Lister House

Louise Brady is the Clinical Nurse Development Lead supporting the Royal British Legion’s six care homes. She tweets @louisebrady17.

Lister House Care Home nestles against the beautiful North Yorkshire landscape, just on the outskirts of the historic small city of Ripon.  

The Royal British Legion has six beautiful care homes across various part of the UK. What connects all our families and their residents is their previous service within the armed forces. For many, the experience of serving in the Armed Forces has been life-changing, and central to who they are as people. The residents I have met have told me that the camaraderie brings a source of friendship, community, purpose and pride.

Equally, some find aspects of their military backgrounds deeply upsetting and are unwilling to talk about it, even regarding traumatic events which occurred many years ago. As a Registered Nurse, I feel extremely humbled and privileged to get the opportunity to learn about people’s lives and being aware of this and sensitive to possible past trauma and bereavement can help solidify strong therapeutic relationships.

The recent media coverage of care homes has been unprecedented, amidst the Coronavirus pandemic. Journalists abound who have painted a horrific image of care homes and its staff. The care home sector has been described as ‘squalid’ ‘dilapidated’ and their staff as ‘low skilled’. Nothing could be further from the truth. Whilst across the country there have been good and bad examples of care, the descriptors from some sectors of media commentary have been far removed from those staff present in care homes with a wide breadth and depth of experience. Living in a care setting is not perceived to equate with a decent quality of life and I find this to be an inaccurate and insidious perception not least because for the majority of homes, this is indeed not the case, and if echoed through society it could become a dangerous narrative. I believe all our residents must be treated with the utmost dignity and respect and not be perceived by some media circles as mere ‘passive recipients of care’ but indeed as the active partners that they are.

Meet Ben Tyler from Lister House. Ben cuts a stark and strong figure of a man in real life, with a wicked sense of humour.

Ben has a fascinating personal and military history. I was both humbled and privileged to spend some time with Ben and the team at Lister and to learn about his life, his interests and his aspirations. Although Ben has physical challenges, he is far from being a passive recipient of care. Steve Kay, our dedicated and industrious Registered Home Manager, tells me that Ben sits on Lister’s Residents’ Council. The Council meet regularly with the staff to decide how their home is run. Usually, this encompasses everything from involvement in training of new staff members, to improving choice of menus, support for local events, social activities, and outings, amongst the many day-to-day aspects of everyday home life.

Steve tells me Ben was part of the interview panel he met before he was successfully appointed as Lister Home manager. Steve laughs and announces that straight away he and Ben ‘clicked’ and ‘connected’. This was made easier as the pair had plenty in common. Ben had served in Africa and Saudi Arabia and Steve had also worked in Saudi, and both spoke some Arabic. So, the interview was led by Ben in part Arabic and part north Yorkshire dialect!