Bournville Gardens Village Wins Prestigious Stroke Association Care Award

Bournville Gardens Retirement Village in Birmingham has been recognised for their care of stroke survivors with a prestigious award from the Stroke Association.

The village, run The ExtraCare Charitable Trust, is only the second provider in the country to have been presented with the award.

The award recognises the team for their outstanding approach to caring for people who have had strokes and raising awareness of the symptoms of stroke.

The award also required staff on all teams at the village, including the housing team and managers as well as the well-being and care team, to complete their QCF (Qualifications and Credit Framework) in stroke awareness, meaning they now have a greater understanding of how to care for people who have suffered strokes.

Research by Aston University has shown that ExtraCare’s integrated housing, care and lifestyles model benefits residents’ well-being and reduces dependence on the NHS. This award represents the charity’s efforts in providing the best care for their residents.

ExtraCare’s Well-being and Community Manager, Shirley Hall, said: “For me this shows the real dedication of the whole team at Bournville Gardens. Led by Cassandra the Well-being Advisor, the team were put through their paces to have a better understanding of signs and symptoms of a stroke, the importance of recognising if someone is having a stroke and the need for immediate action.

Cassandra Leese, Well-being Advisor at Bournville Gardens, said, “I’ve felt very privileged to be part of a project that highlights the importance of quality care and encourages staff to increase their knowledge and understanding of stroke care and awareness.

“It challenges the status quo and inspires people to aim to do better – a core belief that drives me personally and ExtraCare professionally.”

Polly Reed, Assistant Director of Stroke Training at the Stroke Association, said: “The Care Award is a marker of quality from the Stroke Association, recognising Bournville Gardens’ commitment to ensuring they provide appropriate levels of care to stroke survivors.

“The Care Award is a way of ensuring care providers have a stroke-trained workforce, have appropriate policies, information and signposting in place and are actively working to prevent stroke. Bournville Gardens is the first retirement village in the Midlands to achieve this standard and we congratulate them on their success.”

The ExtraCare Charitable Trust

ExtraCare is a registered charity established in 1988 and based in Coventry. Our vision is better lives for older people and our mission is creating sustainable communities that provide homes older people want, lifestyles they can enjoy and care if it’s needed. To deliver our vision and mission we essentially do three things:

• We develop new villages
• We operate villages and schemes
• We support our villages, schemes and our ‘extra-care’ model through fundraising, advocacy and researchEach village or scheme has 5 to 18 social, health and leisure facilities that are accessible to our residents, volunteers and local people representing all age groups living in surrounding communities. Our Charity Shops help fund care and well-being services for older people living at our each of our locations.

Each village or scheme has 5 to 18 social, health and leisure facilities that are accessible to our residents, volunteers and local people representing all age groups living in surrounding communities. Our charity shops help fund care and well-being services for older people living at our each of our locations. Bournville Gardens is part of a £200m development programme in Birmingham with the City Council, as follows:

New Oscott Village, Erdington (opened 2010)
Pannel Croft Village, Newtown (opened 2012)
Hagley Road Village, Edgbaston (opened 2013)
Bournville Gardens, Bournville (opened 2015)
Longbridge Village, Longbridge (opens summer 2017)