Metlifecare's Papamoa Beach Village achieved a four-year audit in July after only two years of operation.
This Metlifecare village achieved this outstanding result for its first audit in July due to its incredible staff, thorough training regimes and evidence-based protocols, according to Tanya Bish, Clinical Director. Scheduled to have a full certification audit a year after opening, COVID-19 delayed the new village.
"It's unusual to get a four-year audit at the first full audit after opening," said Bish.
"But we achieved full compliance with all Health and Disability Service Standards and acknowledgement of continuous improvement initiatives."
Papamoa Beach Village is also the first care home in Metlifecare's portfolio with a dementia community.
"We opened our first secure dementia unit, and it got the green light," said Bish.
"We promote 'knowing' the person and the people that matter to them rather than letting dementia define them. Our dementia community care is individualised, which is evident in the audit," she added.
Also, Metlifecare's care home at The Orchards has received a four-year audit, reiterating its focus on best practice.
The foundation of any business is its people and its practices, and Papamoa Beach Village can attribute its success to these two things.
"We have a unique care model – we aim to provide a supportive environment that enables residents to be independent within their circumstances and limits.
"When planning a resident's care, we aim to honour their preferences and choices, giving them control wherever possible over how they spend their time," Bish explained.
Papamoa Beach Village's dementia community has been created using a pod design and is a welcoming environment that residents are proud to call their home. There's a kitchenette/dining/lounge for a small number of residents – 12 residents in the care home and 16 in the dementia community.
"It feels small and homelike instead of large and institutionalised," said Bish.
"We wanted to make it a place everyone wants to come and visit. Keeping the connection to those important to the resident is extremely important. It's their home first and foremost rather than a workplace," she reiterated.
"It's very purposeful, the way we build," Bish continued.
"To keep up the quality, support, and a working relationship with residents to provide professional and compassionate care."
The team are the heart and soul of the village.
"We employ good people," said Bish.
"It begins with the recruitment process with a formal application, interview, reference checks, police vetting and qualification verification. Then successful candidates are inducted into the Metlifecare way.
"This includes embedding our model of care," explained Bish.
"We invest time and energy into our staff and residents to embed the importance of individualised care planning, teamwork and respecting resident choices."
Repeated every few months are mandatory training days, and all staff are required to attend at least one each year.
"It's about the team, working with the team, and being audit ready every day," Bish continued.
"You'll make sure you haven't missed anything before the audit, but it's about living and breathing high-quality care every day."
Bish said the team is outstanding, as they understand the model of care, working together and helping each other.
"They are people who have genuine respect for elders and have the right attitudes. They're older adults, and they need treating with the respect they're due."
Papamoa Beach Village uses business intelligence reporting for its quality and risk management system to support its continuous improvement methodology. Integrated into monthly nurse and staff meetings are quality and risk review processes.
Key performance information such as complaints and compliments, updates and reminders, staff education and internal audit outcomes are monitored and reviewed in these meetings. This system can be monitored from a central site, allowing senior management to compare its care home results internally and benchmarking with external providers.
"This technology allows us to see and respond to areas of improvement promptly," said Bish..
"It's difficult to focus on all areas all the time, so this technology puts the attention on areas needing improvement at each site. For example, one site may do well with fall prevention, and another may not. So it allows us to share and respond to learnings across different sites."
The village also operates a restraint-free policy.
"Being restraint-free has been a purposeful campaign of ours since 2016 to change people's mindsets," said Bish.
"It's about providing people with other options and reassuring them, and it improves the living experience for residents.
"You need to think about how restraining someone makes that person feel, especially when you can't explain why restraints are being used because they have a cognitive impairment," Bish elaborated.
"Because hospitals use bed rails, people think it's normal practice to use them. But we educate the residents and their families, and do not underestimate the psychological impacts of anything that restricts people from moving in the way they choose."
Bish describes the value of the audit as external validation for the staff at Papamoa Beach Village.
"When someone formally assesses what we do, goes over it with a fine-tooth comb and verifies we've not only complied but in some instances, excelled, it makes the whole team feel positive."
