Question 1

Dementia strategy

Accepted Answer

At MHA, our approach to dementia care and support focuses on seeing the uniqueness of each person, working with families and friends to become partners in the care process.

To help us develop our person-centred approach, we launched our first dementia strategy in 2019. The strategy set out our compelling vision of dementia care, through six key commitments to our residents and members living with dementia:

We will support you to engage with your local community.
We will ensure that our colleagues and volunteers have the necessary attributes, attitudes, and knowledge to support you.
We will work in partnership with your family and friends to help them feel supported and involved.
We will work to recognise your behaviour as a form of communication and take time to respond in a supportive way.
We will ensure that you live in or visit an environment that makes you feel at home, safe and supported.
We will assist you to access spiritual support, meaningful music and activities.

We updated our strategy for 2023-2026 with our achievements on the above commitment and set out the next steps. Read our dementia strategy.

Question 2

End of life care strategy

Accepted Answer

For many residents in our care homes, MHA will provide them with their last home. In retirement living and MHA communities, residents and members may be further from the end of their lives but as we age, many of us become more thoughtful about how and where we would like that end to be. That is why we have developed our end of life care strategy, to set out our commitment to excellent care and how we plan to deliver it.

In the development of the strategy, we asked residents, relatives and colleagues, what would be important to them in the way we care for those coming to the end of their lives. The four commitments in the strategy are the result of what they told us:

We will put you at the centre of your support and care, enabling you to make decisions as long as you are able, and ensuring comfort and peace at the end of your life.
We will ensure that death and dying can be talked about openly and sensitively in all our services and communications.
We will support your family and friends for as long as is needed, helping them to say goodbye and celebrate your life.
We will ensure that our colleagues and volunteers have the necessary attitudes, knowledge, skills and support to care for you.
A key part of our work so far has been the revision of The Final Lap – an award-winning training programme designed to encourage a culture of openness and positivity for all our colleagues.

Our downloadable resources

End of life care strategy - English

End of life care strategy - Welsh

End of life charter - this sets out our commitments, offering the best possible end of life care and support.

Question 3

Green care strategy

Accepted Answer

Our green care strategy sets out commitments on how access to nature enables residents and members to live later life well, as well as how it plays a key role for family members and colleagues. The aim of the green care strategy seeks to enhance wellbeing of everyone we support through both structured and informal access to the natural world.

Our green care commitments:

We will ensure that all residents and members, together with their friends and loved ones, volunteers, and colleagues have the opportunity, and are supported, to spend meaningful time in, or interact with nature
We will train, support and resource colleagues and volunteers to ensure they are equipped to deliver meaningful interaction with nature
We will develop structured programmes of Social Therapeutic Horticulture (green care) that seek to address the individual needs of our residents and members.

Watch our green care playlist:

Question 4

Music strategy

Accepted Answer

Music is a key part of our holistic approach to care and support at MHA, enabling people to live later life well. We are proud of our music therapy service and wish to build on this, as well as appreciate how music plays an important part in all of our lives.

Music has the power to evoke many different emotions and memories: the songs we used to dance to, and the ones we might still be dancing to; the bands that we followed; music that inspired us; music that helped us through celebrations as well as sad times; and music that moves us and gives us meaning.

Our music strategy sets out commitments on how the use of music enables residents and members to live later life well, as well as how music can play a key role for family members and colleagues. The commitments in the strategy aim to offer the best possible music provision, care, and support.

Our commitments to music:

We will ensure that music is used effectively, to enhance mind, body, and spirit, and the use of music is person-centered
We will grow our music therapy service ensuring it's used to its best effect across the full range of MHA services
We will ensure all our services have access to high-quality music, both in-person and digitally
We will use music as part of our holistic approach in supporting colleagues and relatives
We will use music to further engage the wider community, deepening existing and new relationships.

Question 5

Nursing workforce strategy

Accepted Answer

The nursing workforce strategy is designed to support MHA to be fit for the future, to value our nurses by realising their potential and to enhance later life. We want to mirror the strategic aim of the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) by aiming for a workforce that is ‘safe, effective and kind’.

The strategy set out our compelling vision of nursing care, through four key commitments:

We will provide a framework for recruitment and induction of nurses
We will support, develop and provide a career pathway for our nursing workforce
We will support the future of nursing in adult social care
We will celebrate the value of our nursing workforce.

Question 6

Spirituality strategy

Accepted Answer

At MHA, we treat every person as an individual, involving each person in shaping the way we support their spiritual wellbeing. We also recognise that people live connected to many different communities, not least the MHA service to which they belong. Alongside families and friendships, people are often part of social, religious, and activity-based communities.

Our spirituality strategy sets out commitments on how spirituality enables residents and members to live later life well, as well as how spirituality plays a key role for family members and colleagues. The aim of the spirituality strategy is to ensure that we are able to provide quality spiritual care for residents, members, families, and colleagues.

Our commitments to spirituality:

We will ensure that the spiritual care we provide is person-centered and reflects the community in which it is provided.
We will ensure that colleagues understand how everyone can contribute to the way spirituality is recognised and supported.
We will train, support, and resource chaplains, ensuring that they are best placed to model MHA values and be ambassadors for holistic care
We will develop and encourage the role of volunteering within chaplaincy.
We will ensure that colleagues and family members have moments to reflect and the opportunity to express and explore their spiritual needs, as well as support those they care for.

Our strategy 2022-25

MHA reshaping care and later living

MHA connections

MHA enhancing later life

MHA fit for the future

MHA people

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