Ashwell is bring revolutionary technology to Worcestershire to help people understand what it is like to live with dementia.

Family-owned home care agency, Ashwell Home Care Services have invested in a state-of-the-art virtual reality headset, called Elara, which allows the user to step into the reality of a person living with dementia.

The headset will be used to give all members of staff at Ashwell a real insight into what challenges are faced by those living with dementia, by allowing them to experience it first-hand.

Debbie & Phil Ashwell, founders of the care agency are excited to bring their dementia training to the next level – and the immersive experience will be suitable for all staff, regardless of their learning style.

It is hoped that the headset can be used in future to help the members of families living with dementia to understand the reality of the condition – which will lead to a greater understanding, more empathy and a much more harmonious life for all concerned.

“Dementia affects everyone differently and can be a very distressing experience,” said Claire Surr, Professor of Dementia Studies and Director of the Centre for Dementia Research, Leeds Beckett University who co-curated ELARA’s new training programme. “Staff must have an understanding of how people with dementia might see the world, and the impacts of what other people say and do, as well as the physical environment on the person’s wellbeing and behaviour. Research indicates experiential dementia training can help increase their empathy and understanding, potentially improving the quality of care staff deliver. We hope VR will offer an exciting avenue for providing experiential learning opportunities.”

Deb Ashwell commented “this is an exciting development, and we are proud to be one of the first businesses in Worcestershire to deploy this method of learning for our incredible team. Every day, we are helping people with dementia – so having a greater understanding of the realities of their world will help enormously. “

It is hoped that in the future, the headset will be used by the wider community, as well as ongoing staff training for the team at Ashwell Home Care Services.

Second Annual Home Care Award Win In A Row

We are celebrating a second consecutive win in an annual awards scheme that honours the top 20 home care providers across the entire West Midlands.

The Home Care Awards 2022 are based on reviews from service users/clients and their family/friends, and this year marks the second in a row that we have been award winners!

We are based in Malvern and run by husband-and-wife team Philip and Debbie Ashwell and we provide state of the art, individually tailored care to people in their own homes within Worcestershire, ensuring personal care and support is delivered the best way, coupled with a personal and inclusive approach by our Care Companions.

Managing Director Philip Ashwell said it was an honour to be once again selected as a winner in the Home Care Awards 2022; “The fact that the awards are based on reviews from those we care for, and their families, means the world to us. It means that what we are doing is exactly the level of service that local people want, need, and deserve. We strive to provide a quality of support that makes the people we care for feel like they are a part of our family, and ‘family’ is so important to us, it’s at the heart of everything we do.”

Margaret Taylor receives home visits from ourselves, and alongside her son-in-law Colin Lucas explained why they gave positive reviews about the company; “I have a lot of fun with my care companion,” said Margaret, “they not only come in and make sure all my needs are met but they also make me laugh. They put my needs first and always keep me informed, and always put a smile on my face.”

Colin said that it was the extra level of detail that impressed him; “Everyone at Ashwell Home Care Services not only provide excellent care for their clients, but they also care for the families too. They come into Margaret’s house and respect that it is her home, and really look after her, but they also make us feel like we are a part of their family, and make sure we’re kept informed and make sure we’re looked after. There are very few care companies that you can say that about these days.”

We also use state of the art technology to ensure that visits to those they care for are monitored and that they can pinpoint at any time where their Care Companions are. The technology also allows us to see, at a glance what their clients’ needs are every time they visit, so that tasks are completed without the possibility of anything being missed.

Debbie Ashwell, Ashwell Home Care Services Manager said that the award means a lot to them, and their staff: “Everyone that we have the privilege to look after receives an exceptional Ashwell Home Care Companion, all handpicked because they share our family values and beliefs. They are people that our clients can trust, someone who they know has their wellbeing at heart. We go the extra mile to look after our staff too, because they have the most important job in the world, caring for people in their own homes! We want them to feel as looked after as those who need our care, especially in these tough economic times.”

“Getting such positive feedback is very humbling, and we hope people can see the positive difference that we are trying to make across Worcestershire to the lives of the people we are proud to look after, as well as setting a benchmark for other care providers to reach for.”

We provide care to those who wish to remain independent in their own home and respite support to those who care for a loved one. We offer a wide variety of services, which include personal care services, respite care, dementia care, housekeeping services, companionship, medication services, meal services and end of life care.

To find out more information, including how to become a Ashwell Home Care Companion please call 01684 778750.

Letter to our MP in the care sector

I am writing to you as the director of a domiciliary care company, Ashwell Home Care Service. We provide home care for those that need it most in and around Malvern and the surrounding rural areas, as well as Worcester St John’s and North Worcester.

The care sector is remarkable. It is resilient, compassionate, and brave. It has stood by the people it helps through the very darkest of times. It has been by the bedsides of the sick and the dying. It has been there for families and friends of the elderly and the ill. It has been there throughout everything. I am honoured to work in the care sector, honoured to be given the chance to help others, to make people’s final years a pleasure, not a penance.

I would like to invite you, my local MPs, my local county councillors to come and experience this world. This world full of people who aren’t driven by profit, but by kindness, people who spend their career serving others, not for the glory or the accolade, but because they believe in the work that they do. The care sector is routinely dismissed by the media, by the powers, but without the care sector, everything else falls apart. The hospitals back up because there aren’t enough carers to allow people back into their homes, A and E waiting times increase, people lie abandoned on trolleys on corridors, doctor’s surgeries become overrun. All because not enough attention is paid to the care industry.

The care industry needs to be acclaimed for all that it does. It needs to be acknowledged, and it needs to be understood. It needs to be respected and revered. Without the care industry, where would we be? Who would be caring for the elderly, who would be there with dignity and compassion? Who would ensure medications were taken, meals were eaten? Would you?

The decisions that you make have far-reaching effects. Come and see what impact your policies will have. Whether you are deciding where to allocate funds or making changes to local policy, each action has a consequence. We understand that the decisions that you have to make are complex and difficult, that funding is never infinite, and that you cannot help everyone all of the time. But let us give you the opportunity to be informed. Come and spend time with us, with our care companions, our clients. Don’t just look at figures on paper, come and meet the people behind the numbers. At Ashwell Home Care Services, we take great pride in the work that we do, and we would love the opportunity to share this with you, to give you a glimpse into our world. A world full of care, and compassion, and love. Come to Ashwell Home Care Services, our doors are always open.

Is your heating on?

Is your house toasty warm as we head into deeper winter? Who put it on? Did you as the nights got darker, and the days got shorter and that first nip in the air appeared? Are the dials and the buttons on your heating easy to use? Or are they small and fiddly? Is the heating unit in the cellar, or the cupboard under the stairs? Why are we asking?

Importance of Heating for Elders

There are so many things that we take for granted when we are adults, that suddenly when we are old can become a challenge. Arthritic fingers can be swollen and unwieldy rendering small buttons and dials impossible to alter. Want to change the time on your heating? Well, you can’t because the tiny movements required by your finger joints to do this, just aren’t possible. Eyesight too can fade. So, that previously easy-to-read panels are suddenly shrouded in mystery.

And it is not only the physical but the mental acuteness. As we know, reprogramming your heating system can be a challenge to anyone who doesn’t have a master’s degree in engineering! Add a bit of dementia to the mix, and the challenge simply becomes too complicated. A perfect cocktail of old age can conspire against us to render previously simple tasks impossible.

This is why care companions are amazing! Philip Ashwell of Home Care Services says: “Home care is such a vital service. It enables people to continue to live independently, people who would struggle without support, our care companions do a simply incredible job.” Care companions not only deliver personal care, help with the shopping, provide companionship, ensure medications are taken correctly, but they are there. Our care companions can set the heating up at the beginning of the winter, they can check the water temperature on your boiler is correct. They can replace the lightbulb at the top of the stairs, they can retrieve the television remote that has fallen down the back of the sofa. There are countless things that we don’t even think about doing until we can no longer do them. Care companions are literally lifelines to so many people.

The work done by carers up and down the country is incredible. It is the most rewarding sector that you can work in, you do actually make a difference every day, every hour, and every minute of the day. The lady waiting for her care companion because she can’t find her glasses. The man who can’t remember if he has taken his medication. The lady whose family live away who can’t turn her heating on. They are all waiting, waiting for someone to turn up, waiting for someone to care. They are all reliant on their care companion, for sight, for health, and for warmth. The moment their care companion arrives they have made a difference. There are so many opportunities working in care to make a difference, so many incredible touching moments. So, if you care, come and join us at Ashwell Home Care Services.

Wishing you a caring Christmas and New Year

Christmas can be joyous and wonderful, full of family, fun, laughter, and general over-eating, family time. But it can be lonely. The portal of Christmas is always happy families, people around large tables, children crammed onto sofas together. But what if you don’t have that? What if you are alone? Your family has grown and moved away, moved abroad, your health not what it was, your days long, and empty, filled only with the memories of Christmas past?

Phil Ashwell, director at Ashwell Home Care Services says, “Christmas can be a challenging time for those who are alone, but our care companions always strive to make the day a little special for our clients. We always leave enough room in their schedules for a cup of tea and a chat, so on Christmas day, they can eat a mince pie, pull a cracker, wear a hat, and enjoy a terrible joke! All our staff will always go out of their way to make sure that anyone alone on Christmas Day doesn’t feel lonely.”

Ashwell Is Not like Others

All across the country offices, factories, schools, shops, and businesses close their doors on Christmas Eve and head home to their families. But caring doesn’t stop. All caring industries from the emergency services to the health and social care industry remain open. Many people spend their Christmas Day caring for others, for those that need our help. Our care companions are no different. Phil says, “In some companies, everyone wants Christmas Day off, but at Ashwell Home Care Services our care companions are always happy to work on Christmas Day because they know the difference that they are making.”

It can be easy to be sucked into the commercialism of Christmas, to succumb to the frenzy of consumption. It can be easy to forget about the important things in the world. Last Christmas, subjected as we were to restrictions, the gift most of us wanted was to see our families. Let us hope that we haven’t forgotten that wish in the Christmas hype this year. Let us hope that we have remembered that our presence is more important than our presents. When our care companions visit a client, it is their presence that is so important, it is that time with another human, that interaction, that love that makes the difference. The tasks they carry out, the medicines given, the meals cooked, the food bought, are all incredibly important but it is also the comfort of another person. It is two mugs by the kettle instead of one. It is the murmur of conversation rather than the deathly silence of the endless ticking clock. Giving isn’t just a physical action, giving comes in many forms. A care companion is giving all the time, the gift of compassion, the gift of affection, the gift of comfort. We bring reassurance, kindness, and care. And after all, isn’t that the true meaning of Christmas?

Care in Crisis

There are 100,000 job vacancies across the care sector. Just take a moment and let that sink in. Now imagine how much care that represents, that is simply not being delivered. How many elderly people are waiting? Waiting for over-worked carers to arrive? Waiting for a bed in the care home that they desperately need? Waiting to be discharged from hospital for a care package to allow them to live independently at home? Waiting for a home care company to have enough staff to fit them in? Waiting…

This is not a temporary crisis; this is not a supply chain glitch that will be ironed out in a few months. Phil Ashwell, director at Ashwell Home Care Services, says “We are in a perfect storm. The combination of the pandemic, Brexit, and the double jab ruling for care home workers has created this crisis.” The media have not helped with their endless portrayal of the care industry as failing, as a low-skilled sector, as a last resort. Actually, it is none of those things.

Care Sector is Crisis

The care sector is remarkable.  It is kind, compassionate, dedicated. It allows you to progress without a degree, it welcomes everyone. In the care sector, you can work your way up from a care assistant to an area team leader. It is flexible and dynamic. In what other sector can you work around your life? It is rewarding and fulfilling. There are thousands of people across the country who are living a better life because of the care sector. Thousands of people, of all ages, greeting their carers with a smile, looking forward to seeing them. Thousands of people receiving care to help them live the best life they can, because of the care sector. The care sector is incredible.

But what can you do? How can you help to ensure that our care sector continues to do what it does best – care. You can talk about it with your family, to your children looking for careers, to your neighbour who wants a part-time job, to the waitress in the café with the overbearing boss looking for a change in direction. And you can say, what a wonderful thing to be able to do, to help people, to make an actual difference in the lives of others. How many get that opportunity, how many of us get that chance?

Phil says, “The care sector is resilient. Carers will deliver care when faced with enormous adversity, from snowstorms to pandemics. But we do need more people.” Ashwell Home Care Services does have enough care staff, but only because they keep their care staff, by treating them with respect and appreciation, as well as paying above the industry average. “We have seen the number of applicants drop off, by 80%, which makes finding the right people incredibly hard,” says Phil. “Fortunately, we have a reputation as a good employer, so we still have people wishing to work for us, which means that we can continue to deliver excellent care to those who need it most.”

If you are in the Worcester area and interested in a career in care then we would love to hear from you, take a look at our careers page to find out more.

No fuel, no care

The current fuel crisis has yet again highlighted the incredibly important work done by carers across the country. The implications of care staff not being able to get to their clients, are severe. From missing medications to time delays in calling ambulances for those in need, the repercussions are endless.

Panic buying affects the supply chain, as the demand suddenly increases it causes a shortage. Many people only put £20 worth of fuel in their cars which means that they are not as protected against a fuel crisis. Yet again, it is the key workers of the country who are affected by a national crisis. Many people who rarely use their cars filled them up as the sight of growing petrol station queues triggered their panic.

Philip Ashwell, director of Ashwell Home Care Services, contacted the local paper to try and raise awareness to the plight of the care sector during this time. You can read the full article in the Worcester News by clicking here. The care sector has had an extremely difficult two years. Care staff have continually gone above and beyond during this time.

If you see a care worker waiting for fuel, let them go ahead of you in the line. Imagine it was your mother, your grandmother, patiently waiting for their carer to arrive. During the pandemic key workers could go to the front of the queue, could shop at different times, we know how to do it, why not continue to strive to be better? Why not continue to appreciate and value our key workers?

If you are worried about a loved one, speak to our friendly head office at Ashwell Home Care Services. We offer home care services across Malvern, surrounding rural areas, North Worcester and the St Johns area of Worcester. Our care companions are handpicked to provide care to those who need it most. Call our team today on 01684 778750.

Celebrating Homecare

Celebrating Homecare takes place on the 22^nd of September and is a celebration of the work done by the wonderful carers across the country. Carers have long been unsung heroes, but during the pandemic, the work done by carers has become more noticed by the general public. The theme for this year’s celebration is “made with care” and encourages people to share the amazing things they have made or created with carers. Whether it is a plate of biscuits or a hand-made card to send to a loved one, everything that is created is not only “made with care” but also made with love.

Importance of Care and our Workers

We know how vitally important the work done by carers is across the country. At Ashwell Home Care Services, we know that the time spent with our clients is also incredibly important. This is why we call our carers, Care Companions, to highlight the time spent with our clients. “Man cannot live on bread alone” and the elderly don’t just need help with daily tasks, but also companionship. Companionship can take many forms but spending time doing an activity with someone else is hugely enjoyable. Whether it is cooking a meal together, playing a game, taking someone to the wool shop to buy some new wool, our Care Companions are here to help.

Anything that engages our brains will help us. A craft activity, a project, will give us focus, a sense of purpose, it will keep us occupied and fulfilled. When we, at Ashwell Home Care Services, plan the day for our Care Companions we always allow time. Time for a chat, time for a cuppa, time for companionship. Care isn’t just helping with the physical tasks of daily life, care is; laughing, talking, engaging, interacting, being, giggling. Care is so much more.

We take great pride in the amazing work done by our care staff every day. We value, respect, and appreciate our Care Companions. We have Care Companions working across Malvern and the surrounding countryside, as well as in North Worcester and the St John’s District of Worcester. If you think care should be about more than just the physical task of daily life, you could be our sort of person! If you love the idea of “made with care”, if you love the idea of bringing a smile to someone’s face, and companionship to their day, speak to us. We are always looking for kind, compassionate people who want to make the world a little better. Call our friendly Head Office team today on 01684 778750.

Rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis – what’s the difference?

Rheumatoid arthritis is a painful and debilitating condition. It is different from osteoarthritis, which is the more common of the two. Rheumatoid arthritis is an auto-immune disease where the body thinks the soft lining around joints is a threat and attacks it. Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease where inflammation occurs around joints that have worn down over time. Osteoarthritis is a disease that manifests as we grow older, whereas rheumatoid arthritis can strike at any time during a person’s life. Rheumatoid Awareness week begins on the 13^th of September and aims to increase the understanding of rheumatoid arthritis.

Both rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis can be restrictive. Inflammation around joints can make everyday activities a challenge. Both rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis commonly start in the smaller joints such as our fingers and hands. Think about how often you use your hands. From first thing in the morning to the end of the day, our hands are constantly busy. Joints in the fingers are often attacked by arthritis, leading to pain and swelling in the knuckles. The inflammation in the fingers reduces your strength so that previously easy activities such as opening a jar can suddenly become impossible. Think about how often you use your hands and all the activities that would be affected if your hands were too painful to use.

At Ashwell Home Care Services, we provide trained care companions who can help those living with chronic health conditions. Whether you need assistance once a day with certain activities, or multiple visits a day to enable you to remain living independently in your own home, we can help. Our care companions provide support, comfort, and care to those who need it most. Being able to continue to live independently is vitally important to our clients, and we can help them to achieve that with care delivered according to their needs. One client says: ““As I am someone with chronic arthritis the help I receive from Ashwell Home Care Services is vital for me. The concern shown by the carers also helps my mental attitude towards coping with the pain.”

If you are suffering from either rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis and require support for your day-to-day living we can help. All our care is designed around your needs, so when we create your care package we would take the time to understand your condition and the limitations that it may cause. Our aim at Ashwell Home Care Services is to enable people to continue to live independently despite age or illness. If you or a loved one are struggling, please contact the friendly team at Ashwell Home Care Services today on 01684 778750.

We are expanding!

We are so excited to be able to offer our great quality care to even more people. We had the opportunity to expand into North Worcester, and the St John’s area of Worcester, so we took it! Of course, we are still keeping our Malvern area, looking after our lovely clients in and around Malvern and the beautiful countryside that surrounds us. Obviously, we do now have to contend with Worcester traffic (sigh) but it’s worth it if we can help even more people receive top-quality care in their own homes.

“We are thrilled to be able to bring great care to more people,” says Debbie Ashwell of Ashwell Home Care Services. “Home care enables older people to continue to live independently in their own homes.” Ashwell Home Care Services was founded by husband-and-wife team Philip and Debbie Ashwell, after struggling to find good home care for Philip’s aging mother. “We couldn’t find the sort of care we wanted for my mum, so we created it!” says Philip.

We have been recognised for the quality of our care by both our Governing body and the public. Winning the homecare.co.uk Top 20 Home Care Providers West Midlands 2021 award, as well as receiving a “Good” rating from our Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection. “We are thrilled to have been publicly and professionally acknowledged for the quality of our care,” says Philip. “We have an exceptional team of care companions, who do an amazing job!”

The work done here at Ashwell Home Care Services by our care companions is incredibly important. Many older people wish to continue to live independently but struggle with everyday tasks and loneliness. Being able to access support makes the world of difference for many of our clients. It means they can spend quality time with their family, rather than using that time for jobs. It enables them to remain in the home they love. Many older people don’t want to move into a care home, and good quality home care can help to prevent this.

If you are concerned about a loved one and feel they could benefit from home care, why not speak to us? Our friendly team at head office are always on the end of the phone with help and advice. We now cover Malvern, and the surrounding rural areas, North Worcester, and the St John’s area of Worcester. So, if you are looking for home care for yourself, or a loved one in these areas, please get in touch. Call Ashwell Home Care Services today on 01684 778750.