Trustees’ Independent Review – Bradbury View Children’s Home, update 21.12.20

By L Horsefield21st December 2020

Update from Jonathan Jowett, Chair, Board of Trustees:

Following the closure of Bradbury View 52-week children’s home in September, the Trustees initiated an independent review of events that led to the closure. The Trustees recently received initial feedback from the independent reviewer, and the draft report is expected to be made available to Trustees before the Christmas break. The Trustees will then meet to consider the report in early January, ahead of the reviewer issuing the final report. The Trustees will put in place a Foundation-wide action plan to address both the matters raised by OFSTED and the recommendations from the independent review.

Whilst we will not be in a position to disclose anything further before Christmas, we are aiming to be publishing details of the key findings of the review, and the plans to address its recommendations as soon as possible in the New Year.

We would like to thank all of our stakeholders for their patience as we work through the report, and we take this opportunity to send everyone connected to Percy Hedley Foundation our best wishes and compliments of the season.

Christmas celebration at Northern Counties School with Northumbria Police Chief Constable, 15 December 2020

By L Horsefield21st December 2020

Here at The Percy Hedley Foundation, we’ve been working closely with Northumbria Police this December to help make their Christmas video message inclusive and accessible to everyone.

Staff and students at our Northern Counties School have been teaching police officers, staff and volunteers British Sign Language which has been played in primary schools across the region.

We’re one of the charities that the Force has chosen to support this Christmas with its in-house Christmas fundraising activity.

To celebrate this special relationship and say thank you, we invited Chief Constable Winton Keenen to a festive celebration event on Tuesday 15 December.

At the event our signing choir performed two Christmas songs to thank our friends from Northumbria Police, and some of our hearing impaired students had the chance to ask the Chief Constable some questions.

Chief Constable Winton Keenan said: “At Northumbria Police we continually seek to be a truly inclusive organisation and my aim has always been to bring the Force closer to the fantastic communities we are so privileged to serve here in the North East.

“I was therefore delighted by the great response we received from the Percy Hedley Foundation after we reached out to see if they could help us send and create some positive thoughts and feelings across the region this Christmas.

“The Foundation and especially the people and families they support are truly inspiring.”

Head of fundraising at Percy Hedley, Suzanne Mckenna said: “This year we have worked with Northumbria Police to help produce their Christmas message, by helping officers sign to ‘We wish you a Merry Christmas’.

“In addition to this, we are absolutely delighted that Northumbria Police have chosen the Percy Hedley Foundation to be one of their chosen charities this year.

“To say thank you, our wonderful choir at Northern counties school sent a thank you video message to Northumbria police and Chief Constable Winton Keenen has taken the time today to come down and personally say thank you and deliver some gifts to the children.”

Percy Hedley presents ‘Virtual Carols at Christmas’!

By S McKenna14th December 2020

Usually at this time of year students from our schools, Northern Counties and Percy Hedley School, would be preparing to visit Intu Eldon Square and MetroCentre to perform their carols and Christmas songs for you and collect donations to support our work. Due to lockdown restrictions, sadly, they are unable to perform live this year, but we have worked some early Christmas magic to be able to bring their performances to you!

We are delighted however to announce that we will be sharing Christmas Carols and songs performed by our students from Northern Counties and Percy Hedley Schools throughout December on our Facebook pages, sneak preview below!

We would love it if you would share our videos with your family and friends and ask them to put some coins in our ‘virtual’ collection buckets by visiting our dedicated page and making an online donation.  Your support will help us continue to improve the lives of the disabled children, young people and adults we care for every day.

Please help Percy Hedley spread a little festive cheer, lift the spirit and warm the heart at this challenging time.  Thank you.

Today is #GivingTuesday!

By S McKenna1st December 2020

December 1st is #GivingTuesday, an international day of global giving

#GivingTuesday is a day where everyone, everywhere can do something to support the good causes that mean so much to them.

All over the world people are marking today by donating to charities close to their hearts.

We are so grateful to everyone who supports Percy Hedley every day.  Your time, energy, enthusiasm and donations are very much appreciated.

If you would like to make this #GivingTuesday special for the hundreds of disabled people we care for every day, you can make a donation here. Thank you.

Donate the cost of Christmas cards to Percy Hedley this Christmas

By S McKenna19th November 2020

 

These are challenging times for us all and as we adapt to these unprecedented circumstances, we are so very grateful to you for your continued support.

Sadly, like so many charities, most of our planned fundraising events have been cancelled this year but we are so grateful to our wonderful supporters who continue to come up with creative and engaging ways to support us.

This year, we are asking our supporters to send ecards instead of greetings cards and donate the money saved in doing so.

We have partnered with Don’t Send Me A Card.com so you can send festive ecards to your family, friends and colleagues whilst donating the equivalent cost of Christmas cards and/or postage to Percy Hedley and helping us continue to provide the best support for the disabled people in our schools, college and care homes.

Simply visit https://www.dontsendmeacard.com/charities/TPCN

2020 certainly hasn’t turned out the way any of us expected.  What hasn’t changed is our commitment to providing care, education and support for disabled children, young people and adults throughout the pandemic.

Thanks for your continued support, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Win a car for Christmas with the Great Northern Raffle!

By S McKenna18th November 2020

Text PERCY to 70215 to be in with a chance of winning a brand new car!

You may have already heard about the Great Northern Raffle, a fantastic fundraising initiative set up by local philanthropist Jeremy Middleton to support North East charities during the ongoing challenges of Covid-19.  We are so grateful to Jeremy and his team at Charity Escapes for their outstanding support.

There have already been some amazing prizes won since the monthly draw started in September, but nothing as spectacular as their Christmas draw which has a top prize of a brand new car, namely a Hyundai i10 worth a whopping £17,000 kindly donated by Bristol Street Motors!

To be in with a chance of winning simply text the word PERCY to 70215.  You will then be able to leave a voluntary donation to Percy Hedley to support our work.

We would love to see one of our fantastic Percy Hedley supporters drive into 2021 in a brand new car, so get texting now!

 

Closing date: 9pm, 31 Dec 2020, winner announced 18 Jan 2021. Texts cost one standard rate message and you will be opting in to receive updates inc. marketing relating to the Great Northern Raffle via SMS. For full T&Cs and more info visit charityescapes.com/the-great-northern-raffle/

The first ever Percy Hedley Online Auction is now live!

By S McKenna11th November 2020

Right now, we should be gearing up for our annual Percy Hedley Ball on 21 November to raise vital funds for this work.  Sadly, like so many fundraising events it can’t go ahead.  Instead we’re bringing the glamour and fun of our ball to your living room with…

The Percy Hedley Online Auction

Whether you’re looking for the perfect Christmas present or maybe planning adventures in 2021, we have something for everyone, all without you having to leave the house!

The auction runs from Tuesday 10 November and will run until Sunday 22 November with some amazing items up for grabs, including something very special from our great supporter David Walliams…

You can bid as many times as you like, and the money raised will help us support disabled children, adults and young people across the North East.

Our grateful thanks go to our auction sponsor Tolent and to everyone who has donated prizes

Visits to our care homes – update 22.10.2020

By L Horsefield22nd October 2020

We know that the restrictions on visits are difficult for our residents and their friends and relatives who are dearly missing each other, and we have received a lot of enquiries from relatives about the current situation over the last month.

Last week we shared the latest government guidance for visiting which applies to areas that are classified as medium risk level.  This guidance states clearly that visits in areas identified as Tier 2 (High Risk) should only go ahead in the case of exceptional circumstances such as end of life.  During the last week we’ve been working closely with public health to see if we could agree strictly managed arrangements for visits at our homes.

Unfortunately, we’ve had instruction today that we cannot restart onsite visits for relatives until regional visiting guidelines have been published which will set out how visiting can be safely managed in the region given our high alert status.  Regional public health teams are currently working on the guidelines, but they have not yet been agreed.

We know how much you’re missing your loved ones and we’re sorry that we can’t restart onsite visits yet.  Keeping our residents safe is our number one priority and we’ll continue to work closely with public health to agree a way to support our residents to have increased social interaction with their loved ones while continuing to keep them safe and prevent the spread of COVID-19.

We’ll keep you updated as soon as we have any more information.

Visiting Percy Hedley Residents – Update 16 October 2020

By S McKenna16th October 2020

We know that the restrictions on visits are really difficult for our residents and their friends and relatives who are dearly missing each other and we have received a lot of enquiries from relatives about the current situation over the last month.  The newest guidance is available: www.gov.uk/government/publications/visiting-care-homes-during-coronavirus/update-on-policies-for-visiting-arrangements-in-care-homes

The newest guidance states clearly that visits in areas identified as Tier 2 ( HIGH RISK) should only go ahead in the case of exceptional circumstances such as end of life.

However we are committed to reviewing our visiting policy regularly and following advice from our Local Authority advisors, we are now able to consider visiting arrangements on an individual basis under strictly managed circumstances. This means that visiting is not a Foundation wide policy, but a service led, risk assessed decision.

We are reviewing each site to identify a weather appropriate designated visiting area outside of the care home in the grounds, that allows either 2 metres plus social distancing or has a physical perspex screen (like the ones used in supermarkets). This process may mean that visiting on some sites is available sooner than others and for that we can only apologise as we try to adapt to this ever changing situation. We will aim to have all sites able to accommodate visitors as soon as we can. However these may be weather dependant until appropriate, safe covered areas are available.

Visitors must wear PPE provided by ourselves and all infection control procedures must be followed.

Staff must be able to support the visit in order that all procedures are followed.

If the service is quarantined because of a positive case or outbreak, or the area, where that service is located moves into tier 3, then visiting will again unfortunately have to cease with immediate effect.

We know that it can be confusing with constantly changing information, and frustrating waiting for guidance to be published so thank you bearing with us as we try and find the best way to support our residents to have increased social interaction with their loved ones while continuing to keep them safe and prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Your service will contact you directly as soon as visiting is available.

Percy Hedley Foundation appoints new Director of Residential Care and Safeguarding

By S McKenna9th October 2020

Percy Hedley Foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of Lisa Deane as its new Director of Residential Care and Safeguarding.

Lisa’s immediate remit is to ensure all residential services retain full compliance with Ofsted and CQC standards, with a particular focus on safeguarding, service user health and wellbeing, strong leadership, continuous improvement and staff development.

Lisa is an accomplished leader with a proven track record of business turnaround and improvement in residential services.

Carole Harder, CEO, commented: “Lisa brings exceptional experience to the role having worked at managing director level for a range of leading providers of both children’s and adult’s services who specialised in providing services for people with a range of complex needs. Her work in previous roles as the responsible and nominated individual within adult and children’s residential services will provide strong leadership to drive our journey of continuous service improvement.”