Transcript

INTERVIEWER

There was one resident at Woodland who stood out for me. Daisy seemed to have an unusually strong air of well-being.

Don, do you come in every day?

DON

I come here from 2:00 till 8:00.

DAISY

Ah, help.

DON

And I don't let nothing stand in the way of those hours when I want to come and see her. It don't matter who it is.

DAISY

Help.

DON

I've told everybody here. The ones that come to mind-- my house doctor with NHS, whoever they are. It's no good you coming to us in those hours that I'm coming up here, because I won't be seeing you. And I'm seeing Daisy, and that's it.

INTERVIEWER

And what gives you the strength to do that?

DON

Pardon?

INTERVIEWER

What gives you the strength to do that?

DON

Because I love the girl. That's why.

DAISY

You love me.

DON

Yes. I do love her very much, and I can't see no point in standing up in front of the vicar, being the big guy and saying--

DAISY

The vicar.

DON

--till death us do part and all that. And then the next minute you're gone and knocking about with someone else.

DAISY

Help.

DON

I don't believe in that rubbish because she's a lovely person. If I'd have let these people-- or whoever, wherever she went-- put her in the corner and forget about her and say, oh, she's lost her marbles and all that [INAUDIBLE], she wouldn't be as bright as she is today. Yet she does answer and-- don't you, Daisy?

DAISY

Pardon?

DON

You do answer me, don't you?

DAISY

Oh yes.

DON

See?

DAISY

Yes. Help.

DON

What's your name, then?

DAISY

Pardon?

DON

Is your name Daisy?

DAISY

Daisy.

INTERVIEWER

Daisy, are you happy?

DAISY

Am I happy?

INTERVIEWER

Yes.

DAISY

Yes.

INTERVIEWER

Through her husband Don, Daisy was getting that one thing that so many people in dementia care homes don't get, that meaningful one-to-one contact. And unquestionably, this was keeping her as with it and connected as she was.

DAISY

(SINGING) Happiness, happiness, la, la, la, that you possess.

DON

Who sang that then?

DAISY

[VOCALISING] Just a little happiness.

INTERVIEWER

Quite simply, the system needed to be Don.

DAISY

Happiness.

DON

Yes. All right, dear.

INTERVIEWER

I had been looking throughout the industry to see if I could find anywhere that was providing care that really managed to make residents feel alive and happy. I'd heard about a home in Warwickshire that tried to do exactly that.

Merevale House is a residential home for 35 people with dementia. Merevale was partly the inspiration of David Sheard, a care consultant.

It was brilliant. These residents were really living in their home and actually helping to run it.

DAVID SHEARD

Everybody working here sees themselves as an activity worker-- whether they are in the kitchen, whether they are in the office, whoever-- and that that's their main focus of the day is to connect to people, to occupy people. And yet, all the tasks will be dealt. You know, people will eat. People will be dressed. People will have help with personal care.

But what seems to be so hard is to get across in this care sector how you unhook from the task. And what seems to happen is managers seem to need to hang on to that task. Because if that's their safety blanket to run the place, and yet they're working with people who are not seeking order, whose lives are in a different order to ours, and that, therefore, surely demands that we change our order. And yet, somehow people, as you say, want to hold onto to theirs.

INTERVIEWER

And the great thing is it's not about the money. Merevale doesn't cost more to run than most residential homes. And yet, that involvement of people in running their own homes not only makes good emotional sense, but it makes good business sense too.

This home is rated as excellent, and so it's always full. The staff are well-treated and they feel part of it, so recruitment costs and training costs are low. On every level, they've created a place where people want to be.