Gloucestershire North

Bluebird Care (Gloucestershire North) is a leading home care agency in the South West of England.

Home Care Service Area

We cover Cheltenham, Tewkesbury and Gloucester boroughs.

Outlying areas serviced include:

Prestbury, Winchcombe, Charlton Kings, Bishop’s Cleeve, Northway, Apperley, Hartpury, Shurdington, Brockworth and Quedgeley.

What we do

Bluebird Care (North Gloucestershire) is one of the first regional offices in the U.K. with many years of experience in delivering domiciliary care to older people and adults with physical disabilities.

Our dedicated team have provided high quality home care to hundreds of people in the county, with particular expertise in the following fields:

• All forms of dementia, including Alzheimer’s Disease, Lewy Body Dementia, C.J.D. and Parkinson’s Disease.
• Support of people with Multiple Sclerosis and Cerebral Palsy.
• Rehabilitation and re-enablement of people returning from hospital or respite care.
• Mobility issues and the use of mobility aids, including hoists and stand-aids.
• Sensory Impairment, of both hearing and sight.
• Palliative care, for those with terminal illness or life-limiting disease.

We have Live–in carers are also available, both for long-term and temporary contracts where required.

Our Carers are fully checked by the D.B.S. - formally the Criminal Records Bureau, and are trained to the highest standard, both in-house and with external specialists. They can visit for as little as a quarter of an hour, although the average call time is around forty-five minutes.  All carers will be happy to assist with any of the following tasks:

• Help starting the day, including getting out of bed, washing, dressing, and making breakfast.
• Assistance with medication, from prompting through to liaising with medical professionals and pharmacies. We are also able to arrange and provide transport for appointments.
• We also have good working relationships with opticians, physiotherapists, podiatrists and hearing specialists.
• Domestic help, normally cleaning, laundry and shopping. Our carers are chosen for their culinary skills and enjoy preparing home cooked meals if given the time. We are also able to provide gardening services if required.
• Trips for shopping, appointments or simply for pleasure. All our staff have fully insured vehicles and will be delighted to make time for a short trip or a whole day out.
• Assistance getting to bed including dealing with catheters, life-lines and securing the property.

Our team are highly motivated, and passionate about providing the high level of care which our customers have come to expect from us. We receive many recommendations from social workers and health workers who know they can depend on us to deliver a quality home care service in the most challenging circumstances.

 

News

OCTOBER 2012 - Alpine Bike Challenge

One of our longest-serving carers, Travers, director and co-ordinator, Gareth, and his daughter, Rhianna, successfully completed their Bluebird Care Alpine Bike Challenge in aid of the Alzheimer’s Society last month.  Money is still coming in, so we are not able to give you a final total yet.

There were some lows and many highs along the way, but our intrepid bikers kept smiling through it all.

 

OCTOBER 2012 - Working in the Community

The free presentations we offer to any interested group in the community are proving very popular, and we now have bookings as far ahead as February!  We have a portfolio of presentations:

• A general talk including what care  can be provided in your own home, how to choose a good care company, sources of funding which may be available, the right to a care needs assessment by a social worker and/or occupational therapist, and useful aids and adaptations to assist independence.
• An interactive Living Well With Dementia workshop, which aims to help people who have concerns about dementia, or care for someone with a dementia condition, to recognise the signs and symptoms and learn strategies to make life easier and happier for everyone involved.
• Talks tailored for groups with specific disabilities, on request.

Please contact us if your group would like to book us for a presentation.

 

JULY 2012

By popular demand, we are holding another 'Living Well With Dementia' workshop and buffet supper on Tuesday 10th July.

The workshop will be at 6.30pm at Cafe El Bahdja in Westgate Street, Gloucester. There is no set charge for this but donations are requested for the Alzheimer's Society. Please spread the word if you know anyone that may benefit from this in the Gloucester area.

 

JUNE 2012

The first of our fundraising events for the Alzheimer's Society takes place on Tuesday 12th June.  We are holding a Living Well With Dementia workshop from 6.30 to 9pm, in association with Cafe El Bahdja, who are providing a buffet supper for the event.  The cost is £10 per person, including supper, and all the proceeds will go to the Alzheimer's Society.

During this workshop we will:

• Explore how it may feel to have dementia
• Consider some challenges people with dementia may face in their daily lives
• Discuss the possible causes of challenging behaviour
• Learn some strategies for dealing with challenging behaviour
• Think about the best ways to communicate with people with dementia
• Look at some practical solutions to common problems
• Recommend sources of support and further information

Please phone us on 01452 414952 or e-mail us at nglos@bluebirdcare.co.uk for further details, or to book your place. 

You can also find the event on Facebook.

The next event will be a sponsored 800 mile cycle ride through Europe by Gareth Powick, one of our Directors who is also our Co-ordinator.  He will be joined by his daughter Rhianna and Travers Gough, one of our longest-serving care workers.  Further details will follow next month when plans have been finalised.

Our supervisor, Beate Hodges has now successfully completed her Leadership in Dementia course and Care Worker, Danielle Grace is about to start training as Dementia Link Worker.  The aim is for all customers and staff to have access to someone in the company with expertise in Dementia, to advise on any issues which may arise.

We are working towards bringing all our training in-house, to ensure that all aspects of our staff training meets Bluebird Care's high standards.  Helen Tandy has recently completed a Train the Trainer course in Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults, so that we now have two members of staff qualified to deliver this important training.

 

APRIL 2012

Dementia is a growing issue for an aging population, and we pride ourselves on our specialism in dementia care.  We have two staff trained to deliver Dementia training, which we make available to all our staff and to the families of our customers.  We are keen to raise awareness of a condition which many fear, but few understand and to improve the lives of people with Dementia and their loved ones. 

Beate Hodges has just finished her Leadership in Dementia Award and we have appointed Danielle Grace as our Dementia Link Worker.  Danielle will be starting her training very shortly.  Our plan is to have a dedicated Dementia team available to provide support to our staff and the families of our customers.

We are now offering Dementia Awareness workshops to anyone in the community who is affected by Dementia in return for a donation to the Alzheimer’s Society.  If you would like to attend a workshop please call us on 01452 414 952 for further information.

The Alzheimer’s Society is our charity of the year for 2012 and we have a number of other fund-raising events in the pipeline, including a sponsored cycle ride and cake sales.