Cohort 16 identified that several of their resident recording practices had converted from paper files to digitised formats in recent years.  While they recognised the many benefits of the systems, they felt that not having information on residents readily available was a barrier to getting to know the resident and could create a barrier in engaging in meaningful activity. Since COVID, some care settings were using more agency and bank staff than in previous years and the Resident Passport gave staff easy access to core information about the residents.

Participants used the QI model PDSA (plan, do study, act).  Underpinned by appreciative enquiry they engaged in discovery work with residents to explore the approach.  Residents were clear they would like it written in the first person ‘my name is Mary’, ‘I like a cup of tea before my breakfast’.  They included information such as favourite foods, how they like to dress and how they like to spend their time. Similar concepts were explored with staff to ascertain staffs' thoughts and feelings and understanding of meaningful engagement and activities with residents.

This identified the gap in personalised activities and highlighted the richness of the information on the Resident Passport to develop individual reminiscence resources for residents.  They piloted this with individual residents choosing bags that were attractive and familiar to the individual resident and filled with items specific to them.  For example, one gentleman had farming items to represent his rural farming background and cricket ball to represent his passion for the sport. Feedback from the residents was positive, staff (both new and old) felt that it helped them improve residents' engagement in activity. Families enjoyed contributing to the project.  All sites tracked the number of engagements between residents and staff.