Caring for the elderly

I delivered some flowers to a care home yesterday. I have called there once before and its is a lovely house supported and run by a baptist church. It is just like someone's home with a small number of residents, a lovely garden and loving staff. You know that the minute you walk in the door and speak to either the staff or the residents. I have had some experience of care homes and the quality of care has nothing to do with the carpets, the decor or whether or not the residents have an en suite toilet and yet I believe that this will become/is a requirement by law and is currently being enforced with the result that a number of homes-good and bad are being closed as a result. Why is this entry under a category called 'what works'? The term appreciative inquiry might sound strange and I often explain it to people as looking at what works as opposed to what does not work. Looking for what gives life to something. It is quite obvious to me and I am sure to many others that what works in caring for the elderly or for that matter anyone is that they are respected, treated as individuals and that they are loved. The relationship is the key thing that gives life to that quality of care. This section 'What works' is about practical ways to apply appreciative inquiry. To discover what works about caring for the elderly, to get to the core of what gives life to a loving,caring relationship, you go find someone whom you know delivers that and someone who receives that quality of care and you ask them questions to explore what works and why it works so well. Imagine what might happen if those who create such regulations for care homes adopted this approach? If you want to apply AI right now then here are the questions. Tell me about a time when you felt truly cared for? When was that , tell me a story about it and why it was a special experience. What did you value about it and your own role in that relationship? If a number of people ask this type of question of those who work in and those who live in care homes and indeed of those whose job it is to manage or regulate care homes then we are helping the system to focus on what matters and to act on what it hears when the questions are answered.