areas more freely.
• We will still ask that visitors complete an LFD test before visiting and continue to wear a face mask. For as long as we have supplies of LFD tests at the care home, we will be happy to provide one to you, free of charge.
• Where there is a local confirmed outbreak, only one visitor will be permitted to visit, and this person can be interchangeable as long as they take an LFD test and wear the appropriate levels of PPE.
• At the present time, given the high prevalence of new cases of COVID-19, the care home team will continue to test twice weekly, but not as a matter of course. This will be the same for any Essential Care Givers (nominated relatives or friends who are providing personal care).
• Residents will be tested if they experience symptoms of COVID-19 but will not be regularly tested otherwise.
• Residents will be able to get out and about more freely and will no longer need to quarantine upon return from a high risk area, nor be required to test upon their return to the care home.
• Where a resident does have a positive test, they will need to quarantine for 10 days, unless they test negative for 2 consecutive days, after 5 days of quarantine.
• If an outbreak occurs the service will now be closed to visiting for 10 days rather than 14 days and of course we will inform you of this as appropriate.
• We will be supporting each of the people living in our care homes, as well as our team members, to take up the COVID-19 booster vaccination as it becomes available, as we believe that this remains to be the best protection against the virus.

We are delighted to be moving on to this next phase and taking a step closer to normality once again. It is important to keep in mind that we are all still living with COVID-19, as we continue to follow important guidelines and risk assessments, ensuring we are doing all we can to keep everyone as safe as possible. We hope you agree that this feels like another positive step forwards.

We will be looking to review these guidelines in 4 weeks’ time, with the hope that the prevalence of COVID-19 infections decreases in line with the warmer months being on their way, and there’s every chance we will take away the need to test before visiting.

There is a lot to look forward to in the coming months, with celebrations for Easter, the Queens unofficial birthday and Jubilee, and National Tea Day, National Gardening Week and Dementia Action Week, to name just a few. As ever, we will be creating exciting menus and planning lots of activities for all to enjoy, as we look forward to inviting families and the local community to play a big part in these special events once again.

As always if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us with your queries, concerns, and comments, and we will continue to do our best to respond as quickly as we can. Each of our care homes continue to communicate updates around COVID-19 with residents' nominated family members. If you would like to receive any further information, please contact the homes directly or our Quality team on cqt@excelcareholdings.com who will be happy to help you with any queries.

Sending our very best wishes to you and your families, and we look forward to welcoming you for your next visit soon.

We would like to share with you the measures Excelcare has in place to ensure that everyone is kept safe and well.

It is extremely important to us that our colleagues on the frontline are following the most up to date Government guidance on wearing PPE and throughout this pandemic we have been monitoring our stock levels continuously, ensuring PPE has been available for all our team members.

Each care home makes its own risk-based decisions on when face masks are used. These risk assessments focus on aspects such as the health needs of those living in the home.

Care and nursing team members continue to monitor the wellbeing of all residents and any changes in health & wellbeing are promptly escalated for further investigation. Our colleagues work closely with GPs, District Nurses, local hospitals and the out of hours services enabling them to access support and advice 24 hours a day.

This guidance reflects changes published by the Government in March 2023.

At Excelcare, we believe that visiting is an integral part of care home life, and we wholeheartedly support meaningful contact between residents and their loved ones both in and out of the home. Visiting is also crucial for family and friends to maintain contact and life-long relationships with their loved ones, and to contribute to their support and care.

Ordinarily, there are no restrictions to the frequency or length of visits or outings, unless there is a specific issue, coronavirus (COVID-19) or other infectious outbreak within the home.

During outbreaks, the local Health Protection Team might advise that there is a need to pause routine visiting. In circumstances such as this, residents will still be able to see at least one visitor and their Essential Care Giver. Essential visits for circumstances such as end-of-life or distress for the resident or relative will always be supported.

As a relative or friend of a care home resident, when there is no outbreak in the care home, you can:

• visit with other people, although numbers may be limited by room size
• visit your loved one in their room without the need for either of you to wear a face covering or physically distance
• hug and kiss the person you are visiting, recognising that there are still some risks of spreading coronavirus
• help with personal care tasks – please discuss this with the care home first
• organise day trips and outings or have your loved one to stay over
• bring children or babies to the care home

Visitors should not enter the care home if they are feeling unwell, even if they have tested negative for COVID-19 and are fully vaccinated and have received their booster. Transmissible viruses such as flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and norovirus can be just as dangerous to people living in care homes as COVID-19. If visitors have any symptoms that suggest other transmissible viruses and infections, such as cough, high temperature, diarrhoea or vomiting, they should avoid the care home until at least 5 days after they feel better

Visitors are advised against visiting the care home (for 10 days) if they have been identified as a close contact of someone with COVID-19, unless necessary, even if they have been fully vaccinated.

We continue to support with our innovative methods to keep people in touch with loved ones; you can arrange a video call and for people who can’t visit, residents continue to enjoy receiving handwritten notes and handmade gifts, which have helped to keep people in touch with each other and brought lots of joy to the people in the homes.

To stay up to date with your local care home’s visiting arrangements, we recommend following them on Facebook using the links below, or contacting the care home directly for advice.

We regularly review our visiting policy and therefore welcome any feedback from your visits preferably by email, your feedback will help us to make any improvements needed.

Each of our care homes continue to communicate updates around COVID-19 with residents' nominated family members by telephone and email. If you would like to receive any further information, please contact the homes directly or our Quality team on cqt@excelcareholdings.com who will be happy to help you with any queries.

Kindly note that these new arrangements are subject to local IPC/PHE and local rates of covid including any surge testing. Any further relevant National guidance from the Government and Public Health England (PHE) when issued will override the guidance set out here.

Each of our homes are working with their local authority partners and Public Health England for continued COVID-19 testing for both residents and team members.

We have had residents in some of our care homes who have confirmed cases of COVID-19, many residents have recovered and very sadly we have had residents that have passed away as a result of the pandemic. Every one of these deaths is a very sad event for all of us and we send our sincerest condolences to any families and friends.

We recognise how important it is to ensure that you are aware of the situation regarding COVID-19 in our care home and will always ensure that you are kept well informed. Should our care home be impacted by COVID-19, you will be contacted and informed as soon as possible.

Should your loved one be directly affected by COVID-19, rest assured that we will call to discuss their situation with you as next of kin or LPA directly.

In early 2021, the first COVID-19 vaccine was rolled out across the UK. We are now seeing the latest booster doses being rolled out across the country. The vaccination programme has helped many of the people living in our care homes to feel safer.

Many adults, including those living and working in care homes, are fully vaccinated. As it is still possible to catch and spread COVID-19 even when fully vaccinated, we continue to carry out risk assessments and take the appropriate precautions identified within them - requiring everyone to follow infection prevention and control measures.

Your Home Manager will be happy to help with any questions you may have by telephone or email.

We are ensuring that the care that we give is maintained to the high standard that we all expect. Regulators are carrying out focussed inspections in homes, around Infection Control and key areas of the Key Lines of Enquiry – Well Led and Safe, these inspections are more targeted and focussed for the time being. All inspection teams are required to be temperature checked, complete the health questionnaire, use PPE and to follow hand washing and sanitising guidelines for the duration of the inspection.

Quality assurance is at the heart of our commitment to delivering the highest standards of care and a quality of life to all our residents. Our internal quality governance framework helps our team at all levels to drive improvement which deliver better outcomes for those in our care.

In addition, we are in frequent communication with the Care Quality Commission (the Care Regulator) and other external agencies to advise them of the steps we are taking. Alongside this we are continuing to hold frequent socially distanced resident meetings, to ensure that the people who live in each of our care homes are heard, their suggestions listened to and that they are able to tell us how they are feeling, if they are able.

Many adults, including those living and working in care homes, have received all available doses of the vaccine and booster. However, as it is still possible to catch and spread COVID-19 even when fully vaccinated, it is recommended that everyone continues to follow infection prevention and control measures.

Even though the legal restrictions have now been lifted, the onus is still on care homes to make sure that everyone is kept safe. It is with this in mind that we continue to test, to wear PPE and to carry out a range of other infection control measures in care homes.

COVID-19 will continue to be part of our lives for the foreseeable future, and it is important to understand where and when the risk of transmission and infection is higher. There are no legal restrictions in place, but everyone is advised to:

• have the vaccines you are offered
• let in fresh air when indoors
• consider wearing a face covering in public spaces
• stay at home and avoid contact with others if you test positive
• try to stay at home if you are feeling unwell
• wash your hands regularly, and cover coughs and sneezes.

In addition to the measures outlined above, it continues to be sensible to:

• always carry tissues and use them to catch a cough or sneeze, then bin the tissue, wash hands, or use a sanitiser gel
• wash your hands more often than usual, for 20 seconds each time with soap and water or hand sanitiser, especially when you:
  • get home or into work
  • blow your nose, sneeze, or cough
  • eat or handle food.
  • avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands
  • avoid close contact with people who are unwell.

To help you to learn more about life in our care homes during COVID-19, we have produced a series of case studies, guidance and general resources around any changes that residents and their loved ones may experience.

• Guidance on fighting COVID-19 at home
• Life in care during a pandemic
• COVID-19 Case Study; The Importance of Social Media
• COVID-19 Case Study; Rainbow Corners
• Case Study; The Power of Technology
• Webinar: Choosing a Care Home in a Changing Environment
• COVID-19 Vaccine FAQs
• PHE Covid-19 what to expect after your vaccination
• PHE Covid-19 vaccination pregnancy leaflet
• PHE Covid-19 vaccination older adults leaflet
• PHE Covid-19 vaccination Social Care Staff leaflet

An important part of living in our care homes is being able to socialise and enjoy physical, mental, spiritual and cultural activity that is vital for overall health and wellbeing.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, internal activities were organised by our Lifestyle Coordinators. As restrictions have now been lifted and life begins to return to normal, we have reintroduced entertainment into our homes. All activities continue to be based on careful risk assessments.

Our care homes currently have a weekly activity plan in place. These include ways of keeping everyone active.

Each of our 31 care homes has Wi-Fi available and have been provided with technology such as tablets and dedicated mobile phones, making it easier for friends and relatives of the people living in the homes to continue socialising with their loved ones by phone, video calls and online messaging. We have produced accessible guidance on the use of tablets and technology to keep the people living in our care homes connected with their loved ones and to ensure they are kept occupied and entertained.

We also have an interactive touch-screen activity table which helps to enhance our activities and boost wellbeing. Specially designed for care homes, our activity table is portable allowing it to be easily moved from room to room, and provides a mixture of fun, learning, music, films, nostalgia, sensory activities and games.

Over the last year, the generosity and wealth of support from families, friends and local small businesses to the care homes has been outstanding. Our care homes have regularly received donations ranging from homemade scrubs, cakes, boxes of doughnuts and chocolates to pizzas from the local take away. These unexpected, but much appreciated gifts have gone a long way to lift spirits and have also served as a reminder that the care home teams are very much appreciated and loved by local communities.

We have fantastic people working hard throughout the Excelcare Group. All professional, skilled, dedicated and compassionate people who place individual care at the heart of what they do. We are truly proud of how everyone has worked so hard and remained so positive throughout these uncertain times, working together as a team and using their expertise, kindness and caring approaches to support the people who live in our care homes.

Thank you to everyone who has written to us to thank our brilliant team for the amazing work they have put in to keep your loved ones safe. We strive to ensure that all comments left through social media, emails and reviews are fed back to our teams, and each one is so greatly appreciated by all of our team members.

At Excelcare, we see our partnership with residents, their loved ones and our colleagues as a family and we pride ourselves on our dedicated team members who are carefully selected, not only for their experience and skills but, just as importantly, their caring natures, passion and values which complement and match our own.

If you have had a great experience, please feel welcome to leave us a review on Google, carehome.co.uk, or your local care home’s Facebook page.

As a family-run company, we consider our team members as extended family members. We are all individuals and as such we should endeavour to value the differences that make each of us unique.

During these unprecedented times, we understand that some of our colleagues may find themselves experiencing new or old concerns resurfacing due to the impact COVID-19 has on their lives. We at Excelcare are aware of the significance of living and working with the threat of COVID-19 and how this situation may impact our mental health and wellbeing by requiring us as a society to think and work differently. None of us know when this pandemic will pass or if it will ever pass enough for it to become a memory.

With this in mind, we as a group felt it important to gather information and resources to support each of our team members during these unprecedented times. We have gathered a host of information and made this available to each of our team members, to serve as a learning tool and reminder to look after themselves and each other. These wellbeing resources are sorted into five categories; Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning and Give which follow the ‘Five Ways of Wellbeing’.

The wellbeing and mental health of our team members is incredibly important to us. Due to restrictions on face to face training, MHFA England has launched their Mental Health First Aider course virtually and we are now offering this within the organisation to support our colleagues.

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is an internationally recognised training course, designed to teach people how to spot the signs and symptoms of mental ill health and provide help on a first aid basis.

The role of our Mental Health First Aiders in the workplace is to be a point of contact for employees who are experiencing a mental health issue or emotional distress. This interaction could range from having an initial conversation through to supporting the person to get appropriate help. Mental Health first aiders are not trained to be therapists or psychiatrists but they can offer initial support through non-judgemental listening and guidance.

Support has also been made available to our teams through a central COVID-19 support helpline and email, monitored by our dedicated COVID-19 support team to provide reassurance and assistance should they feel overwhelmed or have any questions they would like to ask.

During this pandemic, many of our Excelcare team members have been on the frontline, supporting some of the most vulnerable in society and keeping them in good spirits. Their hard work, commitment and caring approach has not wavered, and many have gone above and beyond their roles to keep people supported. In light of this, the senior management team announced an increase rate in pay for these frontline workers and set up 'The Rainbow Fund', to raise some money and provide them with a thank you gift.

With an initial target of £15,000, The Rainbow Fund was shared far and wide to gather support, with many donations from families and friends of our care homes, their communities and also Excelcare support office team members, who were keen to support their colleagues on the frontline.

In addition to our GoFundMe page, efforts were also seen from within Excelcare, with a successful raffle being held, raising £698 and Excelcare’s own Head of Financial Operations, Steve Parker, cycling 437 kilometres with his family to raise an incredible £1,195! Before long, we had surpassed our target, raising a massive £20,000 in total!

Our Chairman, Ozzie, had originally pledged to match the amount raised, but after seeing the overwhelming generosity and support from everyone who donated, he decided to treble our total so that all of Excelcare’s frontline team members could receive a gift card to thank them for their incredible work during such unprecedented times.

We are overwhelmed and incredibly grateful for the kind messages and donations received. The money raised was used to gift each team member with a gift voucher, as a thank you for their help and support during these uncertain times. Our annual Team Appreciation Week was celebrated as always across the Excelcare group in 2021, and presented the perfect opportunity to combine celebrations and praise with these gift tokens as well as additional gifts to show our gratitude to our team members for their incredible efforts.

While these have indeed been difficult times, we are proud that our colleagues have not only received an overwhelming amount of support from the community through many generous donations and good deeds, but have also been there to support each other and succeeded in taking something positive from their situations. To spread some joy and inspiration, we decided we needed to shout it from the rooftops. Created by the Excelcare family, our music video, ‘Rainbow of Hope’, features our colleagues from each of Excelcare’s services, passing on messages of love, encouragement and support to one another by sharing words describing their positive experiences during the pandemic.

The inspirational song used for this video was written by our very own Chief Operating Officer, Sam Manning, with our ‘Care Home Superheroes’ in mind. Please listen, enjoy, reflect and share with your friends and families in appreciation of all the amazing and brave roles our frontline colleagues have taken on during these unprecedented times. We hope that this video brings a smile to your face and hope for brighter days ahead.