Their QI project was titled, “Improving social inclusion within the community for residents”. Social inclusion within the community was identified as an area of care delivery to improve due to the difficulties associated with COVID-19 restrictions and lockdown. Many of the residents felt isolated, like they had lost their connections with the community and lacking confidence to take part in activities. This included simple trips such as visiting the shops or their favourite café. To tackle this, their aim for the QI Project was that “each resident will have identified and be attending one weekly community outing, by the end of September 2022”.
Chaseways began their project in May 2022, and tested two different change ideas through Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles until the end of July. The first change idea established individual personalised activity plans through staff and resident 1:1s, supporting the residents to build their confidence again. Their second change idea was to start working on special days out, chosen by the resident and added to their wish, supporting them to plan this trip. This included support with the budget, booking of the different activities and attendance.
After 3 months of building knowledge, the results of the project were collected and Chaseways achieved their overall aim. At the end of the project, every resident at Chaseways participated in at least one community event per week, with most residents completing three to four community activities per week! One resident is now taking part in 6 community activities per week, which is absolutely amazing! This is a significant improvement from their baseline data, where no residents were participating in these activities.
In addition to these fantastic results, the team recorded that this project had a significant impact on the reduction of violence and aggression incidents. Over June and July ther ewas a 60% reduction. These improvements have been sustained and as measurements have remained consistent since July, the team at Chaseways are now working further with their residents to support more of the special community events they wish to undertake where possible, including a mini break away. Residents have shown delight towards the activities they are engaging in and the increased interaction in the Community again. This QI project has also had a positive effect on staff morale.
“This project has really helped us as a team at Chaseways with supporting the residents in being more engaged with community activities. This has also improved the morale of the staff team as they can see all their hard work has paid off and what an achievement it has been.”– Sherry Packard, Registered Manager for Chaseways