Catching up with the UK Prime Minister about our care home in Hertfordshire

Our care home in Hertfordshire received a very special surprise this week in the form of a video call from the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. This even went on to air on the BBC News!

 

Wanting to personally commend our frontline workers for their “unbelievably” hard work in these “incredibly tough times”, the Prime Minister personally thanked our team for protecting our residents during the pandemic.

 

During the Zoom video call, the Prime Minister said: “Thank you for everything you’ve been doing, I know it’s been an incredibly tough time. The work you have been doing has been of huge importance to this country. We were so worried about the epidemic in care homes, but you’ve managed to come through it, and you’ve got all your residents testing negative, and that’s a fantastic achievement.”

  

The Prime Minister also greeted our lovely residents, one of whom Shirley Saunders, had previously contracted coronavirus but has now made a full recovery. The Prime Minister congratulated Shirley on her recovery and joked that she was “a lot tougher” than he is. 

 

The Prime Minister even said he would drop by the home for a cup of tea next time he is in the area once lockdown has lifted, after sharing that he has visited Hitchin numerous times.

 

It was a real pleasure to virtually welcome the Prime Minister into our home. He was very interested in hearing how we’ve been coping during the pandemic, and appeared genuinely thankful for the care we’re providing, having been someone who has experienced first-hand what the virus is like.

 

We also wanted him to know about the amazing support we’ve had from our District Nurse teams, who have stood by us 24/7. All the visiting paramedics have gone above and beyond too.

 

Number 10 Downing Street arranged the call having heard of our positive stories during the crisis, which were relayed to them by the Department of Health and Social Care. One particular story which caught their interest was that of our dear Alf and his virtual trip to the races. Following the cancellation of the Grand National, we brought the world-famous steeplechase to Foxholes. We recreated as best we could the atmosphere of Aintree and aired the virtual event for Alfred, who was due to attend fist first-ever Grand National before the virus outbreak.

 

Keeping up the morale during the crisis has been important to us, so we’ve also organised socially distanced musical performances and set up Facebook Portals around the home to ensure residents can interact with family and friends regularly in real-time.

 

It was very humbling to hear that the Prime Minister wanted to personally thank us for our efforts against coronavirus, and the call was something we certainly won’t forget in a hurry. None of our residents had ever spoken to a Prime Minister before. To receive such recognition for the work our staff are doing to protect our residents is incredible and it’s proven to be a real morale booster for everyone at the home.

 

If you’d like to find out more about Foxholes and the luxury accommodation we have on offer, contact us here or give us a call on 01462 410767.