Furzehatt Residential and Nursing Home in Plymouth

Enriching residents’ lives through activities

Activities are at the heart of the home. The Plymouth Tea Dance regularly comes to us here in Plymstock. Whether the Cha Cha Cha or Lindy Hop, these sessions are inclusive for all the residents, regardless of their nursing or dementia care needs.

Youngsters from Plymouth Dance regularly give special performances, teaching the residents moves that they can do in their armchairs. A group run by Livewell South West regularly runs boccia sessions for the home, including carpet boules and skittles.

Animal lovers in this residential and nursing home benefit from monthly visits from guinea pigs, hamsters and even lizards. The home also has its own cat called Mario!

For musical lovers, we have just launched our own choir. We are by no means tone perfect, but there is always a superb atmosphere when the lyrics of On a Bicycle Built for Two and Bring Me Sunshine fill the home.

Residents at Furzehatt are directly involved in how the home is run – they even sit on the interview panel when new staff are recruited.

Friends and family are also embraced here. There is a ‘cake of the day’ where visitors can help themselves to a slice or two of freshly baked sweet treats to enjoy during their visit.

Partnership with the Plymouth Dementia Action Alliance

Furzehatt is the only care home to be part of the Plymouth Dementia Action Alliance. The PDAA was set up by dementia champion Ian Sherriff, who was recently awarded a British Empire Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list. The group drives forward ideas to make Plymouth a dementia-friendly city. In the summer Japanese ambassadors joined us at Furzehatt, so they could take ideas for best practice relating to dementia care back to Japan.

While other homes offer respite care, Furzehatt is the only residential and nursing home in Plymstock and indeed the wider Plymouth area where this can be pre-booked up to six months in advance. This gives carers looking after loved ones at home the chance to take a well-deserved holiday or simply have some ‘me time’.

Furzehatt also has three fantastic volunteers who regularly come to the home to do gardening, music sessions and arts and crafts. The gents really enjoy spending time with our male volunteer who plays dominoes and Scrabble. Another volunteer supports our green-fingered residents to ‘grow their own’. They have loved sampling the summer’s broad beans, tomatoes and cress