Suffolk News

It’s those who dedicate their lives to the care of others that often forget (or don’t find the time) to properly look out for themselves. The role of a carer is varied and diverse but can also mean some odd shift patterns that lend themselves to disturbed sleep and unhealthy eating habits. It can also be taxing mentally and emotionally. This is why we’re so in awe of our carers, and all those in the industry!

It’s easy to neglect your own needs when you’re juggling this role and your own home life, but doing this eventually leads to stress and burnout, so carving out moments in your day to look after yourself is vital for both your physical and mental health.

So, we’ve put together a few self-care tips that you can weave into your daily and weekly routine.


Continue reading “13 self-care tips for carers”

We had a fantastic night at the Stars of Babergh and Mid Suffolk Awards – not only was it a incredible evening full of great people, we also left with the Business Growth Award!

This is such an honour, and an amazing achievement for us – especially as we’re only now coming up for our first birthday. A year ago, if you’d told us we’d even be shortlisted for an award we probably wouldn’t have believed you! 

Continue reading “Ocala Healthcare wins Business Growth Award!”

Knowing you need to arrange care at home for a family member can be a difficult time for all involved. This may be the first time you have had to organise care and there is a great deal of information to take in. But please be reassured there is also a great deal of support in Suffolk available for you and your family.

Continue reading “Support and Funding available for Home Care in Suffolk”

It has been confirmed today that the court of appeal have overturned a tribunal decision made in 2015 to pay care and support workers national living wage for sleep-ins and back dating their pay for 6 years.

Mencap, a nationwide care provider and Care England, who represent independent social care providers, challenged the tribunal ruling and today successfully overturned the original decision.

Continue reading “Court says no to back dated sleep in pay”

One topic which I am extremely passionate about is First Aid. I genuinely believe that everyone should have some awareness of First Aid and the skills to give them confidence if they found themselves in a situation where someone required First Aid. Personally, I have been trained in First Aid since I was 18 years old, as I have always worked in the care industry, however, thankfully, I have rarely used these skills which I have been repeatedly trained in. A friend of mine, Becky, a self-employed painter, had never had any First Aid training when late one night, her Dad had a cardiac arrest and she performed CPR. Incredibly she managed to get his heart working again. In this situation Becky was able to listen to the 999 call handlers instructions and carry out these required actions. We never know when we may find ourselves in these situations where quick thinking and quick actions could save someone’s life.

Continue reading “First Aid for Everyone”

According to figures from the British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey 2017, only 23% of the public said they are satisfied with social care and dissatisfaction was a whopping 41%!

Now it is important to note that these figures are not just from patients of services. I know many care providers who can boast 90+ percent approval ratings. These figures are from members of the public, many of whom will not have used services themselves but are asked to draw on ‘their own experiences, as well as experiences of their friends and family and to include opinions they have drawn from other sources such as the media.’

 

Continue reading “Social Care Public Approval Only 23%”

Loneliness is a very topical issue at the moment and a lot of people are thinking, “What can I do to help?”

Our Prime Minister appointed a Minister of Loneliness in January 2018 to help combat this issue. In Suffolk alone, there are 40,000 people who feel lonely (Mike Hennessey, Suffolk Country Council Director of Adults and Community Services) , apparently there is no demographic group immune to this feeling; so our children, teenagers, parents, neighbours, friends, grand-parents

and great grandparents are vulnerable to the emotion.

Continue reading “Loneliness”

We started our business, Ocala Healthcare, in Suffolk this year. Very exciting times! It has been a huge and enjoyable learning curve.

When you dream about starting your own business, you’re not imagining reading your public liability insurance policy, you’re not imagining writing policies and you are definitely not imagining learning the ins and outs of the new data protection legislation!

You think about making the sale, doing it better than those before you and ultimately being successful!

Continue reading “Start Up Business Support”

Becoming a home care assistant in Suffolk was one of the greatest experiences of my time in care. It allowed me to see the importance of care being delivered at home and the impact that this can have.

Having care delivered at home can be the difference between

• a couple that have not had a day apart in 60 years staying together and still not missing a day with their best friend
• or after 60 years together being separated as one of you become more and more vulnerable. The one person you want to see is restricted to visiting hours at the care home

Continue reading “Home Care should not be a Hardship”