NHS Shared Business Services volunteers pick up paintbrushes and shovels to jazz up Bristol care home and garden

A group of volunteers from leading corporate services provider, NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS), have for one day switched monitor, mouse and keyboard for shovels, paintbrushes and gardening gloves to spruce up a Bristol care home, getting it spick and span for its occupants this summer.

Set up in 1986, Bristol-based social care provider, Milestones Trust, assists individuals with mental health needs, learning disabilities and complex behavioural needs. It supports more than 550 people in specialist, nursing and supported living services in Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset.

Four bedroomed Charnhill Crescent, one of trust’s residential care homes located in Mangotsfield, provides 24-hour support for adults with mental health needs.

Staff work with the individuals living at the home to develop social and life skills, nurture their ability to make decisions and to live more independently.

NHS SBS’s sustainability and social value strategy is centred around healthy people, healthy planet and healthy business. Employees receive three paid volunteering days per year to give them the opportunity to give back to local communities.

On Friday 9 June, eight NHS SBS volunteers spent the day at Charnhill Crescent refreshing its communal spaces. Paint brushes in hand, the team added a fresh splash of colour to the residential home and pepped up its look. Skirting boards, doors and the laundry room all received a new and generous coat of paint.

Outdoors, garden gloves on and shovels in hand, the green-fingered team tended nature’s canvas – weeding and planting to create colourful displays and transform the garden into a space which people living at the home can enjoy now that summer has arrived.

Sara Turrill, Volunteer & Involvement Lead of Milestones Trusts commented:

“We support people to develop a positive self-image, make day to day choices, and live more independently. The staff at Charnhill Crescent provide person centred support to enable individuals to work towards goals and achieve positive outcomes – support is truly tailored to the needs of each individual.

“A pleasant home environment and access to an inviting outdoor space can have a profound impact on people, contributing to a sense of comfort, calm and connection with the world around us – all of which can significantly enhance wellbeing and promote positive mental health.

“The touches the NHS SBS volunteers have made to maintaining and rejuvenating the home and its garden will play no small part in creating an environment that can engender this for the people we support. We are especially grateful for their efforts.”

Olivia Murphy, Head of Sustainability and Social impact at NHS SBS commented:

“We feel incredibly fortunate for the chance to spend a day with the staff and residents at Charnhill Crescent, imbuing it with our little homely touches inside and out, enhancing spaces that can make a positive difference to the wellbeing of the home’s residents.

“It has also given us an opportunity to understand how our work at NHS SBS can make a difference on the ground by working with organisations like Milestones Trust, who are supporting health outcomes across the UK.

“It is an experience the NHS SBS volunteers have found to be insightful, valuable and rewarding both on a team and personal level and they have had a lot of fun doing it.”

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