Community Integrated Care Joins ‘Activity Academy’

Care home providers across Halton and Merseyside came together at the Halton Stadium last week for a special event, exploring new ways to support care home residents to lead full lives.

The ‘Activity Academy’ event was delivered in partnership with Widnes Vikings, NHS Halton CCG, Halton Borough Council and our charity. The event brought together some of the care sector’s most respected figures and organisations, who delivered a range innovative workshops and presentations to care home staff.

The event aimed to encourage care homes to explore more innovative and person-centred forms of activities, using arts, culture and sport. It also provided specialist advice on how care home staff can understand the life-history of the people they support, and their passions and interests, so they can keep people engaged in what matters to them most. In doing so, the event will have a real legacy in enabling people living with dementia to lead fuller and happier lives.

As well as our own colleagues, the event featured contributions from Skills for Care, Live Music Now, House of Memories, Open Eye Gallery, Norton Priory, acclaimed poet – Terry Caffery, and Widnes Vikings. There was also a presentation by Alan Howells, winner of the prestigious Lifetime Achievement in Dementia Care and Outstanding Contribution to Care accolades.

The Activity Academy was funded by University of the West Of England, Bristol, and the Arts and Humanities Research Council, in partnership with FACT, Liverpool.

Phil Benson, Service Manager at EachStep Blackburn and winner of the Dementia Care Manager of the Year Award, delivered a keynote presentation at the event. He says: “The Activity Academy event was fun, interactive and thought provoking, and by bringing together such a range of participants stimulated real debate and ideas. It was exciting to see how local care homes left the event with real excitement and a commitment to take forward what they learned. It was a privilege for Community Integrated Care to play a key role in delivering this event.” 

Dave Sweeney, CEO of NHS Halton CCG, says: “We are delighted that our local care homes had the opportunity to learn from such an incredible array of speakers. For care home staff in Halton to have access to an event of this quality for free is a real success for our community, and I would like to thank UWE Bristol, FACT and the Arts and Humanities Research Council for this support. We are excited to see how local care homes will take this experience forward.”

John Hughes, Director of Communications and Digital Engagement at Widnes Vikings, says: “This event is a great example of how local community groups and care organisations can come together and share their talents and ideas to make a difference. Working alongside the team at FACT, we sought to create an event would bring together the most creative, ambitious and forward-thinking organisations possible, to help inspire the local care community. We were thrilled with the positive feedback from attendees and hope to build upon this success in the future.”