Meet our Activities Coordinator, Baz Gard

My background is in activities and marketing for other local care homes, and I have worked in the NHS as a Patient Advice Liaison Manager. I feel I have settled in well at Atfield House and am eager to use my skills, which I hope will enhance the already well-led home.

Activities at our home

Activities are an integral part of life at our care home. We want to ensure that the people we support have as much fun as possible during their time with us, so it’s important that our activities programme is created with the interests of residents in mind. Our skilled Activities Coordinators bring a certain uniqueness to the home that can’t be found anywhere else, and which is reflected in the activities they organise.

Life at our home

Macmillan Coffee Morning

Atfield House hosted a Macmillan Coffee Morning to raise awareness and funds for people living with cancer.

Divisional Winners

Our Memory Lane team got nominated for the 'Team of the Year' award for the 2019 Barchester Care Awards. Here are some of lovely team members with their certificate.

We are now rated 'Good'!

Atfield House recently passed a Care Quality Commission inspection with an overall 'Good' rating after we were praised for a responsive, safe, effective, caring and well-led service.

The CQC inspected us on the 5th February (the report was released on 6th March) and rated us as 'Good' overall and 'Good' in all five areas inspected, including 'Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-Led'.

In celebration of the rating and to thank each member of the team for their contributions to the home, each staff member was presented with £100 gift voucher in appreciation of their hard work.

Smarty Paints

Residents enjoyed an afternoon with 'Smarty Paints', a mobile pottery painting and craft studio. They choose the items to paint and when the session was completed, their pottery was taken away to be fired.

Residents were very pleased with the finished pottery, which they will use to decorate their rooms or give as gifts, and are looking forward to another visit from Smarty Paints, as are some of our relatives.

We are now 10-60-06 accredited!

Atfield House is delighted to have achieved accreditation for a new standard of dementia care that has been developed by dementia care specialists at Barchester.

The 10-60-06 dementia programme was developed and trialled by Barchester's dementia team, replacing the previous dementia care programme, in order to ensure that the care services provided in Barchester’s Memory Lane communities are the best in the sector.

We have implemented significant improvements to the personalised dementia care services we offer, and the way that all staff are trained, to better understand what it means to be living with dementia.

Enjoying the Sunshine

Although residents at Atfiled House are able to enjoy our gardens, we are also fortunate to have St John's park opposite the care home. Residents have been enjoying spending time in the park with Baz our activity co-ordinator.