Bishops Lodge
Bishops Lodge opened in December 2004 and caters for 6 adults with PWS. Bishops Lodge is a beautiful large house on the outskirts of Hastings and within a 5 minute walk of an extensive park called Alexandra Park. The home is close to Hastings, being approximately a 10 minute walk into the town, but there are local shops which are only 5 minutes away. We are close to bus routes and the main line railway station.
There is a good size studio at the rear of the grounds which is utilised for specific day services activities. Other day service opportunities can be accessed at either of the other New Directions Homes, through external day provisions, such as horticultural services, college courses, leisure activities including swimming, gym, badminton and trampolining, several different work experience placements, pottery and a host of other possibilities.
Bishops Lodge is registered for 6 adults, all the bedrooms are single, 5 of which are en-suite and one room is on the ground floor. There is a large lounge dining room and a small conservatory, a communal TV area and good sized kitchen. There is a garden at the back with a decking area and car parking facilities for visitors at the front. I continue to aim to make Bishops Lodge a happy comfortable home and to encourage the individuality of the people living in the home.
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I grew up in a household where there were poeple with learning difficulties, because whilst living with my Nan, she fostered Derry a young man with Downs Syndrome. I helped my Nan on a daily basis, I learnt so much and obtained lot of knowledge and pleasure from Derry’s growing up. I volunteered as a teenager to assist with people with learning difficulties particularly with Frimley, the local Mencap society.
I ran my own business for 7 years, and setup a local work in the community programme for adults with learning difficulties.
I am married with 2 children, I have worked variety of services for people with diverse needs including spinal injury, brain damage patients, elderly care, challenging behaviour and varied learning difficulty. I have been involved with New Directions, working the bank, which gave me valuable experience of people with Prader Willi Syndrome for the two years prior to Bishops Lodge opening.
Bishops Lodge has proved to be an exciting venture and I was involved from day one, helping to set up the home, put the systems in place and with the Registration process from the beginning. I have been involved with all assessments for service users moving into Bishops Lodge and this has given me great satisfaction and enthusiasm in the running of this home.
My qualifications include NVQ level 3 and 4 in Care and the Registered Managers Award. I also hold the A1 assessor course to assist my staff team in gaining their NVQ qualifications and I have also attained level 2 in computer skills, together with other relevant training and updates.
The home obtained an excellence star rating from CQC in 2009 for the service that my staff and myself have provided for our Service Users.
I look forward to continuing to support the Service Users at Bishops Lodge and helping them develop in their lives and achieving their goals.
As I look back at the progress the Service User Group has made I am able to reflect on there journey. My service user group in total have lost 45.5 stone since the home opened. Some of these young people coming to the home have serious health issue, low self esteem and weight whcih has been spiralling out of control. This, for all of them, is happily not the case now, they have forged relationships, enjoyed holidays and extra outings out of the country and their health and self confidence has vastly improved.
Each Service User has a personalised activities programme which is extensive, and also includes work placement experience. The house is always full of laughter from the service users at Bishops Lodge and they are encouraged to participate in all aspects of the running and handling of the home.
The following are some of the comments / feedback we have had from our Service Users:
Malcolm says “Bishops Lodge is a nice place to live, and being here I have managed to lose a lot of weight and become a lot healthier. Mandy the Manager is wonderful and I appreciate everything she does for me”
Sarah says “I like living here, the staff are bonkers, they make me laugh”
Lizzie says “with the help of Bishops Lodge and New Directions I have lost a lot of weight and I do a lot of things. Bishops Lodge has turned my life around, I am a different person now and I love it”
Mark says “I moved into Lodge to help me to lose weight. The staff are friendly and totally bonkers and since moving here I have achieved losing weight. I do some excellent stuff - Pottery Swimming, Gym, Day Services, DVS and also a work placement, I go on holidays, trips and other wonderful stuff. Mandy Gates is my Manager - Lodge wouldn’t be the same without her. She is the best manager for Lodge she has helped me to lose weight and to achieve one to one”.
Bishops Lodge Staff Team
My staff team have a good skills base and are keen to take part in the many training opportunities that New Directions offer. I am pleased to say that I have a low staff turnover, as a matter of fact 50% of the team have been there since day one of Bishops Lodge. At least 60% of my staff team have, or are working towards NVQ level 2 or 3, Team Leader and Level 2 in food nutrition.
Here are my Senior Staff Team:
Julie
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Hi my name is Julie and I am a busy mum, I enjoy keeping fit when possible and meeting people. I started work as a carer looking after mental health clients before going into elderly and palliative care. Although I had only heard of PWS in passing conversation.
I started work at Bishops Lodge in 2005. I have taken part in many courses including NVQ 3 in health and social care and team leading skills, I enjoy the challenge of supporting service users to reach their targets including work placements, weight reduction, more independence and acceptance in the community.
Kate
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Hello my name is Kate, I started work at Bishops Lodge on 8th September 2008, as a Support Worker, I have been involved with New Directions since October 2005. Before I started with the Company I had never worked with Prader Willi Syndrome, or indeed, in the care industry. I had in fact worked as a waitress before. Since working with the company I have trained and now have been promoted to Senior Support Worker. I thoroughly enjoy the work that I do and working at Bishops Lodge with the Service Users and the staff are a great team.
Tracey
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My name is Tracey, and have worked for New Directions since 2005. I am a Senior Support Worker (Bank Staff). I have 1 son who is 11 years old and have been with my partner for 10 years. I have always worked in the care industry and started off as a qualified nanny in London. I then worked in a 45 bed residential home for the elderly as a full time carer and acting Senior. When I had my son I went back there to work as a senior night carer, totalling my years of employment there to 14 years. Within this time I passed my NVQ 2, 3 and A1 assessor.
I heard about Prader Willi syndrome through a TV programme, and then a couple of weeks later applied for a job with New Directions which I had seen in the local paper. I was offered the job and began working at Bishops Corner I then transferred to Bishops Lodge. And I am still here!
I very much enjoy my job and have a good relationship with service users, staff and manager.
BISHOPS LODGE
Everyone has been really busy decorating the windows in the day services to denote Spring and Easter. This was a competition and Gayle came to the home Friday 6th May 2011 and did the judging. The winner is the one below and this was done by Lizzie Amey – well done Lizzy.
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It is fair to say that it was a difficult decision as to which of the windows should be deemed the winner, and Gayle wanted to make sure that all the people living at Bishops Lodge were also praised for their efforts. Below are a selection of the other windows.
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Also, Bishops Lodge have been really busy with their project in the garden. A new green house has been purchased and a huge number of plants, both outdoor and indoor are being cultivated for use in the home and garden and also for sale at boot fairs and the like, the proceeds of which are used for buying new equipment for this project and also for day service trips. Keep a watch out for dates and venues of sales. Picture below of the greenhouse.
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NEW DIRECTIONS
Specialist care for people with Prader-Willi Syndrome
Admin Office:
23 Boscobel Road
St Leonards on Sea
East Sussex, TN38 0LX
Tel: (01424) 421684
www.praderwillisyndrome.org.uk