Penny's story

Penny was born and brought up in London. She has lived in the United States for many years and met her husband during a visit to London when staying with friends and family. They had a long-distance relationship before she decided to make the move permanently to be with him as he needed to stay in London to run his jewellry business. Penny had her career as a secretary in the city of London.

Penny has a history of suffering from anxiety and depression which was triggered by a serious attack within her own home. This led her to be very anxious and she had a lot of fears about strangers, people coming into her home and leaving the house. Sadly, her husband passed away about 10 years ago and this in turn increased her anxieties as she was living in the house on her own. She had no close family to support her and she had to give up work and eventually retired.

In May 2018, Penny had a fall at home, and she was on the floor for 2 days as she was unable to call for help. Her friends raised the alarm when they were unable to get in touch. She had fractured her leg and after a hospital stay, she went into a care home to recover until she was able to return home independently. At this point, she contacted Right at Home Mitcham Streatham and Dulwich to provide her with companionship visits and help around the house.

Penny is very independent and it was clear that she did not want help with personal care. She was always proud of her appearance and had an amazing wardrobe including items from Selfridges. She was very private, did not open up to CareGivers and was very anxious about having people in her home. It is very important to Penny that she knows who is coming and when as otherwise she will not open the door. She is also very anxious about leaving her house.

How did Right at Home work with Penny?

Right at Home Mitcham Streatham and Dulwich completed the initial assessment in the care home and started supporting her when she returned home. Once at home, we carried out a thorough environment risk assessment in her home. She was no longer able to access the upstairs of her home and her friends had moved her bedroom furniture downstairs prior to her coming home. Initially we supported her with keeping the house clean, doing laundry and some light shopping. CareGivers also spent time talking with Penny about her life, what is in the news and her friends who she keeps in touch with over the phone. Unfortunately, she became increasingly isolated from her friends as well as they were unable to visit during the Covid pandemic.

It became apparent to CareGivers that she was increasingly neglecting her appearance. She was able to shower independently but was not washing her hair and had not had her hair cut for many years. CareGivers raised their concerns to the Registered Manager, Maggie, who listened to their concerns and visited Penny to understand the situation better and to discuss how her needs could be met. Penny initially said the CareGivers were there to do other things and she did not want them to help with her hair. Maggie spoke to her and offered to support her herself. The conversations needed to be very gentle and sensitive as Maggie was aware that Penny’s self-esteem was very low. Maggie continued to offer to help and talked about what other support we could provide and that the CareGivers are there for her.

Maggie visited regularly to build up trust and relationship with Penny and shared information about the service and how CareGivers had helped other Clients. During each visit, Maggie had hair washing products with her and gently offered to support Penny to wash her hair but respected if she was not ready to do this or if she appeared distressed at any time. Maggie gave lots of encouragement over several visits to give Penny time to make the decision herself. Eventually, Penny did agree, and Maggie washed Penny’s hair in the sink. They treated this as a pampering session and spent time doing it at Penny’s pace. Maggie also blow-dried Penny’s hair, talking to her throughout and asking her how she wanted it styled. However, Penny’s hair was still very matted and even after washing it several times, it was still very matted and needed treatment beyond a simple wash.

One of the CareGivers, Karen, is also a hairdresser and was happy to come to Penny’s home to support with her hair. This was explained to Penny, who agreed as long as Maggie was also present as she was very anxious about meeting a new person. Everything was explained to Penny with a lot of reassurance. Unfortunately, Karen was unable to deal with the matted hair and explained to Penny honestly and gently what needed to be done. With Penny’s agreement, her hair was restyled into a short pixie-style haircut. Karen was very gentle with Penny and sensitive to her needs. She ensured that Penny was at the centre of what she was doing and that she was not rushed throughout the process.

How did Right at Home Mitcham, Streatham and Dulwich's care services impact Penny?

Penny now has a new hair cut which she is proud of, and this has had a positive impact on her self-esteem. She is more confident and the fact that she allowed Karen to come into her home and cut her hair is testament to this as previously she was reluctant to be introduced to new CareGivers and even more so to let them help her with anything other than their usual tasks.

Although Penny is still independent with her personal care, she is now more open to having more regular support with hair washing and having her hair cut.

How we used this experience to drive improvements across the service

The experience was shared with our team to show that CareGivers should never give up offering support to Clients as everyone has times when they need additional support and may need to be given extra reassurance, time and patience to make achievements in their lives.

Our team in Right at Home Mitcham, Streatham and Dulwich provide compassionate, quality care at home when you need it most. Get in touch with our team today to see how we can best support you.

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