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Leon A Smith

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Leon A Smith

Leon A Smith

Registered: 18 October 2010

Nightingale, the care home that I run is one of the largest care homes in the UK and a model of excellence in providing personalised care for its 200 residents from the Jewish community. Based in Clapham, South London, the charity is recognised as a leader in care for older people and particularly in dementia care. Having immersed myself in the care sector for over 35 years, I am proud that Nightingale is seen as an expert in this field while maintaining its position at the heart of the Jewish community, with its values based in the traditions and cultures of the Jewish faith.

LATEST DISCUSSIONS

RE: The importance of identity
"I well understand your Bristol Rovers thing Leon. As a Hull City fan, whenever I hear someone say they support Arsenal,Chelsea, Man U etc I just think how BORING that must be. Who could possibly be(...)" Real Real Zionist
RE: A symbol of community in South London
"So where in your opinion is the western wall ? " Harvey

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POSTS BY LEON A SMITH

Communication-communication-communication

By Leon A Smith, May 24, 2012

There are many words and phrases which suffer from serious overuse in our day to day lives – both orally and in writing. My own particular favourite is “at the end of the day”. I always find interviews with David Beckham of particular interest – as he has a number of views which involve things happening “at the end of the day”.

Comment

Over the top regulation

By Leon A Smith, May 18, 2012

As with so many aspects of our lives today the care sector is subject to very significant regulation. Nightingale House is now part of the Nightingale Hammerson charity and is regulated by a number of different authorities – the prime authority/regulator for the sector being the Care Quality Commission.

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Life is full of surprises

By Leon A Smith, May 10, 2012

Life is full of surprises – so they say! Nobody could have been more surprised than me therefore to have learnt in the Queen’s Speech that the government have decided after all not to act at this point in time on the recommendations of the Dilnot Commission on Long Term Funding of Older People.

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Roy Hodgson got the job instead

By Leon A Smith, May 3, 2012

Panorama once again turned its attention to an expose of malpractice/abuse in a care home. This seems to be a particular interest of Panorama and indeed the exposure of malpractice and mistreatment in a care home setting can only lead hopefully to tighter controls and minimise the chance of something like this ever happening again.

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Info fatigue

By Leon A Smith, April 12, 2012

One of the most famous and memorable soundbites when the Blair government came into being was “Education, Education, Education”. Education was a strong and powerful message, and through repetition 3 times clearly signalled the fact that Education was very high up on the Labour party’s agenda.

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All of this for 8 days

By Leon A Smith, April 4, 2012

A happy Pesach to all my readers – assuming there are a few out there!. Once again Pesach is upon us and as I have referred to in previous years, I believe there is every possibility that Passover preparations and the changeover for the Festival are probably on the largest scale here at Nightingale than anywhere else.

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The importance of identity

By Leon A Smith, March 23, 2012

Compulsive Obsessive Disorder can be a nasty business. A sufferer has an uncontrollable urge based on thought processes to obsess about certain actions – sometimes totally irrationally or illogically.

1 comment

A symbol of community in South London

By Leon A Smith, March 16, 2012

Last week I was away in Rome for a weekend and several weeks ago I was in Israel for a very short stay. When in Israel I had the pleasure of visiting the Western Wall – a physical place that always impacts upon me in an emotional and spiritual way.

2 comments

Just let us get on with the job

By Leon A Smith, March 8, 2012

I don’t know if anybody remembers something called the Big Society? I seem to recall that about a year ago the Big Society was going to take over the world – well at least England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Is it me or has everything gone very quiet on the Big Society side of things at the moment?

1 comment

What would happen if we were to stop all form filling?

By Leon A Smith, February 24, 2012

This week I had a visit from somebody who has been asked on behalf of the government to look at how we can cut through red tape and bureaucracy in the care sector. It is very much part of the wider initiative of government to look generally at how bureaucracy can be cut.

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A demographic time bomb...............

By Leon A Smith, February 16, 2012

Life expectancy of three score years and ten has long past. We often read in the press of a variety of statistics relating to current life expectancy – depending on which particular source you happen to believe. One might believe that a baby girl born today may have a 1 in 3 chance of a life expectancy of 100.

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For every negative story.............

By Leon A Smith, February 9, 2012

I return this week to something which I have covered previously – that is the serious responsibility which the media must bear (particularly the print media) for the stigmatisation of the care sector for older people. It is far too often that we read, particularly in newspapers, and particularly in certain newspapers, of shock horror stories of poor care in residential and nursing homes.

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Ticking the consultation box?

By Leon A Smith, January 26, 2012

The government is very preoccupied at the moment in both Houses of Parliament with the proposed new legislation relating both to Welfare Benefits and to the Health Service. It will be publishing its White Paper on Social Care in the spring (whenever that might be). Of course White Papers are always preceded by extensive consultation as are many government/coalition measures.

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We stigmatise older people.....

By Leon A Smith, January 17, 2012

Nightingale prides itself on its range of social activities, events, outings, educational opportunities etc and it considers itself privileged to have the input of a huge number of long standing volunteers who supplement the work of our staff.

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Festivals Festivals Festivals

By Leon A Smith, January 5, 2012

Is it me – or are Jewish holidays coming around with increasing frequency? And/or indeed are holidays in general coming around with increasing frequency? As soon as Chanukah finished we have had New Year (Shana Tova to my readers) and now in January here at Nightingale we need to start turning our attention to Pesach.

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