2022 marks the 70th year of Queen Elizabeth’s reign and to celebrate this unprecedented anniversary, events and initiatives will take place throughout the year, culminating in a four-day UK bank holiday weekend from 2nd to 5th June.
The bank holiday will provide an opportunity for care settings and local communities to come together to celebrate the historic milestone. To help them do so, Quality Compliance Systems’ activity partner, The National Activity Providers Association (NAPA), has created a special downloadable Platinum Jubilee 2022 resource. The 33-page web-based pack contains a host of resources to plan a creative celebration of the event.
Hilary Woodhead, Executive Director of NAPA, the UK’s leading activity and engagement charity, explains that the free resource came about through a consultation exercise with its members.
“The ideas were co-created after having conversations with people who provide activity and engagement in care services,” she says. “This then informed our thinking behind the development of the resource. It is designed to support Activity Providers in their practice, as well as reflecting and amplifying our person-centred approach.”
The resource is packed with information, activity ideas, design templates, and tips and guides for celebration events. It also includes clickable links to related assets such as as the Queen’s first radio broadcast and a video of her 1953 coronation. There are tools for use in reminiscence sessions such as photographs, quiz ideas, information about the Queen’s hobbies and interests including her love of animals, recipes and much more.
Natalie Ravenscroft, NAPA’s Wellbeing Support Manager and the lead for the project, explains that the team tried to take all suggestions and feedback on board when designing the pack. “It was important that we created an adaptable resource, and we added elements for people who might not want to celebrate the jubilee too.”
Adaptability is important to all that NAPA does. Its model of activity provision champions a person centred and person led approach to engagement and is founded on the principles of inclusivity.
“Everything we develop and provide is adaptable for people with any care and support needs and we are committed to promoting choice and independence,” says Hilary. A good example of this approach is the creation of The Shed, where NAPA’s members can access all the tools they need to support their practice.
She explains that “during the pandemic, we had several requests from our membership of 3,500 care services for direct access to resources that would help them in lockdown. Although we had an existing website with a huge archive, we needed something more responsive, with immediate access.”
So NAPA went through a period of digital transformation and developed a brand-new website, with the help of QCS, NAPA’s Dementia Best Practice Partner. “We now digitalise everything we do, through our fantastic partnership with QCS. It’s been amazing,” says Hilary.
QCS, the leading provider of content, guidance and standards for the social care sector, and NAPA have forged a collaborative relationship over the years. The QCS PAL Instrument, specifically designed to assess the cognitive and functional ability of those living with dementia, is ‘the foundation of activity and engagement for good dementia care’ according to Hilary and is recommended by NAPA to its members.
“If you can understand and relate PAL to your practice, then communication and engagement as well as activity provision all improve,” she said. Moreover, the QCS tool helps activity teams make the most of events such as The Platinum Jubilee celebrations, by ensuring that services can plan the right activity for each individual by assessing them across four different levels of ability.
NAPA also used the QCS PAL Instrument to create a colour coding key for its activities, to make it easier for providers to match a peron’s cognitive ability to the level of participation support required. This ensures that NAPA’s 3,200 members benefit from an effective way in which to assess cognitive function and a myriad of activities to choose from, designed to work alongside the QCS PAL Instrument.
The QCS PAL tool is available for free download on the QCS website and it is part of the QCS Dementia Centre, which contains cutting-edge practical content that service providers can apply to real-world situations.
When it comes to the Shed, activity providers, care providers, family members – anyone who’s a NAPA member – can access its dedicated resources online. These include articles, blogs, activity Ideas, tips, tools, templates, webinars, Information about training, and daily updates.
All resources in The Shed are produced or co-created with NAPA members, advisors and partners, and are intended to inspire a person-centred approach to activity and engagement Content can be viewed, downloaded or printed.
According to Hilary, NAPA receives many enquiries about which activities are appropriate for people living with dementia. In line with their commitment to adaptability and inclusivity, she says that all NAPA activity resources are suitable.
“We have developed specialist resources about dementia. But what we’re trying to do is enable activity providers to think about individuals who happen to live with dementia, and how they might adapt their approach when working with them.
“It’s not that you need activities for dementia, it’s more about how they are relevant to the individual – which brings it back to a person-centred approach.”
NAPA is launching ‘The Dementia and Engagement – NAPA Activity Resource Pack’ as part of Dementia Action Week 16-22 May, as well as a PAL Masterclass webinar with QCS Dementia Specialist Jackie Pool on May 19th as part of the NAPA Professional Development Opportunities.
And for Jubilee-related events, it has launched “The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Care Setting of The Year Challenge” awarded to a care service who goes above and beyond to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee and with a prize of £1,000: https://forms.gle/uwmVAo4AxCaxMkzTA
And a jubilee online concert, which will be downloadable from the website and available to watch with residents at any point over the Jubilee festivities, you can find out more here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/napa-presents-songs-to-celebrate-the-platinum-jubilee-tickets-327925312437
You can download the PAL Instrument for free here
Download Here
