A charity serving Royal Navy and Royal Marine veterans is set to enhance the high-quality offering at its two care homes with the adoption of the acclaimed ‘Butterfly Approach’ – establishing an exemplary dementia care culture where people can thrive.
The Royal Naval Benevolent Trust’s (RNBT) Admiral Jellicoe House, in Portsmouth, and Pembroke House, in Gillingham, is making the significant move to a more person‐centred care model to elevate its outstanding care offering even further.
Both specialist veteran care and nursing homes will be adopting the Butterfly Approach from Meaningful Care Matters, a care and culture consultancy specialising in focusing on the development of resilient, relationship-centred cultures of care shaped by the people living and working within them.
The Butterfly model has a meticulous focus on creating a culture where people are ‘free to be me’. It values emotional intelligence and the core belief that everyone has a unique story that has meaning and matters. It also encourages care providers to put the focus back on the people they care for and their emotions, by engaging in the reality of people’s lived experience in the ‘here and now’.
Debbie Dollner, CEO of The RNBT, said: “Adopting a person‐centred care model like the Butterfly Approach will be transformational for both our homes. Having begun the process of rolling out the programme with Meaningful Care Matters last week, there is already a degree of excitement and enthusiasm from staff, residents and their families. Collectively, we know this will elevate our already established care offering even further.”
Setting a new standard in care, Admiral Jellicoe House was opened in June 2022 and is the latest addition to The RNBT’s care facilities, offering resident-centred care and dedicated dementia support to veterans of the Royal Navy and their dependants.
Its state-of-the-art facilities include 66 luxury en-suite rooms, an in-house library, cinema room, bar, formal and informal dining room, and a communal balcony overlooking the neighbouring park and cricket ground.
In addition to implementing the Butterfly Approach, Admiral Jellicoe House is also introducing Meaningful Care Matters’ ‘Dragonfly Approach’, which is open to all care cultures, not just dementia specific. With a focus on the deeper meanings of life and similarities with spirituality, mindfulness and wellbeing, this approach specifically focuses on palliative care and hospice services, mental health, learning disability, and generalist health and social care settings.
Pembroke House is a purpose-built, 54-bed care home for veterans of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, having been converted from an orphanage in 1952. Its imposing Gothic building has been serving veterans and their dependants for 70 years, with its residents and staff enjoying a varied, yet familiar way of life to encourage independence and give each day meaning and purpose.
Peter Bewert, Managing Director of Meaningful Care Matters, said: “We’re delighted to see both Admiral Jellicoe House and Pembroke House adopt our Butterfly Approach. It has been testing time for the social care sector, so we applaud their determination to offer an environment where veterans using their services can thrive and enjoy the highest quality of life possible. We look forward to assisting more care providers in facilitating the creation, reinvigoration and sustainable implementation of person‐centred care cultures. It’s coming back to the art and heart of care, where people, and moments, matter.”
For more information on Admiral Jellicoe House and Pembroke House, please visit https://www.rnbt.org.uk/our-care-homes/.
Or for more information on Meaningful Care Matters and its cultural transformation models, visit https://meaningfulcarematters.com/.
