Care home innovations

Care homes have come a long way since the charitable almshouses of yesteryear. Even since the turn of the millennium, there have been care home innovations that have transformed residential care as we know it.

Getting involved with the community

Many care homes are taking active steps to integrate more with the local community and even give back. This benefits residents’ sense of belonging to the community and improves their wellbeing and sense of purpose. One such care home is the newly CQC rated ‘Outstanding’ Anchor’s Beech Hall, in Leeds.

They say: “Alongside providing exceptional levels of care, the home was commended for its strong links with the local community, with residents developing friendships and undertaking meaningful activity with people outside of the home.

Activities praised

• a ‘Blue Light Breakfast’ held each Friday for the emergency services with people chatting to them and answering any queries. 
• ‘Spare chair Sunday’ held weekly where local older people visit the home for Sunday lunch and develop friendships with people.
• A combined resident and community knitting group held weekly.
• Working with young people from the Princes Trust scheme to paint equipment and furniture in the garden of the home.”

Inclusive activities

Home manager Victoria Gidgin says: “We are very passionate about the lives and interests of our residents. We actively seek out activities that are inclusive, supporting people to develop and maintain relationships to avoid social isolation.”

Resident Joyce Booth, aged 90, says: “It is a lovely atmosphere. Every day is enjoyable, full of meaningful activities and trips. It is also nice to make new friends and meet young people, sharing interests and talking about our different life experience.”

Living a ‘normal life’

Strides are being made in helping people to continue living a normal life, even when they’ve moved into a care home. Many homes now include on-site cafés, cinemas and even pubs. One such care home is York Chocolate Works, a newly developed care village housed in what was once a chocolate factory. At the centre is The Atrium, a large communal area that features a gym, a café, a chocolate shop, a spa, a salon, a restaurant, a working pub and a pharmacy, which dispenses residents’ medications. All these amenities have fronts to look like high-street shops and staffed by trained members of the home’s hospitality team.

Care home with its own high street

Sally Rasmussen is head of marketing at Springfield Care Villages. She says: “We know it as ‘The Marketplace’. There is a real feeling that you could be outdoors because of the glass roof. There are trees and streetlamps and little pathways. What’s nice for us is that when visitors come, you can feel like you’ve been out. Whether that’s going to the pub, visiting the sweet shop, maybe having a chat while Mum gets her nails done. Those kinds of things are normal parts of life that you’re continuing.

“But you’re still safe, lots of residents get to a point where it’s difficult for family to take them out, whether that be physically or sometimes behaviours aren’t what they used to be. In our pub you can book a table, hold an event there, the gentlemen will always go there to watch the news after mealtimes or get together to watch sports, we have pub quizzes and karaoke, lots of really nice things that give people a sense of normality.”

Specially adapted tricycles

The home also works in tandem with York’s Bike Belles, a group that takes residents out on specially adapted tricycles.

Ms Rasmussen says: “They take them round to the park, down into town, rain or shine, it’s just fab. Our residents queue up to go out on the bikes on a Monday afternoon. The idea of freedom and wind in your hair, the residents love it.”

Technology

Some of the most significant innovations in recent years are technological ones. Tovertafel Magic Tables offer games specially designed to benefit dementia patients, while iPads and computer lessons in care homes are helping residents to stay in touch with friends and family.

Virtual dementia training

One of the most ground-breaking technological advancements is virtual dementia training, where staff experience how people with dementia experience the world around them. Excelcare recently trained its London staff using this technology.

An Excelcare spokesperson says: “The virtual dementia experience was very beneficial for Excelcare team members. It provided a practical and liveable experience that showed them what life with dementia could be like. The follow-up classroom session helped to clarify the thoughts and feelings they had during the experience, as well as adjustments that can be made to make life a little easier. Learnings from the session have been applied to the care we provide and surrounding environment, so people feel thoroughly supported through challenging times.”