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We spoke to Miranda Morgan (Manager) & Amanda Auton (Activity Coordinator) at Kingsclear to understand the impact the Happiness Programme has had on their residents.
Tell us a bit about Kingsclear and your initial thoughts?
We’re part of the Caring Homes group and have around 50 residents with a variety of nursing, residential and dementia care needs. The Happiness Programme is used elsewhere in the Caring Homes group and we were keen to learn about how it would work with our residents.
We initially used the magic table 360 with around a dozen or so of our residents. We want to use it regularly with the same residents. This core group would allow us to monitor its impact and gather insights as to its effectiveness.
In reality, this quickly turned in to it being used every day as a core activity. We had two residents A & H who used it for an hour or more each day.
Can you tell us about any resident experiences?
Yes – one of the most noticeable things is the lasting impact it seems to have on residents.
One lady ‘J’ lives with parkinsons. During the sessions she was being more physically active than she normally would be. That resulted in improvements in hand mobility that last the rest of the day. She also experienced improved concentration.
We have another resident ‘J’ who seems a lot happier after each session and communicates more with other residents. She loves the Fish and leaves games.
She also tends to eat more at lunch when she’s been playing on it. She’s maintained her weight which is really good as she was at risk of weight loss.
Another resident ‘M’ likes the piano – she’s very much into music creativity. She can become quite negative towards the care team and unresponsive – however, if we play the music games it calms her down and we are able to assist her a lot more. That’s the trigger to get to support her which ties in with her care plan.
Tell us about the impacts on non-verbal residents
We have a number of residents with mobility challenges and who are non-verbal.
For them, we take the projector to them; putting the games on walls and ceilings. Having the portability to use on both floors has been brilliant and increases its use.
Has there been an impact on the staff?
We’ve developed a real whole home approach; it’s not just the activities team using it but all the care staff 7 days a week.
In summary
It’s been really beneficial to residents and staff.
We had it on when CQC came in. It was being used on the floor and the residents were entertaining themselves with it. We received some good feedback from the inspectors as a result.
Not a member of the happiness programme?
The Happiness Programme is a first-of-its-kind initiative helping to change the lives of people living with cognitive challenges. We use interactive light technology to provide meaningful activities for residents and patients in care homes and care settings. For more detail on what the Happiness Programme is and how it’s helping care venues across the UK, visit our getting started page.
Alternatively, jump to our dementia, learning disability, rehabilitation and NHS pages for more specific detail on how it’s helping care homes like Barchester and HC-One as well as hospitals and local authorities such as St George’s Hospital, London and Westminster and South Kensington Council.
For anything else, you can contact us here too.
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