What we aim to achieve
The fundamental aim of everyone working within the company is to ensure the well-being of the individuals we support and enable them to live their lives to their fullest potential.
- We seek to create a safe, welcoming, ‘home from home’ environment where residents feel safe and happy and their family and friends are welcome.
- As far as possible residents are supported to make their own choices and plan their own budgets. This includes choice of decoration/furnishing of the home, menu planning and planning of activities.
- Residents are encouraged to help with chores around the house, including cleaning, laundry, cooking and gardening if they are able.
— Independence
Encouraging independence
- Encouraging them to make informed choices about all aspects of their life.
- Helping them to learn various skills and build their confidence with a can-do attitude
- Encouraging them to take part in a range of educational, social and recreational activities that match their interests and ability.
- Setting goal plans with them and working towards achieving them
— Health
Health and Well-being
- We help residents with their medication, look after their physical health, make sure they are registered and have regular check ups with doctor, dentist, optician, etc
- Healthy eating is encouraged and meals are freshly cooked on the premises, with residents being involved in the preparation and cooking as far as possible, as well as menu planning.
- Encourage them to take part in a range of educational, social and recreational activities that match their interests and ability.
- We operate Halaal kitchens in all our homes and do not serve any pork based products, but residents are welcome to purchase and consume pork products as they wish when they are outside the home.
— Staff
Well trained staff team
- All staff are supported to undertake QCF training as well as a wide range of classroom based and online training.
- We provide training which is specific to the needs of the home and the individuals in our care, along with individual person centred workshops.
- Our experienced corporate staff team provide help, advice and administrative support to our homes on a wide variety of issues including HR, H&S, finance, legislation and registration matters.
Encouraging Independence, Personal Choice, and an Active Lifestyle.
The fundamental aim across the company is to meet the holistic needs of individuals in our care, ensure their well-being, and enable them to live their lives to their fullest potential.
Our philosophy centres around providing support for individuals to enable them to achieve. We do things as far as possible with them and not for them allowing for as much independence as possible and helping them achieve their own personal goals.
Regular contact with family and friends, where appropriate, is encouraged and we welcome visitors to the home and frequent phone calls. We also facilitate visits out to enable individuals to meet up and socialise with family and friends and encourage the development of appropriate relationships.
We hold regular company-wide events where all our residents and staff come together to celebrate. This gives residents a chance to get to know individuals and staff from other houses and develop friendships, and of course to enjoy themselves.
Holidays can be arranged for those individuals who would not be able to get away otherwise. These are carefully planned in accordance with company policy and procedures and in line with their care plan and they are accompanied by suitably trained and experienced staff.
Person-centred care recognises the things that make each person unique and uses this as the basis for planning and providing care and support by:
- recognising that everyone is different and unique.
- taking time to get to know individuals by listening to, understanding and valuing their history and life story.
- supporting individuals to make decisions and have control over their lives.
- focusing on an individual’s skills, abilities, resources, knowledge and wishes.
- recognising and accepting individual’s weaknesses, as well as their strengths.
- involving the individual and their support network, including their family members, friends and
others who know them from their community and other professionals. - considering and respecting the individual’s beliefs, gender, race and culture.
- developing behaviour support plans that are based on rigorous evidence.
- focusing on the individual’s preferences and needs, their goals and the outcomes they want to achieve
At Gofal Cymru Care our vision, mission and culture revolve around ensuring the well-being of and the best possible outcomes for individuals in our care. As such we are constantly seeking to improve our practices in order to ensure their well-being. We operate under the core values of professionalism, candour, integrity, honesty, fairness and commitment.
Equality and Diversity are central to everything we do; we strive to create an atmosphere where everyone is valued for their contribution.
We build our staff teams around the needs of those we support and ensure they all receive specific training geared around those individuals. Each individual is assigned a keyworker who works closely with and advocates for them. The senior care team support staff to monitor and assess individuals and carry out regular reviews of risk assessments and management plans. In house management is backed up by an experienced corporate team who offer advice and support.
We believe that having a well trained work force is essential for the safety and well being of both residents and staff. On top of their initial induction training staff undertake a range of classroom based and online training and on completion of their probation period are supported to undertake QCF training. We value staff feedback and input.
The company holds epilepsy, positive behavioural management, diabetes control and other specific person centred workshops whenever a need is identified to help staff provide a better standard of care and support and ensure we meet the physical, mental and emotional health needs of individuals. We have a zero tolerance policy towards any abuse of anyone in our care and the relevant Safeguarding team are advised of any issues we become aware of.
The opinions of those we support, and their families, matter and we gather those opinions informally on a day-to-day basis, asking what they think, what they want to do, etc. Some of those we support are non verbal and we use a variety of methods to communicate with them including pictures, objects of reference, offering physical choices (eg between two items of clothing). Staff learn to interpret their moods and their own ways of indicating likes or dislikes – body language, looks, sounds.
As well as external audits and inspections by CIW, Local Authorities and Health Boards we carry out our own regular internal audits in order to quality check our provision and identify any areas for improvement. The Responsible Individual and members of the Senior management Team pay regular visits to the homes, both formal and informal to ensure everything is operating as it should and offer help as necessary. Annual review meetings are held involving the individual, their family members, care team and any other professionals involved in their care. A person-centred approach is used to review goals from the previous year and set new aims for the coming year.
The support packages we offer have developed over the years to encompass complex care needs such as autism, acquired brain injury, challenging behavioural needs, personality disorders, bipolar condition, schizophrenia, Korsakoff syndrome.
These have often been accompanied by underlying physical health conditions and since then our staff have gained experience of a wide range of conditions including, but not limited to, diabetes, epilepsy, renal failure, Angelman Syndrome and Glycogen Storage Disorder.
We do not provide nursing care, and do not have nurses as a regular part of our staff teams. We rely on the district or specialist community nursing teams locally where the need arises for such care needs.
Over the years we have had considerable success in rehabilitating individuals with acquired brain injury and helping them to move on to independent living.
Gofal Cymru Care Ltd was first established in 2008 as an independent, privately owned specialist health care provider offering bespoke residential support and rehabilitation services for individuals with Learning Disabilities and/or Mental Health Needs.
Timothy House was the first establishment opened, but the need for such services became more and more evident and the company gradually expanded and today has eight homes with a mix of children and adult registered premises. We accept children from the age of 12 in some of our houses. There is no upper age limit in our adult homes, but we do not provide what is traditionally thought of as ‘elderly care’ nor for those with dementia.
We have change the lives of many who have come to us as frightened, anxious young people exhibiting a deal of behaviours of concern, and who now are living far more settled lives and with much better family relationships.
We understand how stressful it is for family members who realise they cannot cope any more and who have to make the difficult decision to put the care of their loved one in the hands of someone else, and do all we can to support those families too.