Last week Speirs House care home in New Malden had a very special visitor, all the way from South Korea.
Dr Chung Kyunghee, who is the vice president of Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, heard from one of her friend that Speirs House has an excellent reputation in terms of proving end of life care and she decided to pay Speirs House a visit.
During her visit, she was keen to learn about end of life care provided at the care home, UK funding system and personal centred care.
Dr Kyunghee found particularly useful to learn about the difference in nursing care provision in South Korea and UK. While care in South Korea is provided mainly in hospital settings, in UK care for elderly is provided in residential or nursing homes, with personal centred care element truly embedded in many care homes in UK.
Kathleen Liang, Home Manager at Speirs House, said: “The visit was particularly beneficial for Dr Kyunghee, as I trained in China where culture and approach to care is similar to that of South Korea. We have exchanged contact detail and we would love to carry on to learn from each other.”
Grateful for all the useful information she was given, Dr Chung Kyunghee gave managers at Speirs House lovely jewellery boxes she brought from South Korea.