As a Health Care Consultant, Registered Nurse and Therapist, I have seen many changes in the years I have been working within Health and Social Care. I have experienced first- hand the receipt of care and informal care arrangements for loved ones. I know what it ‘feels’ like from the perspective of a professional, ‘service user’ and as a family member/ informal carer. I understand the landscape and challenges, and have gained wisdom, experience and professional learning to inform my practice, and a ‘few’ grey hairs along the way!
As a student nurse, (all those years ago) I wrote about aromatherapy as a ‘mode’ in healthcare, to gain a holistic oversight of a person, to truly be -able to care for them. I know first -hand how important treating someone as a person is, rather than a diagnosis, in maintaining a sense of dignity, but more significantly in supporting an individual to continue to grow, and not to be ‘stunted’ by the incapacity of a label.
There is plenty going on in health and social care right now that suggests that we have learned lessons from the pandemic which must change the face of service delivery.[1][2] This is a welcome response and much needed approach to understanding the needs of the individuals and families who use health and social care services.
We have ‘talked’ and ‘implemented’ a ‘person-centred’ approach for many years in Health and Social care and you will have no argument from me on this. Critically, in my professional and personal experience of health and social care this means that the ‘person’, whilst in the middle of decision-making at it’s best, is still a ‘person’ with a ‘condition’ a ‘label’. There is still a ‘power-imbalance’ whereby the professionals involved may still feel that they ‘know-best’,[3]and individuals needs are often still met from a ‘medical-model’ approach.
What does it mean to be Human?
We have been thinking about this question as a Community Interest Company and what it means to be happy[4] in developing a ‘Prioritising People’ Consultancy package to provide into Nursing and Care Homes. We do not propose to have all the answers, as this question can only be defined individually by each person based on their own lived experiences and life journey. But we think we have a pretty good idea it is not about an individuals’ diagnosis or disability. We have noticed through our own professional and personal experiences that living as a human is about our:
- Ability to communicate systematically using words, symbols, body gestures/posture, and facial expressions.
- Living by our own decisions and bearing the consequences of them.
- The ability to choose what clothing and accessories we wear which define our personality outwardly.
- Choice about our diet and fluid intake, how and where we sleep and all other necessities of human life.
- To be individuals in the process of making our own life in what each one of us would like for our future, and this growth does not end until after our life has ended.
- To think about thinking, to ponder on the past, present, and future.
- To fit into different personality groups, but our experiences with the personality type is special and different within ourselves.
- To fit in different racial, cultural, religious, and political groups.
- Being unique as an individual in our choices of who we want to be as a person, in our preferences, talents/gifts, perspectives, likes/dislikes.[5]
Critically, the more we look at our research the more we find it remarkable how we continue to define people by the social construct of illness[6], rather than their well-being[7]. We continue to support the notion that people with a certain diagnosis must reshape their individual identity and define themselves by it.[8] It is of course helpful to know why our bodies behaviour in a certain way, but, there is so much more to being a human!
All those years ago as a student nurse we learnt about ‘the sick role’ [9] which arguably is outdated by our increased longevity, chronic ill-health and life-style centred health problems[10]. However, I cannot help but feel that for many, this concept is still a reality in accessing community support, access to funding, access to health care services and signposting people to ‘labelled’ services. It is hard then to imagine how individuals can easily move between the premise of being themselves as- a -whole person and the person defined by diagnosis, physical disability or learning disability.
The ‘backlog’ of demand on the NHS due to the pandemic, the need to ‘prioritise’ and address significant emerging challenges; within mental health services, health and social care professional recruitment and retention, the Covid-19 vaccination program, the need to expand on primary care capacity, inappropriate use of emergency care facilities, will not help alleviate the ‘command and control’ approach which defines people by a ‘label’. These ‘labels’ that quickly compartmentalise us as individuals into a group, so that we can be herded efficiently into channels which enable us to access services; as a ‘one diagnosis fits all who have it’ approach.[11]
We are working with health and social care providers in the community to focus in on what it is to be human. That is not to say that we do not focus on the need for good-outstanding regulated care provision. As someone once said the me, that should be a given. We are working with providers who want to meet their regulated care standards and excel into a service which is centred on a human approach. Focusing on what is meaningful, what enables people to grow and continue to engage in life fully. With organisations who want to reach out to their local community and provide additional services to support informal care givers and their loved ones. With organisations who want to support people who are lonely and isolated to have somewhere that is accessible and safe for them to socialise.
The first of our ‘Gold Standard’ Prioritising People projects is with a Nursing Home in Swindon, Weymss Lodge. Weymss Lodge provides support for people from a variety of backgrounds, who live together in a home which is beautifully designed and kept. One that anyone would be happy for their family member to live in. They are a dedicated team who, like everyone, have ‘ridden the wave’ of the pandemic and come out the other side exhausted, but determined to continue to grow and provide an outstanding service. I am struck by the love and dedication the team show to the individuals who live here and the very human approach they take to enhancing their lives.
We will be working with Weymss Lodge to achieve their Prioritising People Gold Standard Award by develop an accessible ‘Meeting Place’ for informal carers and their loved ones and people who are lonely and isolated in the local community to socialise. To provide afternoon tea, wellbeing activities, self-care workshops and a place to visit and make meaningful friendships.
We will be meeting some of the challenges described as priorities for the Health and Social Care sector; such as the recruitment and retention of professionals, through developing a culture of wellbeing. Providing wellbeing workshops for the team at Weymss Lodge, and offering this to surrounding health care providers for their teams to engage with.
We will be developing a program of activities bespoke to the people who live here, based on their hobbies, lived experiences, interests and aspirations. Working closely with their activities teams and carers to examine the nature of positive human interaction and mental wellbeing.
Weymss Lodge is the perfect place for our Prioritising People Gold Standard to begin, because here there is a culture of abundance which is driven by the generosity of the owner, the passion of the Registered Manager and the love and care of the team. It is in those GREAT relationships of; Gratitude, Respect, Empowerment, Appreciation and Time to give that Prioritising People thrives.
If you would like to know more about how we can consult with you on prioritising the people you support and/or your health and social care team.
Get in touch, we will be interested to hear from you.
E: hello@thehappyhealinghut.com
[1] https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9310/
[2] https://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/Our_strategy_from_2021.pdf
[3] https://www.scie.org.uk/prevention/choice/person-centred-care
[4] https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2021/
[5] https://www.humansandnature.org/what-does-it-mean-to-be-human-what-it-means-to-be-uniquely-human
[6] https://courses.lumenlearning.com/sociology/chapter/the-social-construction-of-health/
[7] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing/bulletins/personalandeconomicwellbeingintheuk/may2021
[8] https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/a-to-z/s/stigma-and-discrimination
[9] The Social System, Talcott Parsons, 1951
[10] Talcott Parsons, the Sick Role and Chronic Illness, published in Body & Society vol.16, no.2, pp.72-94
[11] https://www.nhsconfed.org/publications/planning-guidance-202122-update-october-2021-march-2022