Millfield Care Home celebrates Veteran Friendly Framework accreditation in style!

Many of our homes have been working hard behind the scenes recently to become Veteran Friendly Framework (VFF) accredited, and Millfield Care Home has been one of the first to celebrate how their hard work has paid off! We were excited to go along to their party and hear more from the team about this development.

Firstly, what does it mean for a nursing home to be VFF accredited? In short, the initiative was started by the Royal British Legion, Royal Star and Garter and the Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance to improve the standard of care provided for veterans living across care homes in England.

The reason that this initiative is truly special is because the needs of veterans, and their wives/spouses, are different. They require a tailored approach which takes into account the social, emotional and physical effects their military duty may have had on their life.

For Millfield Care Home, this was something which the whole team felt very passionately about. Home Manager, Karen, told us: “This is something very close to our hearts here at Millfield. My grandparents fought in the war, and several of my relatives are in the RAF too, and many of the team have similar links to the military in their family. We also have residents who held various duties during the war, as well as spouses of veterans.”

The process of reaching this accreditation requires hard work and the completion of 8 different stages – some of which include specific staff training and education, established links to local Armed Forces services, and incorporating a person’s Armed Forces status into their personalised care plan.

Karen also gave her thanks to Home Administrator Jemma, Activities Coordinators Victoria and Lucy and the rest of the amazing team for their unwavering hard work in these recent months. Team work makes the dream work!

To celebrate, the home planned a brilliant party with live entertainment from Jayne Darling – Vintage Singer, who looked the part and sang beautifully for all the residents and family members.

Between the dancing and singing of all the 1940s classic songs, everyone enjoyed delicious cakes and treats which were baked and decorated in-house by the very talented kitchen team. Most of all, everybody enjoyed spending valuable time together and making memories under such happy circumstances.

The afternoon ended with a wonderful rendition of everyone’s favourite wartime song, ‘We’ll meet again’ by Vera Lynn. It was the perfect end to an excellent afternoon in our Bolsover home.

A huge well done to the whole team for their dedication to the Veteran Friendly Framework initiative! If you’d like more information on Millfield Care Home, take a look here or call the home on 01246 825959.