Care News

We intend to start our Christmas festivities early this year and enjoy them to the full, so on Saturday 18th December we are hosting a Cheese and Mulled wine party from 3pm onwards. There will be live entertainment and our residents have invited many of their residents, the staff have invited friends and we would like to invite anyone who would like to join us for an enjoyable afternoon.

The Heathers residential care home in Bromley is pleased to announce the release of our new website.

This new website gives visitors the ability to find the information they require faster and more easily than ever before.

We welcome feedback on the new website and if you would like to provide any comments at all, please contact us.

Grace Pearce, a long term resident of The Heathers, reached her 100th year on 19th November 2010 and it was celebrated in style. On 18th November all staff, residents and Graces relatives alike enjoyed an afternoon of live entertainment and a visit from The Mayor of Bromley who presented Grace with a bouquet of flowers, a Telegram from The Right Honorable Iain Duncan Smith, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and a wonderful message and birthday card from The Queen.

When asked what is the secret to staying fit and healthy for so long, Grace commented, "Just be happy and enjoy yourself". Happy 100th Birthday Grace from all of us at The Heathers

Plenty of sunshine, means happy residents! For sometime we have been planning how to exploit our mature gardens, to ensure our residents take full advantage of them. Finally, this Spring we unveiled our new anti slip decking area, all our care residents were able to enjoy the beautiful summer outside, taking in the fresh air and good food! The new decked area now allows easy access from the main lounge and residents can freely come and go. Many have chosen to dine outside during the Summer evenings and make the most of the beautiful weather.

In order to provide safe passage for our residents and their relatives, we improved our driveway allowing more parking spaces. Bromley Borough has approved our work as it improves safety for the residential care home and enables nurses and ambulance crew when required, safe and easy entry and exit.

As Mary moves on from The Heathers to run her own catering business, Christelle Morrison joins us to treat our residents to home cooked exotic French food. Having learnt a lot about dietary cooking from Mary, we have decided to enhance our food provision and give it a Continental twist! Christelle comes from a family of restaurateurs in Western France, married to an Englishman, Christelle and Lee have two children, Zac 11 and Lou 8.

Christelle comments, "My family have taught me a lot about good ingredients and the secret of making healthy sauces and balanced meals. I love old people and am looking forward to watching them enjoy my food."

At the beginning of August 2008, we have our very own Chef starting at The Heathers. Mary Corrigan is a specialist diabetic trained chef as well as a celiac diet expert, she will help develop our menu, ensuring enhanced nutrition is provided for our residents, as well as ensuring more enjoyment and appreciation of food. This is essential for our client group as food and nutrition is essential in helping to maintain good health and independence.

Not in terms of our age, as you know the Home is now 22, which is clearly something we are very proud of but what I am specifically referring to is the number of places we now offer at The Heathers. Our redevelopment work has allowed us to open a 12th bedroom but as we have one double room, we can now provide our service for 13 elderly people. We have also increased the number of en-suite facilities to six (6).

As you may be aware we have introduced a fish tank into our dining room which has been welcomed and is enjoyed by our residents. We have decided to make it a fresh water tank but with very colourfui exotic fish. The fish have taken to their new surrounding like ducks to water...and have already started breeding! We have 4 baby fish already and hope to grow our little congregation further.

The Heathers Residential Care Home for the first time in it's 22 year history, has been awarded a Two Star Good rating from the CSCI.

The Heathers has always been marked as an 'Adequate' Home in the eyes of the CSCI but as we have all recognised, the service provided has deserved a higher grade. Our team work extremely hard ALL the time and ensure our residents are safe and feel cared for 24 hours a day.

Hence when we bought the Home 2 years ago, we decided to ensure our systems and managerial operation of the Home was up to the level required to get us onto the next rung of the all important ratings ladder.

We have now succeeded and aim that by the April 2009 ratings, we will be able to claim an 'Excellent' rating. Our development plan is in full swing and 3/4's finished. Some more internal system enhancements, along with some more building development, especially in the garden, will hopefully allow us to claim that prize!

It is also our intention to develop the entertainment of offering, ensuring our residents have something going on all the time, this will encourage them to keep physically and mentally active, thereby enhancing and extending their independence.