New Residents
Before admission Residents will be required to undergo assessment by the Older Persons Assessment Team (OPAT). The Assessor will be able to advise you of the level of care you require. You are able to access this assessment facility by a referral from you GP, Social Worker or a friend or relative may contact the Older Person Assessment Team and request an assessment.
Residents are not usually admitted until this assessment has been completed and approval has been granted by OPAT for them to enter a Kingswood Rest Home.
Spark of Life Philosophy
The Spark of Life is a philosophy that offers a systematic, practical approach to dementia care that lifts the spirit, awakens dormant abilities and heals relationships broken through dementia.
It gives a new understanding of dementia and provides practical, systematic solutions to everyday challenges that can be implemented immediately with lasting results.
The aim of The Spark of Life is to enrich the lives of people with dementia, enabling them to experience rehabilitation in all areas of mental abilities, language, self-esteem and social and emotional well being.
The Spark of Life enables carers to make the shift from being a caregiver to becoming a supportive partner which in turn restores dormant language and abilities in people with dementia.
The key to The Spark of Life lies in a heart-to-heart connection that enables the person with dementia to reconnect with their spirit – their inner driving force that restores zest for life.
The Spark of Life began as a therapeutic club program specifically developed for people with advanced dementia. The results of this program demonstrated that people with dementia could improve. The framework and principles were then adapted to all levels of dementia and to the frail elderly. The club program was later researched as part of a Masters degree and from its findings the Whole Systems Approach to dementia care and rehabilitation was developed.
In September 2007, The Spark of Life as it is known today was launched and in March 2010, the first International Master Practitioners graduated from the Inaugural Master Course with participants from Denmark, Germany, Canada, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia. Kingswood Healthcare has a qualified Spark of Life Practitioner, trained by Jane Verity in the Spark of Life way
.