Home Care

Adrian was referred to the Pandemic Crisis Project by Little Sprouts in Thornaby. At the time, Adrian was shielding and was awaiting a covid-19 test due to having some symptoms. Unable to leave his home, Adrian required some support with getting shopping and having his prescription collected.

Staff spoke to Adrian on the phone and explained he was currently shielding due to a number of health issues and was hoping to receive some support with shopping whilst he awaited his covid-19 home testing kit. Staff offered Adrian a one-off voucher for ASDA for his shopping, which he was very grateful for and arranged a time to collect Adrian’s shopping list and carry out his food shop.

A day was arranged for staff to carry out the shop. Once the shopping was done it was placed on Adrian’s doorstep and staff moved away to a safe distance for Adrian to bring in his shopping. Staff also wore full PPE in order to keep themselves and Adrian safe whilst he awaited his covid-19 test. Adrian was so grateful for the help and could not thank the staff enough.

Since carrying out Adrian’s shopping his covid-19 test came back negative which was a huge relief for Adrian. However, Adrian was still shielding and although the government guidelines changed which encouraged those who were shielding to leave their homes during none busy periods of the day, Adrian still felt like he could not quite make the bus journey to the pharmacy to collect his prescription. Staff reassured Adrian that he did not need to worry as they would be able to do this for Adrian until he felt he felt more confident to carry this out himself.

Every week staff collect and deliver Adrian’s weekly prescription and chat to Adrian from a safe distance to see how he is doing and making sure he is well. Staff look forward to their chats with Adrian each week and enjoy listening to his goals and aims for the future.

Adrian has collected his prescription a few times independently when having a doctor’s appointment. However still feels a little uneasy using public transport as he has said he often gets off the bus early and walks the rest of his journey if the bus becomes too crowded. Staff continue to work with Adrian and support him in any way which he needs.

Staff spoke to Adrian about his experience accessing the Five Lamps services;

The service the Five Lamps have provided me during the pandemic and the time I have been shielding is excellent. They have been collecting my medication for me on a weekly basis and any grocery shopping if I need any. This eased the worries of having to organise having to collect my medication and shop. Being a stressful person, I was able to relax more and spend my time better. Home study, cooking, radio, art, online scrabble, reading and relaxation. From the onset I was introduced to Hannah who became my worker and I immediately looked forward to her visits every week however short they have been.

Hannah was thoughtful and we kept in regular contact by telephone to see if there were any changes to my prescription or if I needed any shopping. I was also introduced to several other members of the Five Lamps team though unfortunately I can only remember Megan’s name. Though I do remember their faces! Each of whom was equally caring and thoughtful as Hannah. Which gave me a feeling of being valued.

I would like to say thank you for the Asda voucher and the Christmas hamper you gave me. I hope to use the Five Lamps in the future for money management skills, finding voluntary work and going back to school.

I also would like to say thank you to Little Sprouts for directing me to the Five Lamps when I was at a low end and both have played a part in my health improving during the pandemic.
Thank you Five Lamps.

To find out more about the Pandemic Crisis Support Project, please contact Megan Stevens or Hannah Hammond.

Five Lamps are thrilled to announce that they have won a competitive tendering process and have been awarded primary and secondary provider status on Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council’s Care at Home Framework.

The expansion of care services has started this month, with Five Lamps doubling their care hours to 2,000 hours per week. The new contract also means that Five Lamps have taken over the running of Parkside Court Extra Care Scheme as well as extra care hours across the Borough.

Parkside Court is a fantastic facility based in Cumbernauld Road, Thornaby and compromises a mix of 48 two-bed purpose built flats and bungalows and has a communal lounge and garden areas. The dedicated and experienced team from Parkside Court have also transferred their employment to Five Lamps, which means the company now employs 74 Care Assistants, most of which live locally.

The opportunity is extremely exciting and Five Lamps have ambitious plans for Parkside Court, including developing a menu of activities for the residents once lockdown restrictions have been fully lifted, which will include intergenerational activities involving the young people who attend Five Lamps Youth Club.

Five Lamps started out as a domically home care provider in 2016 under a pilot with Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council to bring a social enterprise home care provider into the borough. Over the last four years, Five Lamps have continuously identified ways to improve their services and go the extra mile for their service users and staff. This has included investing in an innovative app, where Care Assistants can update service user records in real time, allowing families to be kept up to date.

The Home Care Team also arrange for every service user to receive a gift at Christmas and an Easter egg at Easter using donations from the local community and businesses. These little tokens help to improve social isolation and the well-being of service users. Five Lamps have also delivered over 200 food and activity parcels to Home Care service users since March 2020, many of whom have been shielding due to Covid-19.

Five Lamps also try to go the extra mile for their Care Assistants and have recently secured funding to provide two electric bikes for Care Assistants to utilise, along with travel mugs, water bottles and backpacks for all Care Assistants to support them to fulfil their roles and also recognise the brilliant job they do.

Nicola Garrett, Director of Corporate Services said: “We are incredibly proud to secure a place on Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council’s Care at Home Framework. We have worked tirelessly since entering the domically home care market in 2016 to grow our service offer and we are thrilled to now include an Extra-Care Scheme within this. As a Charity, we try to add value and are continuously looking for ways in which we can go the extra mile when delivering care across Stockton. Our Home Care Team and Care Assistants do an amazing frontline job and provide a lifeline to many people in the community; this has most recently been shown during the Covid-19 pandemic and I am incredibly proud of them.”

Anchor Hanover run the day to day operations of Parkside Court, to find out more, please click here.

Care Assistants provide a vital frontline service and help many people every day in the community. If you are inspired by the role of providing care in the community and you strive to make a difference to people’s lives, Five Lamps have vacancies for Care Assistants. To find out more, please visit www.fivelamps.org.uk/vacancies (flexible roles available).

Photo shows (left to right): Cheron Moore, Five Lamps Registered Manager, Mary Hinds, Scheme Manager and Nicola Garrett, Director of Corporate Services.

Alan was referred to the Home from Hospital Service from ward 24 at North Tees University Hospital as he was being discharged home and nurses identified that he would benefit from some support from the Home from Hospital team.

Megan Stevens, Five Lamps Support Worker, supported Alan by doing shopping calls for him, home help around the house and took him to appointments. Alan was happy with the support from staff and enjoyed having social chats with the staff who work on the project.

This is a particularly difficult time for our Service Users due to the Covid-19 pandemic and Alan is classed in the vulnerable category of the over 70’s, with a lifelong medical condition.

During one of Megan’s visits with Alan he began suffering from a serious nosebleed and it would not stop. Megan stayed with Alan to support him until it had stopped, whilst trying to reassure him. Megan advised Alan to call his pendant alarm if he panics or if it started again or to ring 111 if he couldn’t stop the bleed.

On leaving Alan’s property Megan received a call off Alan 20 minutes later, and rushed back and tried to calm Alan down whilst trying to stop the bleed. Megan was concerned that the bleed was not stopping and called an ambulance and Alan’s family.

A couple of days later Megan received a phone call from Alan with such joy in his voice informing them he is okay and is home.

Alan said, “There is nothing I can ever do or say to repay you Megan, you have saved my life, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you”

Alan has a long term medical condition, which means if he had not received medical treatment it could have resulted in a fatality. Fortunately Megan was visiting Alan that day and was on hand to support him and phone for medical assistance.

Five Lamps Home from Hospital Service is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and helps people coming out of hospital with anything from their transport home; ensuring the heating works and the house is tidy; collecting shopping or prescriptions and liaising with a wide range of other services to reduce the chance that this person will end up back in hospital. The service supports the over 50’s coming out of North Tees University Hospital to ‘get back on their feet.’ Our Support Workers can also provide a vital link between the older person and the outside world at a time when they are still recovering from an accident or illness and encourage them to be involved in social inclusion activities.

To access the service please call, 07591951210 or 07739973394.

Sheila was referred to the Home from Hospital Service from the Accident and Emergency department at North Tees University Hospital.  Sheila is 81 years old and lives in Thornaby and had a problem with her stomach and then had a serious fall in her home.

Megan, Five Lamps Home from Hospital Support Worker was assigned to support Sheila to get back on her feet on her discharge from hospital.

Megan has supported Sheila to organise her medication and she is also organising a re-enablement service to come in to help her with showering and her meals for the day.

Megan now also assists Sheila to hospital appointments and offers one to one support to help lift her mood as she felt upset that she had, had such a serious fall.

A family friend of Sheila’s said of the service provided,

“Megan is kind, compassionate and very helpful. She made Sheila feel relaxed and much happier. She began the process of referrals to various agencies and reassured Sheila (and me) that help was available to her. She was absolutely brilliant and a credit to your service.”

Due to the service that Sheila has received she now feels more confident in her home and she is growing stronger day by day.

Five Lamps Home from Hospital Service is funded by the National Lottery Communiity Fund and helps people coming out of hospital with anything from their transport home; ensuring the heating works and the house is tidy; collecting shopping or prescriptions and liaising with a wide range of other services to reduce the chance that this person will end up back in hospital.  The service supports the over 50’s coming out of North Tees University Hospital to ‘get back on their feet.’  Our Support Workers can also provide a vital link between the older person and the outside world at a time when they are still recovering from an accident or illness and encourage them to be involved in social inclusion activities.

A survey by Age UK has identified that Christmas is the loneliest time of the year for over 1.5 million older people, with those who have lost a loved one struggling the most.

Five Lamps Home Care team wanted to ensure all of their Service Users and elderly people who live in Thornaby and surrounding areas had comfort on Christmas day and ensure that no elderly person felt alone.

In 2018, one of the Five Lamps Home Care, Care Assistants, Bethany Bibi created an appeal for gifts for the elderly. The appeal was a huge success and each and every one of the Service Users received a gift. They also partnered up with local Care Home, Hillcare to deliver gifts to residents in the care homes who had no family and wouldn’t be getting any visitors or gifts at Christmas time.

The feedback from the appeal was overwhelming, with Service Users reporting to their Care Assistants that the unexpected gift, was the only one they had received on Christmas day and they were very grateful for the kind gesture.

To follow on from the successful appeal, Bethany Bibi decided to run the appeal again for Christmas 2019. Once again the appeal was a huge success and we received donations of gifts by local businesses, members of the community and also staff within Five Lamps.

The gifts once again made a massive difference and helped lots of Service Users, many of those whose only Christmas interaction was a 30minute call by one of their Care Assistants.

When delivering the gifts one of the Service Users said,

“Thank you so much, this is the second gift I have received this year, last year my husband died during the Christmas period, so I have been feeling down, however, this has really lifted my Christmas spirit!”

In total the Care Assistants delivered 72 gifts in 2019.

As well as a gift, Five Lamps Home Care Service Users were invited to a free Christmas Lunch provided by Labyrinth, on the 23 December 2020 at South Thornaby Community Centre.

The two course meal consisted of a turkey roast with all of the trimmings, along with Christmas pudding, mince pies or sponge cake for dessert. The lunch was a huge success with 61 people from the community attending.

Five Lamps Home from Hospital service recently supported a gentleman who had been discharged from the University of North Tees Hospital.

Staff visited him in his home for fourteen days to support him to get ‘back on his feet’ and to help him with food shopping and sorting through his bills, which were making him feel anxious.  There were some errors on his bills and staff were able to deal with various agencies on the Service Users behalf and also ensure they were correct.

On one of the Support Worker visits, staff found that the gentleman had signed a contract for security to be fit in his home.  The company was to fit 3 security cameras, a monitor, and doorbell with a camera and also provide a smart phone to enable him to watch the security cameras.  Staff read the contract and took note of the name and address of the company providing the quote.

There was a footnote on the signed contract which had a ‘cooling off’ period of 7 days if the person signing for the work to be completed changed their mind.  The cost of the work was going to be £1,600 and the gentleman became concerned and anxious at this amount and decided to cancel the contract.

He then made a telephone call to the security company and received verbal abuse from the ‘contractor’ and was threatened as he was told that the equipment had already been ordered.  He was also told that the man would be calling round to his house within 30 minutes.

Due to the vulnerability of the gentleman, and his lack of mobility staff rang Stockton police station to ask for advice.  Staff gave all details of the name and address of the company involved including the telephone number and e-mail address.  The police believed the company to be bogus and firmly believed that no one would turn up at the gentleman’s home.  He gave the Home from Hospital staff a crime number to pass on to the gentleman and told staff if there were any problems not to answer the door and to dial 999 and quote the crime number and police would arrive straight away.

Staff telephoned the gentleman at approximately 10.30am later that morning to ensure he was still safe.  His friend was at his home and he had not received any visits.

The gentleman was very pleased that Home from Hospital staff were able to support and help him with this and he was very grateful to save him £1,600.  The gentleman was an army veteran and his finances were very precious to him.

Five Lamps Home from Hospital Service supports people who are over 50 and live in the Stockton-on-Tees local authority with a free service to return home from hospital.  We provide up to 14 days of support and our staff can help with anything from transport home; ensuring the heating works and the house is tidy; collecting shopping or prescriptions and liaising with a wide range of other services to reduce the chance that the Service User may end up back in hospital.

For more information please call 07739 973394 or 07591 951210 or click here.

Five Lamps is extremely pleased to announce that we have secured a 3 year grant from the National Lottery Community Fund to deliver a Home from Hospital Service.  The project has created two new full time Support Worker posts that are based at North Tees University Hospital.

The Support Workers help people coming out of hospital with anything from their transport home; ensuring the heating works and the house is tidy; collecting shopping or prescriptions and liaising with a wide range of other services to reduce the chance that this person will end up back in hospital.

To be eligible for the free service you have to be a resident living within the Stockton-on-Tees local authority and be over 50 years old.

Our Support Workers can also provide a vital link between the older person and the outside world at a time when they are still recovering from an accident or illness and encourage them to be involved in social inclusion activities including Five Lamps lunch club (which is every Tuesday at South Thornaby Community Centre).

This is a warm and welcoming environment to stimulate older people to take up new opportunities and make new friends.  Our staff can also make referrals to services such as the Citizens Advice Bureau for further support needs and a handyperson service to ensure that outstanding repairs in the home are completed.

When older people come out of hospital, they can need more support than usual to help get them back on their feet. Five Lamps’ Home from Hospital service provides this support for up to 14 days post discharge from University Hospital North Tees. This project has been fully funded by the Community National Lottery Community Fund.

Home from Hospital Project Manager Nichola Storr said,

“I’m thrilled to have received this funding to provide a much needed service to the community to ensure we reduce hospital readmissions and support our Service Users to become independent again and meet new friends.”

For further information about the service or to arrange a referral, please contact Julie Gregson or Megan Stevens on, 07739 973394 or 07591951210

Five Lamps are hoping to bring people together and reduce the risk of social isolation in Thornaby and surrounding areas, by hosting a lunch club every Tuesday lunch time.

The lunch club will allow the attendees to meet new people, socialise with friends and it will ultimately help bring the community together, whilst raising awareness of services and activities they can be involved in within the local community.

The lunch club will consist of a two course meal, followed by games and activities for the attendees. The event is £4 to attend and will be held every Tuesday 12:30 – 13:30 at South Thornaby Community Centre, TS17 9JG.

Each week there will be a new menu choice on offer and will include meals such as; mince dinners, shepherd’s pie, apple crumble and cheesecake.

Service users of Five Lamps Home Care, who receive a lunch call on Tuesday afternoons will be invited to attend the clubs free of charge. Five Lamps will also help to arrange free transport for anyone who is finding it difficult to access the clubs but would like to attend.

The lunch club has now been open for three weeks and one of the attendees has said

“I really enjoy the lunch club and I have made new friends already!”

If you would be interested in attending the lunch club or would like to find out more information please contact the Home Care office on 01642 755517. Booking is essential.

There are a lot of older people facing the prospect of spending this Christmas period alone, despite wanting company. Five Lamps wanted to bring these people together and reduce the risk of social isolation, by hosting a festive lunch within South Thornaby Community Centre for the over 65’s.

The £600 funding for the event was secured in the form of successful Asda local impact grant.  Our guests were treated to a free three course Christmas lunch with games and activities provided by Thornaby Town Hall volunteers.  Asda’s Community Champion, Cath Abel, also attended the event and provided some much needed help with cooking the Christmas dinner.

20 people attended the Christmas lunch with many of them saying that if it is held again next year that they would love to return.  Rita who attended said,

“I’ve never attended anything like this before and I’m hoping to make new friends today.”

Five Lamps asked Service Users on their Home Care and Home from Hospital projects if they would like to attend the event and courtesy of local taxi driver Sagga, were given free transport to and from the event.

On leaving the event everyone was gifted with a festive hamper to take away, which included; tinned foods, confectionery items and gloves.

For more information of this event please contact Amy Baker at on 01642 608316 or amybaker@fivelamps.org.uk for further information about Five Lamps please visit; www.fivelamps.org.uk or telephone 01642 608316.

A service which provides personal care support to residents in Stockton-on-Tees has been rated ‘Good’ in its first Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection.

The rating was awarded to Five Lamps Home Care service following a two day inspection.

In their report, inspectors recognised that staff go ‘out of their way’ to improve the quality of life of clients and ensure they support people ‘with privacy, dignity and confidentiality in mind’.

And the report also included comments from service users and their families. They include: “There are really excellent staff that always do their best to make my relative feel secure and cared for,” “Couldn’t ask for better care they [staff] are so kind and lovely” and “We all appreciate how good the carers are and how they treat our relative with such respect and kindness”.

Staff have an action plan in place to improve on the identified issues which require improvement. Graeme Oram, Chief Executive said:

“Home Care is a new service within Five Lamps’ portfolio and we have drawn real value from the CQC inspection. This achievement is a powerful endorsement of the commitment and dedication of our caring staff team who work incredibly hard to deliver safe and person-centred care.

As an organisation, we are strongly focused on service quality and continuous improvement. We are keen to see our Home Care service grow in the short term and we view the CQC rating and the learning from the inspection as integral to that growth.”

Five Lamps has been delivering community services for over 30 years and developed its home care service in December 2016 in partnership with Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council. Providing over 600 hours of weekly care, staff support residents with personal care, helping them to get dressed, washed and eat, cleaning and shopping. The service also helps with social engagement and wellbeing.

Councillor Jim Beall, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health, said:

“This ‘Good’ rating goes a long way to show that local community-based organisations such as Five Lamps can successfully deliver vital personal care services in collaboration with the Council. You need only read the comments from service users and their families to see what a huge difference the Home Care service makes to their lives.

“I’d like to congratulate and thank all the staff at Five Lamps Home Care for the great work they are doing to help local people live safely and comfortably in their own homes for longer.”

For more information about Five Lamps, visit www.fivelamps.org.uk or call 01642 608316.