The Eleanor Palmer Trust

Helping local people to care for each other and to plan ahead for the future

News

New Residential Home Manager Appointed

New Manager ‘We welcome Rob Ashton as our new residential home manager. Rob is motivated, reliable and trustworthy, with over 24 years in the care industry. Rob is a firm believer in looking after not only the health and welfare of those in his care, but also their emotional, social and spiritual needs as well.

Rob’s first job in healthcare was in 1986, as part of a team assisting and supporting hospital patients in stroke/rehabilitation, medical, surgical and orthopaedic wards. With such a great grounding in healthcare, he left the hospital in 1992 to work for St Mungos charity and two London care agencies. In the first of these agencies he was Homecare Manager, where he was responsible for recruiting, training, evaluating and supervising over 120 care workers, to ensure that quality standards of service and care were maintained. Rob’s next position was Services Manager for another care agency, where he managed 40 staff and developed relationships with clients and external organisations.

In 2006 Rob accepted the offer of a job in Spain, where he managed a residential nursing home and led a team of 29 people, including care workers, nurses, cleaning and catering staff. Rob says he has always enjoyed working with a wide range of people from various backgrounds, cultures and religions. Rob encouraged members of his team to learn new skills and share new ideas relating to infection control, care planning, risk assessments, review and administration of medication and residents’ activities programmes,

Rob returned to the UK in 2009 and is now applying his wealth of experience as Manager of Cantelowes House, the residential care home owned by the Eleanor Palmer Trust.’

Commemorative tree blossoms..

On 16th November the Eleanor Palmer Trust held a tree planting ceremony to commemorate the life of Eleanor Palmer in the 450th anniversary of her death.

We are confident that our visitors will appreciate seeing images of this memorial in full blossom this year.

Eleanor Palmer Trust achieves variant registration with CSCI

On 3rd March 2009 the Trust was awarded dementia registration by CSCI (The Commission for Social Care Inspection) to go alongside our residential care registration. We are now able to consider taking in residents who may be a little confused or have been diagnosed as suffering from dementia.

It is also very helpful for our existing residents, who sometimes develop dementia whilst in the Home. Being accepted for variant registration means that they can continue to stay here, and do not need to be moved on to somewhere else which would only increase their state of confusion.

The Home is very pleased to have achieved this, which has meant a lot of training for the staff and improvements in working practices.

Fred Park, Clerk to the Trustees, said ‘This demonstrates our commitment to our residents and our staff. A lot of preparation and hard work has gone into achieving this and means that we will be able to provide an even better standard of care for family’s loved ones who are living with us.’

Trust participates in National Standards scheme.

The Trust is proud to announce that its residential home has been invited to take part in the National Gold Standards Framework for Care Homes (GSFCH).

This programme, recommended in the Government's End of Life Care Strategy, aims to improve the quality of care for those in the last years of their life.

The Trust's Residential Home manager, Diane Smith said 'We are delighted to have been accepted for this Standard, the Home has already achieved and maintained its three star rating with CSCI (Commission for Social Care Inspection) and this will further enhance the quality of care we provide and the reputation of the Home in the Barnet area.'

In order to achieve this the Home must undertake the full GSFCH training programme over 9 months, have it embedded in the Home for at least 6 months, and then undertake a rigorous accreditation process.

Baroness Neuberger, author of 'Not Dead Yet: A Manifesto for Old Age' said the Gold Standards Framework was at the forefront of efforts to engineer a cultural change that allows older people to have the care, the honesty and the kindness they have every right to expect at the end of their lives.

More information on the Gold Standards Framework can be found at www.goldstandardsframework.nhs.uk

Our founder commemorated in tree planting ceremony

Tony Grimwade, planting the tree, together with Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet.

On 16th November the Eleanor Palmer Trust held a tree planting ceremony to commemorate the life of Eleanor Palmer in the 450th anniversary of her death.

Eleanor Palmer was the daughter of the keeper of Henry VII's treasure and a good friend of Queen Elizabeth I. Queen Elizabeth I used to stay with Eleanor Palmer on her journeys to and from London when she travelled through Barnet. On her death in 1558 Eleanor Palmer left two acres of meadow land for the benefit of the poor of Kentish Town and Chipping Barnet, and it is this gift which has allowed the Trustees to develop 74 sheltered housing units and a 32 bedded Residential Home around the Bells Hill area of Barnet for frail and elderly people from this area.

The Trust also make Grants to needy individuals and voluntary organisations out of the continuing income from that land.

The ceremony took place at St John the Baptist Church in Wood Street at 3 o'clock. Nearly 100 people including the MP for Chipping Barnet, Theresa Villiers, residents of the sheltered housing units, ward councillors, and other friends and supporters, braved the inclement weather to watch the planting of a Judas tree by the Chairman of the Trustees in the church gardens. This was followed by a short service of dedication inside the Church and then refreshments in the Church Hall, which included a superbly iced cake made by the chef at the residential home.