Anna Preston

Find out how live in carers can help you to enjoy your hobbies and interests and to have control over how you prefer to live your life. Living in a residential home enables elderly people in need of care to live safely. Sadly though, it isn't the most independent of lifestyles for a person in later life. Because the care home has a lot of people to care for, often activities are group oriented and residents rarely get to leave the premises. In fact, according to the Live-in Care Hub (https://www.liveincarehub.co.uk), a huge 37% of people in residential care never leave their homes. Imagine a life where you never get to leave your home to see new things or do the things you enjoy? Of course, most care homes are desperately trying to improve the lives of those in their care, but there is still a lot of work to do to get to the standards where many of us would be happy to go into care. Residential homes also offer a food selection that is a 'one size fits all' arrangement because of course they cannot cook individual meals for each resident. So residents have to go back to a school meal type scenario where they eat what is on offer. Timings are another way that personal preferences can be stifled as residents have to get up and go to bed when they are told to, again because of efficiency within the residential care home. Saddest of all, social interaction is almost non-existent in care homes as the Nursing Times released an article that highlighted the fact that most residential care home residents get just two minutes of interaction a day. Just two minutes of chatting wouldn't make anybody feel like their interests, thoughts or feelings are considered or appreciated. Live-in Carers Appreciate Your Interests And Preferences An excellent alternative to residential care is live-in care otherwise known as a home help or home care. Live-in care is completely personal to the client. The home help will provide all of the services agreed in the care agreement that is made before they move in to the property. Some of the services they can provide include but are not limited to: ● Housework and cleaning ● Accompanying the client on holiday ● Accompanying the client to hobby groups and social events ● Cooking ● Pet care ● Gardening ● Personal care ● Medication management Nursing care or specialist dementia care can also be provided under prior agreement. Regardless of the physical care provided, a person providing home care will always provide companionship and take a genuine interest in the preferences and interests of the client. When does the client prefer to eat and what do they prefer to eat? What do they like to watch on TV? When do they prefer to get up and go to bed? A routine can be made around these preferences and best of all, the client can change their mind whenever they want to. Staying up late with a bacon sarnie and a movie - no problem at all. Getting up early for a coffee date with a friend, absolutely fine. Preferences can change and the carer will change with those preferences so the clients voice is always heard. With your interests, your carer will encourage you to discuss them and to pursue them. If you're interested in knitting they can sit with you whilst you knit, go to knitting groups with you and take you out to knitting events. They will facilitate activities and conversations to support your interests and help you have the best possible quality of life. Interested in live-in care? Take a look at the UK Care Guide fee calculator to compare residential care home costs with live-in care costs for your care needs. You might also want to read the Live-in Care Hub Better At Home Report to get a better idea of why live-in care is becoming such a popular alternative to residential care.

For many of us, interviews don't get any less stressful even as we get older and more experienced - no matter what type of job it is or whether it’s part time or full time. An interview for a senior project manager position maybe as nerve-wracking as your first interview as a project management apprentice. However, as an experienced professional you should try and switch your mindset and approach an interview with a positive attitude. After all, you now have a deep well of experience to draw from and will be able to give examples in response to any question that the interviewer can throw at you. In order to prepare for your interview, you should get your CV in order. If you haven't updated it for a while, you may find that there is lots of important information missing, and this could be the information that gets your foot in the door. Don't forget that any potential employer who is looking through your CV has only this information judge you on. If you don't write it down, they won't know it. Your CV can also come in useful when preparing for your interview. Look at each project on your CV and ask yourself a series of questions so that you will have rehearsed your response, should you be asked about these projects during the meeting. Establish the important decisions you made whilst working on the project and think about the impact that those decisions had. Was your project successful or a failure? What was your role in ensuring its success? What did you learn from the project that you took away with you? How did you successfully manage your project team? Whilst in the interview, you should of course do your best to look smart and come across as a confident and competent individual. Bear in mind however that every interviewer understands that the interviewee is under pressure and may lose their train of thought momentarily. If you do not understand the question or require some clarification then it is absolutely acceptable to ask the interviewer to repeat the question or to clarify what they mean. It is better that you fully understand the question than begin to ramble on in a non-specific way trying to frame a response to a question that you have not fully understood. If you have been thorough in your preparation, you should have a stock of responses and examples for any question that is thrown at you. One of the most important pieces of information that Parallel Project Training offer is that you remember to be specific. Just as the interviewer only knows what they read on your CV, they can only judge you on what you tell them in your interview. Try not to assume that they will understand your jargon or will have any knowledge of the content of your previous projects. Specifics are crucial in getting your point across and ensuring that the panel fully understand the message you are trying to convey.

Teams use end of project reports to analyse how successful a project has been. It can be a brief summary, a verbal presentation or an in-depth document that looks at every aspect of the project outcomes. An end of project report should include the initial objectives and an assessment as to whether the project met these objectives, whether deadlines and budgets were adhered to and any unexpected factors that affected outcomes. In order to produce an end of project report, it can be useful to use the following three headings to give it some structure. Bear in mind that your document may be read by somebody who is unfamiliar with the project and so you should include enough detail for an outsider to fully understand the reason for undertaking the project and the final results. Writing an end of project report is a skill that is usually learnt during a project management apprenticeship but the truth is, there is no one way to write a report. According to Parallel Project Training, the important things to bear in mind are who you are addressing the report to and what is the information you wish to get across. A statement of the original objectives and what was delivered To begin an end of project report it is important to look back to the start of the project to establish the initial objective. This allows you to make an analysis as to whether the initial objective was achieved. This can include information about how the project was intended to help the client and what impact it was expected to have. This can include statistics and qualitative information. You can then go on to talk about what was in fact delivered and whether this matched up with the original plan. An evaluation of the quality outcomes By evaluating the quality outcomes, you are assessing whether or not the final product was of the expected quality. This gives you an opportunity to reflect on anything which could have gone better in the project. Were there any failures that should be addressed and how could quality be improved in the future? An assessment of performance against time and cost Project plans are focused around scope of the project, deadlines and budgets. It is therefore essential that you make an analysis at the end of a project as to whether you achieved the expected outcomes with regard to these three aspects. Scope can sometimes be hard to pinpoint and can sometimes shift throughout the life of a project but if the scope was clearly defined at the beginning of a project, it should be easy to make an assessment as to whether you achieved the expected scope. It should also be relatively easy to state whether or not the project was completed within the expected deadline and whether or not you stayed within the allocated budget. Failing to stay within budget or meet the deadline does not necessarily result in failure of a project but an assessment as to why the framework was not met should be explored in order to make future improvements.

Ensuring that you are have the project management qualificationsnecessary for a position as a project manager means that not only do you need the right qualifications but also that you have the skills, experience and of course the temperament to do the job. Often the actual qualification that you have studied for will be less important that the general day to day qualifications that come from experience and of course how you work. A good employer will in general be looking for someone who is more than capable of being able to communicate well with all of their team members and has already gained a few years of experience in the field of project management. They will also require some form of formal training to have taken place; i.e. an industry recognised qualification and also for the right person to have PMP certification. Training There are two routes open to anyone who is looking to gaining the skills needed to become a project manager. The informal route which is usually accessed via an in-house training programme there you can be mentored and shadow someone or the formal route – taking one of the many structured courses of study that is available and getting a paper qualification. Certification There are a number of different project management certifications that are offered to those individuals who are looking to make themselves the best candidate that can be for positions in the field of project management, • PM / BA – there are any number of undergraduate and graduate programs where you can gain certification or even a degree in project management • PMP: This qualification, Project Management Professional, is one which is recognised all over the world so if you are someone who may be considering moving around with your career this could be the ideal choice for you. The qualification is offered via the Project Management Institute (PMI) • Agile / Scrum – There is training offered by organisations such as the Scrum Alliance which gives certification in a good number of those project management practises that are newer. Whilst it is really important to get that initial certification, project management is one of those fields that is constantly involving and if you want to stay on top of your role and ensure you are up to date with all the latest news and ideas within the industry it important to keep topping up your skills. Parallel Project Training recommends that if you want to ensure that you can keep advancing your career, rather than being overtaken, that you find and attend appropriate training courses that will help keep your project management skills honed and keep you in the know with any industry developments. With the field of project management changing constantly it is really important to ensure that your knowledge of what is happening does as well.

Working on a long-term project is a difficult job that requires a particular type of working. In some cases we’re simply talking about something that is going to take years to complete – a large engineering project perhaps, but in other cases, we may be thinking of something more open-ended such as maintaining and improving a computer application where there really isn’t a finish line of any sort. It can take all your project management skills to manage long-term projects, but as our friends at Parallel Project Training know with a few careful tips and tricks you can make it a doddle. Set milestones to aim for In a short-term project you can look for the finish line and consider how close you are to completion, but that’s simply not feasible for a longer-term or open-ended project. Instead, you need to work towards the next milestone, ensuring you have a map somewhere of how the milestones add up! In an engineering project, you might have particular stages that are easy to tick off – completion of groundworks, installation of sub-structure and so on. Work towards completing each stage before allowing yourself to think about the next. This is one reason why Agile type methodologies are so popular for software development – you only need to focus on the current sprint without needing to worry about how many more sprints there are before you’re done. Be your own cheerleader Allow yourself to celebrate when you reach a milestone or complete a sprint – even if it’s only by putting out some cakes instead of biscuits at the team meeting. Mentally celebrating completing a section of the project is vitally important to keep morale high. Don’t get stuck in a rut Repetition can be helpful in ensuring that tasks are completed, but sometimes it helps to shake things up a bit. Even something small like booking a meeting room on a different floor can counter the monotony. Scrum teams can do this almost automatically, as they often switch roles from sprint to sprint. Keep your stakeholders fully informed Long-term projects may have many stakeholders, but you still need to keep them up-to-date with facts and figures. Using project management software can be useful as they can be given an overview account which lets them see the progress of the project. Make sure you report issues to the appropriate stakeholder early – it’s better to warn of a delay that doesn’t happen than not to mention it until the project is running late. Keep the past in the past Once you’ve taken a decision, backed up with the best available facts at the time, you need to move on. Don’t waste time and motivation wondering if you made the right decision you’ve done the best you can based on the information you have now so get cracking on the next milestone. Long-term project management requires long-term commitment from project stakeholders, and a very resilient project manager who can balance their sometimes conflicting demands

Live in care covers a wide range of types of care and exactly what care a particular carer provides will be determined by the needs of their client. Initially, the live in care provider will assess the client’s care needs, in conjunction with the family and relevant healthcare professionals, to create a care plan. This plan will detail what care you can expect. You can find out more at the Live-in Care Hub about types of care offered as there isn’t enough room to go into detail in this article. Dressing, hair and make-up or shaving A live-in carer can ensure that your relative is appropriately dressed and offer assistance as required, perhaps pulling on socks and shoes or doing up buttons and zips. Support with personal care and continence If your relative struggles to bath or shower safely or is having issues with continence then a carer can help ensure that they maintain a high degree of personal hygiene. Managing and prompting medication Many older people have complex medication requirements and need help with remembering when to take medication. You can rest assured that your loved one is sticking to the schedule with some help from their carer. Mobility and personal safety Keeping active is important in later life and a live-in carer can help your relative to stay safe around the home, reducing the risk of falls or injuries. They will also take over answering the door and phone to ensure your relative can’t be scammed or conned and doesn’t feel pressured to rush. Support overnight Live-in carers expect that they will be needed to take their client to the toilet or fetch drinks if they have difficulty getting out of bed, or in ensuring that your loved one doesn’t wander into danger if they become confused and disorientated. Planning, shopping and cooking balanced meals One of the first signs that a relative is struggling is if the find shopping difficult or forget to eat, something a carer will assist with. Light housework, laundry and ironing Running the household is something a live-in carer can help with. They can also assist with personal admin, correspondence and help with day-to-day finances as well as managing appointments, such as GP or hairdresser. Pet care One big benefit of a live-in carer is that your loved one doesn’t need to give up their pet. Trips out of the house A live-in carer can support your loved one to go shopping, attend appointments or go on days out. Many have their own car and are even able to drive your loved one to visit you! Companionship and emotional support It can get lonely if you can’t get out of the house much but a live-in carer can befriend your relative and keep them company. Their presence provides peace of mind for both clients and family members while allowing your loved one to maintain their dignity and independence during their twilight years.

When your elderly relative reaches the point of requiring home caret you may have already got into a routine of visiting them daily to check up on their well-being and it can seem quite alien to no longer have that responsibility. Equally, you may feel guilty for not visiting daily and for leaving your loved one in someone else’s hands. In safe hands All live-in carers go through a rigorous process to ensure that they are trustworthy and capable. Introductory agencies will perform thorough background checks including following up references and commissioning DBS searches before allowing any carers details to be passed onto families. Full-management agencies will perform equally deep checks but additionally may provide their own training to ensure that your carer can cope with whatever the placement throws at them. You can find out more at the live in care hub about what checks a carer is required to undergo before starting work, but what this means in practice is that you can rest assured that your parent or other elderly relation, is going to be cared for professionally and consistently by their carer. How often is too often? A live-in carer is there not just to care for their client but to help the family by taking over the care of their elderly relative. Obviously if you spend as much time at your loved one’s home as you did previously you will achieve nothing other than getting in the way of the carer’s work! Short daily visits are perfectly adequate to check that the carer has no concerns and to keep in touch with your loved one. Depending on what you, the carer and the agency have agreed these visits may be timed to coincide with the carer’s breaks, ensuring 24/7 coverage in care for your relation. How often is too rare? Trusting your live-in carer is essential to the relationship you have with them – and once they’ve settled in you can find yourself dropping visits and putting off visiting knowing that your loved one is being cared for and happy. It is important that you still keep some kind of visiting schedule. The carer can supervise your loved one’s life but they cannot run it, and there will be many situations in which you will be required to make decisions that will require your personal attention. How do I know if I’ve got the frequency right? Your gut instinct will tell you if you are visiting too often or not often enough. If you seem to be always getting in the way then perhaps you need to visit a little less often. If there always seems to be a lot of things to discuss that have changed since the last time you visited then perhaps you aren’t coming round often enough. The beauty of live-in care is that it can be precisely tailored to the family the carer is working for, so try different frequencies until it feels right.

It could be argued that being a project manager is right up there with some of the most stressful jobs that you can do. As a project manager, you are not only responsible but also accountable for the success and in some cases the failure, of a project. There are plenty of project managers who thrive on the high levels of stress that come with the job and believe that they can cope, refusing to listen to the warning signs and realise that they are no longer thriving but are floundering. Stress can have a huge impact not only on your behavioural and cognitive performance, but it can also have a very negative impact when it comes to your personal health and wellbeing. It can also spill over into your family life as well. You might not be able to alter the levels of stress you deal with on a daily basis. It is really important that you recognise the signs of stress and work out how you can manage them before it gets too difficult for you to handle. Recognise your stress The first way in which you can look after your stress levels is to recognise that you are in fact stressed. You need to be able to work out when everything is getting too much for you so that you can work on the ways in which you can reduce your stress levels. In other words, you need to find the triggers, so you can deal with them. No amount of project management qualifications can prepare you for just how hectic and stressful some projects might become. Stress relief There are a number of ways that you can really help your stress levels. Some of them take just a few minutes each day, while others may take a little longer. It is worth exploring them all to work out which ones work best for you. According to the experts at Parallel Project Training , moving is a great stress reliever. While getting to the gym can be tricky to fit into a busy schedule, it is entirely possible to still add some extra movement to your day. A short brisk walk is a great way to get yourself moving and blow that stress right away. Music is also a great stress reliever – we are not talking heavy metal music, although it that helps then why not, but rather something soothing or happy songs that will really lift your spirits. Of course, you could combine the music with a bit of movement and have a mid-project management party to really help combat the stress. Being positive is a great way to help reduce stress levels. If something isn’t going quite right with your project, try looking at it from a different angle you might just surprise yourself. Look at what is going well and then take a fresh look at the problems to find the solutions.

As we age our ability to absorb and metabolise vitamins and minerals from food decreases leading to potential health problems. Over 65s, in particular, are one of the groups that need to take extra supplements but there is so much conflicting advice out there on what – and how many – to take. But when vitamin supplements are so varied and so expensive should you be worried that your loved one may be taking too many unnecessary supplements – or the wrong ones? And could taking them be dangerous? With the help of a live-in carer it’s easier to regulate nutrient intake but for peace of mind read on for advice. Are supplements necessary? Those prescribed by GPs are but there may be some which aren’t strictly necessary for your loved one. Iron, for example, is important in the production of oxygen-giving red blood cells and can be obtained from a normal healthy diet. Iron supplements should only be taken if prescribed by a GP where a person has a known iron deficiency. Calcium is GP prescribed where there is a danger of bone fractures in the elderly but excessive doses of calcium can cause stomach pain and diarrhoea. B vitamins perform multiple tasks in the body including keeping the skin and nervous system functioning, helping in the formation of red blood cells and helping the absorption of nutrients and energy from food. A well-balanced diet that includes fortified cereals, yeast extract and whole grains should provide all the B vitamins necessary but GPs agree that a supplement with a dosage of 2mg or less daily will cause no harm. Vitamin C is helpful as an antioxidant in the fight against disease and infections and many people swear by it to ward off colds although there is no proven evidence for this. A diet that is rich in fruit and vegetables will provide all the vitamin C that the body needs. Interaction with medication Some prescribed medications can be adversely affected by taking vitamin supplements. If your loved one is prescribed blood-thinning medicines care must be taken to not take excessive amounts of vitamin C or vitamin K as this can interfere with the blood clotting mechanism and can lead to a risk of increased clotting. Some blood pressure medicines can be affected by vitamin B3 which, in a dose larger than 75mg can lead to excessive dilation of blood vessels and reduce the efficacy of prescribed medication. Vitamin D can adversely affect heart medication by affecting the blood calcium levels which can lead to an irregular heartbeat. There is research suggesting that the effectiveness of medications to treat cancer or kidney disease can also be compromised by taking vitamin supplements. It’s clear that the issue of whether or not your loved one should take extra vitamins is not straightforward. To help your loved one to decide, find out more at the Live-in Care Hub .