News
Hywel Dda: Working together for care home residents
Health and social care partners and Independent Care Home Providers in West Wales are working together to ensure people with COVID-19 are treated with dignity and respect and involved as much as possible in decisions about their care and treatment whether they are in a hospital or care home.
Care homes are a central and essential part of frontline services in West Wales, in particular by ensuring and supporting the health and wellbeing of the most vulnerable of the population. Many of our care settings are facing significant challenges and supporting care staff in these settings has never been more important. We recognise that this is a time of great anxiety for families of residents and the care homes who provide such outstanding care throughout this unprecedented time.
Hywel Dda University Health Board and County Councils in Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire are working together to support care homes and deliver the best possible care to vulnerable people in a timely and appropriate way.
This means a wide range of key workers from doctors, nurses, health care support workers, carers, assistants, cleaners, transport workers, managers and volunteers are all playing their part in planning, advising and providing the care older people need, taking account of their wishes.
Across our communities, we are seeing examples of exemplar working from clinicians supporting and providing direct care in the care home setting. This can involve hospital clinicians collaborating with GPs and community teams and also the transfer of residents into hospital when needed. Technology is also being utilised in many care homes so that they can maintain contact with District Nurses and GPs in a timely manner.
Jill Paterson, Director of Primary, Community and Long Term Care, said: “We are working really hard as a whole Health and Care Community, with the shared goal of providing the best care for residents of Care Homes , preventing further spread of the disease, and protecting the safety of care givers.”
Dr Sion James, Deputy Medical Director at Hywel Dda, added: “General Practice and Community teams across the Health Board are offering continuing and increased support to patients in our care homes. We are working as a team across Health and Social care to provide care for this important vulnerable groups. GP Practices are contacting care homes on a daily basis to ensure that residents are getting the care they need.”
Jake Morgan, Statutory Director of Social Services in Carmarthenshire said: “This is an extraordinarily challenging time for our care workforce who are on the front line dealing with this pandemic. Over the last few weeks we have been able to offer our care homes additional financial support, advice and protective equipment to support them in carrying out their critical role. We will continue to do all we can to support care staff doing a remarkable job in these challenging times.”
Eifion Evans, Chief Executive of Ceredigion County Council, added: “We are working very closely with our Health Board colleagues in ensuring we maintain the required services to our most vulnerable in a safe and timely manner throughout this period. We also thank and acknowledge our heartfelt gratitude to each and every one supporting the health and social care sector in Ceredigion.”
Geriatrician and Consultant Physician at Prince Philip Hospital, Llanelli Dr Andy Haden, has recently had experience of working closely with a Llanelli care home where a number of residents were affected by COVID-19.
He explained: “In the past few weeks I have been working closely with a care home affected by the disease, as it can be serious in that setting. Myself, Palliative Care consultants and Specialist and General Nurses and Local Authority staff have been supporting people in the Home.
“What has been really important is an individualised approach where we do the right thing for the person affected, and we ask them what their wishes are, of if they cannot speak for themselves, seek help from family or carers. For some people that will mean ensuring they come into the hospital and for others it will be support at the end of their life in their home environment where they are comfortable and cared for with compassion and dignity.”
News
Storm Bert aborts Pembrokeshire lifeboat in search for missing person
A major sea search got underway on Sunday evening following reports of a missing person in the sea off Rhossili.
Tenby Lifeboat received a call shortly after 11 pm on Sunday, November 24 from the coastguards, requesting the crew’s assistance.
“The volunteer crew was soon on the water and got to Rhossili in extremely rough seas as a result of Storm Bert,” commented a spokesperson for the Tenby crew
“The crew was requested to search around Worm’s Head using lights and night vision equipment.”
But after searching the coastline for around two hours, the crew was forced to stand down.
“It soon became obvious that the conditions were too rough for the lifeboat to get in close enough to be of any assistance, so with the lifeboat unable to safely provide assistance due to extremely rough seas, the crew stood down.”
News
How local rum inspired by legendary pirate has exploded into national sensation
When Jonathan Williams left his desk job in Swindon way back in 2010, his mission, to many, was impossible.
This is the man who hot-footed it back to Pembrokeshire to harvest seaweed from Freshwater West which he then used to create his multi award-winning ‘Pembrokeshire Beach Food Company.’
Using only choice produce sourced from the seas around Pembrokeshire, Jonathan’s innovative (and many would say courageous) idea began tickling the taste buds of some of the UK’s top chefs and food critics including James Martin who christened Williams as ‘the crazy seaweed man’.
Fast-forward seven years and once again Jonathan began honing yet another brain-storming idea, this time inspired by the mighty Bartholomew Roberts – otherwise known as Black Bart. After setting sail from his home in Little Newcastle at the age of 13, Bart gained notoriety as the most successful pirate in the ‘golden age of piracy’ who went on to raid 400 prize ships off the Americas and the West African coast between 1719 until his death from a wound to his throat, in 1722.
And so began Barti Spiced Rum.
“Everything was ticking along nicely at the Pembrokeshire Beach Food Company, and then in January 2017, Jonathan went off on paternity leave,” explained Barti Rum’s managing director, Fran Barnikel.
“Any normal person would have been busy changing nappies, but Jonathan, being the incredible entrepreneurial person that he is, came back to work saying, ‘Ok, I’m going to start a new company’.
“He’d read about Barti Ddu the pirate, and had always wanted to bring out a spiced rum in his honour. So he’d spent his paternity leave investigating different distilleries and bottlers and slowly but surely, Barti Spiced Rum started to come to fruition.”
Because of Jonathan’s strong allegiance with Pembrokeshire seaweed, he knew from the outset that the natural product would be used in his rum.
“Jonathan wanted his rum to be vibrant in flavour, so the seaweed is infused, giving it a real depth of flavour and enhancing the other ingredients which include vanilla, cloves, cinnamon, orange and lemon,” said Fran.
The rum is distilled in the Caribbean and then exported to Cardiff where the Pembrokeshire seaweed along with the remaining ingredients are infused.
“Out first batch arrived in late summer and initially we sold only to people we knew,” continued Fran.
“But as time went on, we could see that there was definitely a market out there for expansion.
“Obviously there was a lot less niche for the rum as there had been for the seaweed, plus the gin market was picking up at the time. But we could also see that the rum market was on the increase. In many ways, it was perfect timing. So we continued riding the wave.”
Jonathan and his team shun the rum purists who cite mixing it with coke or pepsi as sacrilege.
“All we want is for people to enjoy it,” said Fran. “And this means drinking it exactly as they want. If you want to add cola or ginger beer, that’s great. But it’s also really good with cloudy apple juice and particularly now as we’re getting closer to Christmas, hot apple juice.”
The cream liqueur is also extremely versatile for cocktails, including the Manhattan, Mojito and Daiquiri.
Jonathan has steadfastly refused to add flavour varieties to his brand, adhering rigidly to the Barti Spiced.
“From the beginning, he wanted to create a strong product that would continue to do well, rather than dilute its vibrant flavour with other ingredients.”
But in Christmas 2023, Jonathan broke away from his rule by introducing a Barti Cream Liqueur.
“This was the first addition he’d ever introduced to the range and it was only supposed to last for the Christmas period. But once again, because of the feedback we’ve received from our customers, we’ve kept it going and we’re now fully stocked for Christmas 2024.”
The Herald caught up with Fran as she travelled back to Pembrokeshire from Tesco’s headquarters in Welwyn Garden City, London. Six weeks ago the company began selling their rum at a total of 58 Tesco stores throughout Wales, but the supermarket giant is now considering stocking Barti Spiced Rum throughout the whole of the UK.
Earlier this year, Barti Spiced Rum was named the best rum in the Great British Food Awards while the Barti Cream Liqueur has won eight separate awards in the World Drinks Awards including best in country, best new launch, and three golds awards in both the taste and design categories.
One can’t help wondering, given the fact that eight years ago Barti Spiced Rum had yet to be given its first pouring, whether its success has come as a surprise.
““At the end of the day, Jonathan has that incredible ability to make everything work,” chuckled Fran. “Everything that he captures tends to turn to gold.
“But we know that Barti Spiced Rum is a really strong product and something that’s very ‘Pembrokeshire-sentric’. And the support we continue to get from the local cafes and pubs has been incredible and has really helped us to move forward. The staff reach out, time and time again, with tasters and samples, and we know that they’re genuinely behind our brand. And this is so important. We are so grateful for everything they continue to do to support us.”
Crime
Pembroke Dock woman in court for failing to remove rubbish from property
A PEMBROKE DOCK resident is due to appear before Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court later today (Nov 25) for multiple alleged breaches of a community protection notice.
Sheena Deacon, of 13 Wavell Crescent, Pembroke Dock, faces charges under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, which carries a maximum penalty of a Level 4 fine.
The charges stem from allegations that Deacon failed to remove accumulated household waste from her property on several occasions. According to court documents, the breaches occurred on September 19, September 26, October 2, October 9, and October 17 this year.
The charges indicate that Deacon, despite being issued with a community protection notice, did not comply with the requirements to clear and appropriately dispose of refuse and household waste from her address.
The Herald will bring updates on the case as it progresses.
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