Consideration
Show respect and consideration to every individual for whom we care and their loved ones, as well as every one of our employees and stakeholders while also fighting all forms of discrimination.
Positive Care
Implement the Positive Care approach across all the activities of the Group in order to promote the personalisation of care, protect the humanity and autonomy of patients and residents, and improve their quality of life.
As a reflection of Clariane’s humanist purpose, Positive Care guides all of the Group’s activities and businesses. It applies as much to residents and patients and to their families, as to employees, and is based on two aspects that are inextricably linked:
- a state of mind: consider and respect each person in what makes them unique – who they are, what they want, what they are able to do;
- concrete practices and actions: supporting and providing individual support to each person in the fulfilment of their aspirations, expectations and desires, and the fulfilment of their potential.
The Positive Care approach offers person-centred care in medical-social and health facilities. Its objective is to care for people with the aim of maintaining health, as defined by the World Health Organization: “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, [which] does not consist only in the absence of disease or disability.”
The operational embodiment of Positive Care is based on three dimensions:
- respect for people’s sensory and social environment as part of an ethical approach;
- individual support based on a personalized project;
- preferential use of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), notably to limit the impact of certain medication.
Initially developed in the Group’s care homes in 2019, non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) are an important condition for implementing Positive Care. They correspond to a set of care techniques, environmental approaches and human approaches that aim to:
- improve people’s well-being and quality of life;
- maintain cognitive, motor and sensory skills;
- solicit social skills;
- reduce psychological and behavioural symptoms.
Clariane offers three types of non-pharmaceutical interventions. Each includes solutions that can be combined according to residents’ needs and capabilities:
- functional therapies (Silverfit, adapted gymnastics, dance therapy, etc.);
- cognitive therapies (FormaCube, orthotherapy, HAPPYneuron etc.);
- behavioural therapies (Ludospace, flash cart, pet therapy, music therapy, art therapy, etc.).
By the end of 2023, in line with the target set in 2019, non-pharmaceutical interventions and associated training have been rolled out in all nursing homes in the Group for more than two years.
The Positive Care approach has been extended to meet the challenge of creating a place that is both a healthcare and a living space
Positive Care is about going beyond “technical” care to focus on the person’s psychological, social and spiritual needs, as well as on their likes and desires. Caring in the spirit of Positive Care must allow the person to remain in control of their life thanks to their preserved capacities, and to be able to make decisions that affect them.
This means paying particular attention to the framework and rhythms of life, whether physiological, mental, institutional, or organisational. The social and architectural environment in which people are welcomed must also contribute to creating the conditions for such a philosophy of support.
The result of a process of reflection and work that brought together representatives from the six countries in which we operate, Positive Care now has a European dimension, drawing on the best practices implemented locally.
Care seekers information and guidance
Provide information and guidance to people in vulnerable situations and their relatives, on how to access relevant care, as well as the psychological and social support available through public and associative services and/or within the Clariane community.
“Taking care of each person’s humanity in times of vulnerability”, implies a presence that goes beyond care and the boundaries of the Clariane network. This presence has multiple dimensions, covering listening, psychological support, as well as information and advice, including before and after care.
In the Group’s facilities, psychologists and all the teams are available to families on a daily basis to discuss, explain and inform family caregivers. Local or online events such as “Carers’ Cafés” or “Alzheimer Cafés” are also organised to answer questions from people going through vulnerable times or their relatives. Our “Family Relations” service can also be reached via a dedicated hotline.
In France, a non-commercial helpline independent from customer service called “Le Fil Clariane” was set up in 2023 and is currently in the testing phase. Accessible free of charge, it allows anyone facing loss of autonomy or health difficulties as well as their loved ones to be listened to and to receive advice from professionals.
Social and psychological support for employees
Support employees who are going through vulnerable times in their personal or professional lives by providing psychological and social assistance, temporary material support in emergency situations and help with stress and conflict management.
The Group’s employees work alongside patients and residents every day to support and care for them. Clariane therefore wants to support them when they themselves are in difficulty.
In 2022, Clariane developed a standard of social and psychological support for employees, defined by a transnational Working Group. It describes the different types of support that the Group wishes to be able to offer to all its employees: psychological support through a helpline, social support through a dedicated internal department or partnerships with public authorities and associations, financial support through endowment funds, and the prevention and management of crisis situations through training, coaching and mediation.
The initiative aims to complement the existing system in the various countries where the Group operates, with the aim of being able to offer all Group employees solutions that meet the needs listed above by 2026.
The system was already strengthened in 2023, with:
- the creation in October in France of a solidarity fund that provides employees facing an emergency situation (accommodation, food, mobility, funerals) with exceptional support in the form of payment of expenses. In its first three months of existence, the Clariane France solidarity fund:
- helped 56 employees;
- approached 2 387 employees via social workers dedicated to Clariane’s employees in France;
- followed up on 362 employees on a long-term basis in 2023.
Employee health and safety
Strengthen health and safety activities to avoid work accidents, reduce work arduousness and help employees take care of their physical and mental well being.
In 2021, Clariane’s management and the members of the European Works Council (EWC) adopted a European protocol on health and safety at work. This brings together 25 measures that exist in at least one country and are to be deployed in all countries. The implementation of these measures is monitored every six months by a joint committee.
In 2023, health and safety actions were notably marked by:
- the continued training of health and safety correspondents at each facility;
- the implementation of a typology of accidents common to all countries, making it possible in particular to adapt the prevention strategy;
- the roll-out of an awareness-raising campaign in the network, common to all countries, led by a new occupational safety mascot, O.S.C.A.R. (Occupational Safety Commitments And Rituals);
- the launch of the SMOKEOUT study, a partnership between the Clariane Foundation and the University of Paris-Saclay, the objective of which is to propose an innovative, concerted and adapted tobacco control programme for staff at all Clariane facilities.