As the countdown to Christmas begins, care home provider Exemplar Health Care has revealed how its team is working to make this Christmas special for residents.

Providing care for adults with complex needs, Exemplar homes and services are tailored to the needs of the individuals in their care.

Supporting independence is at the core of care plans and this year Exemplar has worked with its Service User Council to develop a Christmas card competition. Residents across the care homes have been involved in designing cards to be sold from their home with regional winners announced.

The winning homes have received £100 towards their activities fund and each individual home that sells the card designs will be able to use the income towards fun, additional activities such as cinema trips, visits to National Trust properties and simply a coffee in town.

The card competition follows other entrepreneurial activity from residents, such as the opening of a pop-up coffee shop, The Platform at Quarryfields in Doncaster. The space is being transformed for Christmas and has a new menu of festive-themed treats and gifts available, alongside a cookbook of recipes that the volunteer-led team have created since the pop-up opened in April.

For food lovers in Exemplar’s care who have swallowing restrictions, Exemplar’s Catering Manager at Willowbeck Care Home, Claire Fretwell, has been developing pureed food techniques to provide plates of pureed meals that look like the whole foods.

Claire has utilised moulds, piping bags and blenders to display the food so that it looks like a traditional Christmas dinner, mince pies, Christmas cake, and cheese and crackers.

Claire said: “Christmas can be an incredibly joyful time of year, but it can also be difficult for some of our residents. Food is usually at the heart of gatherings at Christmas and we understood that those in our care would enjoy and benefit from us transforming their meals into recognisable Christmas treats.

“We always try to make anything that’s requested, and we’ve included a few other dishes to our Christmas selection to make it even more special.”

As well as supporting food-related traditions, the care team at Havenmere in North East Lincolnshire are working together to present a panto-like nativity performance to delight their residents.

The show won’t be your traditional Christmas nativity, with lots of pantomime tropes such as ‘me-to-you’ scenes as the stage is set and Angel Gabriel lecturing on health and safety policies and procedures.

www.exemplarhc.com