Care home staff take to the seas for innovative training programme

Staff from a seafarers’ nursing care home got first-hand experience of life at sea to better understand the residents they look after.

As part of an innovative training programme, care staff at the Royal Alfred Seafarers’ Society’s Belvedere House were given tours of the destroyer HMS Cavalier and HMS Ocelot submarine.

Experiencing first-hand the living conditions aboard wartime ships, staff were able to gain an understanding of how their residents’ past careers could cause some of the more complex behaviours some residents present with.

Chief executive commander Brian Boxall-Hunt, who devised the programme, said: “It is crucial for our staff to understand the experiences of our residents during a lifetime at sea.

“As a retired Royal Navy officer, I am able to relate to our residents on a unique level, understanding their needs, motivations and quirks.”

The staff team’s visit to the Chatham historical dockyard, where they were shown around the Cold War destroyer and submarine, was complemented by perspectives from former seafaring tenants of the Royal Alfred Seafarers’ Society, giving an insight into their lives at sea as part of the Royal and Merchant Navy.

The conditions residents at Belvedere House were exposed to during their seafaring days, such as cramped accommodation, separation from families and harsh working conditions can cause both physical and psychological problems later in life, which others may not always be able to fully empathise with.

The programme was designed to give staff a taste of what the residents in their care would have gone through to enable them to provide more tailored and personalised support.

Commander Boxall-Hunt added: “To help all of our staff understand the needs of our residents in the same way, we developed and implemented a training programme specifically aimed at improving their understanding of life at sea and thus the needs of those who choose to spend their later years with us.”

All staff who attended the training said it did “exactly what it said on the tin” and helped them to appreciate the tough environments residents spent their working lives in.

Shirley Campbell, housekeeper at Belvedere House, said: “I could not have done our residents’ jobs, I had no idea how small and cramped and impersonal the conditions were on the submarine.”

Margarita Yotova, a staff nurse at the home, added: “The trip was brilliant, and so well-organised. I am amazed how our residents lived and worked in such confined spaces, it must have been so tough. They certainly deserve our respect and commitment.”

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