Ray’s Story

“JAM CARE changed everything for Ray, by empowering him using “You said, We did” 

Ray suffered a C4 spinal injury following a road traffic accident in 1998. JAM was originally approached to take on Ray’s 336 hour per week care when his incumbent provider was unable to staff his full package. Ray’s incumbent team struggled to retain staff, like the previous 14 care providers had, due to his challenging behaviours.

Ray was a very troubled and angry man, all of which manifested by him: shouting, swearing, screaming at staff, threatening staff, refusing to take any medications, demanding carers perform illegal tasks, and refusing to allow care providers to speak to any of his MDT.

Knowing that JAM CARE would likely follow the same fate as all other providers, JAM did something no other provider had done, they spent hours and hours talking to Ray to truly understand what made him so angry and violent, using a technique called “You Said, We Did.”

After more than 25 hours of documented conversations JAM produced a plan that gave Ray a true voice in his own future, with the promise that JAM would not compromise on following the rules of great & responsible care.

Some of the things that Ray requested included:

• no more agency carers who didn’t know his routine.
• proper cooked food and not microwaveable meals.
• staff who were well paid with good benefits, so they stayed on his package, and
• didn’t just leave because another provider paid a bit more per hour

• We recruited a permanent team of 18 staff, 5 more than required. All were trained to support Ray, but all worked on a rotation of only 1-2 shifts per week.
• We even started our own Internal Temp Staffing Agency, so we could deploy temp staff at Ray’s who knew him , his routines, and who were fully trained by JAM.
• JAM worked with Ray, and created meal plans & recipe cards, with staff being were trained on how to cook them

To improve staff retention and to aid consistency of carers at Ray’s, the JAM package was reviewed, and all staff were offered the below:

• A carer pay rate £3.08 above Nat Min Wage with access to a pension Scheme.
• All Training paid for, and a host of carer bonuses including; “In the moment” bonuses, Retention bonuses & New Staff introducer bonuses.
• Free counselling support, access to “Hardship Grants,” and JAM CARS- our own in-house taxi service for non drivers.

• Ray’s challenging behaviours reduced (by more than 50%), as there were fewer trigger reasons for his outbursts.
• Staff Retention peaked at 95%.
• Ray had even complimented and thanked JAM for the home cooked meals and the support.

Ray – “I’m very happy with the team in place and I feel things are moving in the right direction.”

CCG – JAM was commended by the CCG for providing “the best care, and the best care team, he’s ever had.”

The spinal injuries team at Robert Jones Hospital – JAM were commended for the “excellent training the JAM staff had received, especially regarding bowel management”

The District Nurse team – Ray had “never had care this good”