Beis Pinchos had an initial meeting with Engage that included a short audit and assessment. They undertook six training sessions with staff (reaching 90 staff from care, housekeeping, catering and property services). Fifteen of those staff came forward to become Hearing Loss Champions and received an advanced one-day training course at which they agreed an action plan with management. The input took place over a three-week period. The home booked a follow up workshop with Champions delivered 3 months after their initial course.
Results
Staff were highly motivated to put their learning into practice. These are some of the areas that their action plan is addressing:
- Review admission assessment forms and care plans so that they contain comprehensive details on the resident’s hearing loss - including the psychological and social aspects and how they want to be supported
- Find ways of reducing noise levels in the dining room, including:
- staff being more aware of noise generated whilst serving meals
- staff being aware of the noise they generate if they speak too loudly
- turning down the volume on handheld devices.
- Reduce noise within the home generally, e.g. a few doors tended to bang so needed adjustment to make them close quietly.
- Monitor the call bell volume
- Review the use of rooms, e.g. because of noise from a water feature the sensory room cannot be used for meetings/ conversations with people with hearing loss
- Introduce the use of the Mino hearing device with residents that may benefit from it where hearing aids are not appropriate
