Beech House in Thornbury Celebrating 20 Years Care in the Community
The last 12 months have been really challenging for all care and nursing homes and other care sectors due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. On a positive note, on the 17th of January, Beech House celebrated 20 years Care in the Community in Thornbury and although it wasn’t the celebrations we wanted due to the restrictions we still celebrated in a quiet but memorable way.
20 years of care in the community is an incredible milestone for us and we laid on tea and cake to mark the occasion for everyone in the home and there were lots of smiling faces. We presented a bottle of Prosecco and a garden centre voucher to 5 of our amazing staff members who have worked tirelessly in our home over the last 20 years. Having members of staff who have been with us for 20 years is a testament to the caring family environment we have for both staff and our residents.
Karen Foley who started with us as a nurse 20 years ago and is now deputy nurse manager says “It’s always been a lovely place to work. There is a great friendly atmosphere amongst the staff and residents and the staff are dedicated to giving the best possible care.”
In all of our 4 homes across Bristol, we have done everything to protect our residents and staff members during the pandemic and this has been through restrictions on visiting, team members wearing PPE and following strict infection control protocols. These measures will continue until we are confident that the lifting of any restrictions won’t be harmful to the people we care for.
Beech House Care in the Community
Beech House has always been a big part of the Thornbury and North Bristol Community and we are keen to keep this going, even with the current restrictions we face.
We would normally invite people in to see Beech House and meet our residents and we have always taken our residents out into the community to local events like the annual Thornbury Carnival. The residents and staff have really missed this part of their lives in the last 12 months and we want to reach out again and keep in touch with our existing friends, as well as make new ones in our community through video calls at this time, or face to face when we are able to.
About Beech House
Beech House is one of 4 Bristol Nursing Homes and our reputation across our homes has been built on providing supportive, high-quality care in the community for every resident who lives with us.
Beech House looks after people who need different levels of care. It may be they now just need more help with their day to day living, like dressing, washing and meals. Our nursing offers care to residents who also need medical care as well as support with everyday living. Our dementia care is a specialist care service that supports people with varying levels of dementia with both physical and mental needs and we have a specialist team who know and understand the care needed for residents suffering from dementia. We have a nurse on duty 24 hours a day, 365 days a year who are always available for any medical needs.
Our aim at Beech House and in all our nursing homes across Bristol is to give our residents a lovely home to live in as well as the best quality of care in a fun environment and with interactive activities that keep their minds and bodies active.
Beech House has been awarded an Outstanding Care Quality Commission (CQC) rating which is the second time in a row and this is something we are all really proud of.
We work hard every day to maintain and improve the care in the community we provide and are we always looking for ways in which we can develop our homes and our teams. Our CQC Report aids us with this as well as feedback from our residents, their families and our team. The whole team at Beech House is dedicated to giving exceptional care in a fun and loving environment.
Beech House is a purpose-built, modern and impressive nursing home situated in the heart of Thornbury. It was built in a regal Georgian style and it first opened its doors in 2000. It is located in a quiet residential area on the land formerly occupied by Thornbury Hospital and is only 5 minutes drive or 15 minutes walk into the quaint market town high street which has many lovely local independent shops and amenities.
Beech House is located on Prowse Close which is named after the Prowse family who provided healthcare in the community in Thornbury for 77 years between 1925 and 2002 and this makes it a really important part of Thornbury’s heritage. Can you believe, the Prowse family were all doctors and they lived just 2 minutes away from Beech house up until 2011.
Inside our nursing home has lots of large windows to each side of the property and this gives us lots of natural light and makes it feel very bright and airy. The gardens at Beech House won the ‘Bristol in Bloom Award-winning Garden’ in 2017. They are carefully and lovingly looked after and the large and beautiful lawn areas are a beautiful sight. Residents have a vegetable plot within the garden if they enjoy pottering or there is plenty of seating in different areas within the wrap-around garden for our residents and visitors to just sit and enjoy the fresh air, beautiful flowers and plants, which can be seen from all areas.
Beech House has an orangery style room situated at the back of the property which leads out onto the garden. It has large windows and doors and this allows residents and their families to use it in the colder months and still see out into the beautiful garden. We have installed a Pod in our garden and this enables family visits in the fresh air for our residents whilst no indoor visits are allowed.
Beech House has 49 individual bedrooms and 3 double rooms which can be shared by couples if they are available. Every room is freshly decorated and has a warm and home from home feel. Each of our bedrooms has an ensuite WC and a state-of-the-art en-suite shower which offers privacy and independence to our residents. Our home is fully equipped with wi-fi in every room and each bedroom has a television and phone point so everyone can enjoy some time on their own if they want it and can keep in contact with loved ones and friends in the privacy of their own rooms.
Delicious and nutritious meals and snacks are prepared by our top-rated chefs on-site and residents can eat together in our dining room. We also have our own kitchenette for our residents and they can make their own or visitors hot drinks whenever they want to.
Activity & Social Update
Despite the challenges and restrictions, we have been keeping our residents busy and happy with as many social activities as we can in the last year, without putting them at risk from outside infection.
Santa made an appearance over Christmas which all the residents loved and always look forward to as it really makes it feel Christmas is here. Ruby Two Shoes came and set up outside to play us lots of Christmas tunes whilst we snuggled inside which brought a smile to everyone’s face.
Our lovely entertainers from the community have even set up outside in the rain and performed for us all to give everyone some joy and variation to their day and we are so grateful for their commitment.
Our Valued Community
Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to invite the community into our home in the last year like we would normally do and we are all really looking forward to the time when we can invite our friends and the community groups back into our home.
If you are local or are a community group and feel you can offer any social engagement for our residents who may not have friends or family nearby then we would love to hear from you.
At this time we have a pod in our garden for limited and restricted visits for family members and we are supporting our residents to utilise video calling wherever we can. If you feel you could offer anything social for our residents over video calling then please do get in touch. We could connect you through to our large televisions in our lounges and it gives everyone something to look forward to and enjoy.
When we are through the pandemic we are really keen and excited to extend an invitation to everyone to come and visit us at Beech House.
We have received so much community support throughout the pandemic and we are extremely grateful for this. Items have been donated when we have been running low and not able to source the things we needed to keep everyone safe, including; foot covers, masks, laundry bags for the staff uniforms through to a sundial from our lovely neighbours in Prowse Close who wanted to recognise our team for their hard work and commitment throughout the challenging year.
Thank you to everyone who has been in touch, thought of us and donated.
Our Coronvirus Update
We have worked really hard and meticulously to keep our homes safe from coronavirus and we have strict measures in place including regular risk assessments along with changing infection control procedures from the health & safety assessments all focused on keeping the virus out of our home. We now have enough PPE in stock and have reliable sources for everything we need to keep our residents and staff safe. We have strict self-isolation rules for any new residents coming into our home and again these are vital to ensure the virus doesn’t get into our home.
We are testing our staff on a weekly basis and every resident is tested at least once a month. This enables us to quickly identify the virus and prevent infection and the spread of the disease. As a result of the measures we put in place across our homes, we had zero resident infections prior to vaccinations. All our residents have now had their first vaccination which is another huge step forward in keeping them safe.
We are now starting to put plans in place for when visiting restrictions ease with more close contact being allowed and part of this will include rapid result testing for staff and visitors. It will be amazing for our residents to have more close contact with their loved ones, however, we will approach this with caution as their safety is our number one priority.
Finally, we would like to wish you all the best from the team at Beech House – Marisa, Karen, Lesley, and all the staff and we hope to be welcoming you back into our home very soon.
If you would like more information about Beech House and the Care in the Community Services we offer please get in touch and one of our teams can answer any questions you may have.
A celebration Newsletter is available to download here:
