Care home residents gain 'confidence' and 'self esteem' with portable interactive tables

Residents at a care home in Birmingham have been managing to keep in touch with their families during lockdown through an interactive table, with the care home finding the activities on it also boosted their “self-esteem” and encouraged interaction.

The interactive table is larger than most portable tablets, available in 32” and 43” screen sizes, making the screen more accessible for residents to access when making calls to their loved ones or enjoy brain training games and be creative. The care home can also set up a folder for each resident with their favourite apps in. This allows any members of staff to interact with any resident using their favourite applications.

Created by Inspired Inspirations Ltd in Shropshire, care homes have noticed quieter residents who didn’t interact too much with others have suddenly been more active and more vocal.

"They enjoy playing games with each other and it’s even bought residents closer to each other and resulted in them making more friends," says Lindsey Davies, home manager of Cwrt Enfys, South Wales.

’We have seen a big improvement in mental well-being’

Digby Manor Residential Care Home in Birmingham is just one of the many care homes to have invested in the interactive table. Director Darren Somauroo said: “We recently purchased an interactive table for our care home. It has gone down excellently with the residents and it was a godsend for the lockdown period.

“Families have Skyped their loved ones to keep in contact and it has been an excellent tool for our residents with dementia. The variety of games really engaged the residents and we have seen a big improvement in their overall mental well-being.”

The interactive screen is completely portable too so staff can manoeuvre the activity table from room to room, taking the activities to residents who can’t or won’t leave their rooms.

Care home manager Jeanette Westwood from The Leys in Birmingham told carehome.co.uk: “Everyone keeps saying how brilliant it is and everyone loves the downloaded table activities we have.

“There is a lady who has cognitive impairment. She used to love to paint but can’t do this now but the interactive table allows her to paint pictures and when she does this you can see her whole face light up.

“We also have a gentleman who would not come out of his room but since we’ve had the table, he comes out and has started playing draughts. He also plays international draughts and plays different versions of the game. It seems to give their self-esteem back, they can see what they have achieved.

“It looks nice and the oak makes it look like a nice piece of furniture. I would definitely recommend this to anybody,” added Ms Westwood.

’I like it where it is interactive between two humans’

Built with toughened screens and the latest Android software, the interactive table brings a whole host of activities for residents and staff to enjoy, from sensory and brain training, to reminiscence and Google Earth tours.

Stewart Bates, director of Inspired Inspirations Ltd said: “The company started off by doing interactive learning tables for nurseries before we were approached by a manager of a care home asking if they could have one.

"After a bit of research of what technology there was available in the care market, we have successfully created something where residents can use by themselves or as a talking point with a carer or with other residents.

The interactive table is completely portable and adjustable, with all models running on battery power.

“There are fixed interactive projectors out on the market, but they are so limited with what they can do, and you can only do sensory activities on it. You can move this around, take it to people’s rooms, you can do all the sensory activities you can on other projectors, as well as so much more.”

Mr Bates likes the intergenerational side of the product where there are topics of discussion between younger members of the care staff and residents. “I like it where it is interactive between two humans.

“During training, we say to the managers get your youngest members of the care team who sometimes struggle to communicate with the residents. Get them involved and the activities give the carers more confidence in communicating with the elderly and gives them more common ground and more to talk about as well.”

Before lockdown, Mr Bates and their team would visit the care home with the interactive portable table and ask the manager to pick their most challenging resident to try it out.

Mr Bates said: “You sit with them on Google Earth, take them back to where they used to live or got married or where they used to go on holiday. It's lovely.

"One gentleman said he hated technology, really wouldn’t get involved but we found out he was a great cricket fan so we took him on a tour around Lords Cricket Ground on Google Earth and then we found him his favourite 2020 cricket match highlights on YouTube, he was laughing and the manager's face was brilliant."

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