Piper Court

Piper Court Care Home is situated in a housing estate in Stockton-on-Tees. It is a traditional working class community made up of hard-working, warm and generous people.

The welcome we give to visitors reflects the friendliness that is evident in the wider community. As people come through the door they are greeted with a smile and asked if they would like a drink, no matter who they are.

When staff interact with residents we don’t want them to be someone they’re not. Lots of our staff are from the local community, so interaction should be just as it’s always been. This is such a close community and we want to encourage social rapport, so not only are staff very warm, they use colloquialisms. We get the families involved too – it’s a very eclectic approach.

We believe in giving our residents plenty things to do, if they so wish, and our Activities Co-ordinator talks to our residents, most of whom come from within a ten-mile radius, to find out what they would be interested in. We have gardening, we’re raising funds for a cinema room, we have people in from the local community to talk about what’s going on that might interest them. We’re hoping soon to have more groups from local schools, colleges and the church. It’s an ongoing and very flexible programme of activities. The important thing is that we want to give our residents a choice abut what they do.

Residents are also involved in the day-to-day running of the Home, laying tables and sometimes cleaning. We have monthly resident assemblies, and we also include residents on job interview panels. They pose some very interesting questions, and it gives us a good insight into how new staff will react with the residents.