Care Home Design

Welcome to Care Home Design

This page incorporates information on planning a care home and the necessary professionals involved. The following information and press releases are the products and services required to deliver state of the art care.

Dementia is a debilitating disease but there is simply no reason that new dementia units fail to incorporate in their design the new products, services or design available.

Sensory gardens are a particular valuable unique selling point for all care providers and certainly separate the average care operator from those who believe delivering care and housing vulnerable people does not mean imprisoning them.

Enabling freedom with safe guarding is a must. Various products on the market enable people either to stay in their own home for longer or enable residents to move more freely whilst carers are able to locate them through new technology.

If you’d like to advertise your product or service call 07949060346.

Enabling your loved one or residents freedom of movement:

O2 Health has now launched Help at Hand, the UK’s first telecare service built around mobile technology. In a major step forward for the care industry, O2 Health’s Help at Hand expands telecare support beyond the boundaries of the home giving those with long term conditions the freedom, reassurance and support they need to leave their homes safely.

Help at Hand is a complete mobile telecare service that encompasses an easy to carry mobile-enabled pendant or wristwatch, a secure website and 24/7 alarm receiving centre. The service is developed specifically for health and social care settings where there is a major focus on using technology to improve care services, provide greater patient choice and to better manage resources in terms of hospital care and emergency call outs.

The Help at Hand service will be available from April to health and social care organisations with a launch to consumers planned for later in 2012.

The use of telecare services is proven to help delay or avoid unnecessary admission to care homes, reduce emergency call outs, days in hospital and importantly reduce risk to the user. In addition, where cost benefit has been assessed across 1,722 service users in England, a total of £5.8 million has been estimated in savings.^{^[1]}

However, only 1% of available telecare solutions in the UK are mobile-based, leaving many people with long-term conditions little choice when it comes to accessing support beyond the fixed boundaries of their homes.

Keith Nurcombe, managing director of O2 Health, says: “The health and social care landscape in the UK is changing rapidly – more people require long term care, resources are under pressure, patients are demanding more choice – providers are being asked to do a lot more with a lot less. We believe there is huge potential for technology to help in this space – in terms of giving patients more independence as well as reducing the cost and resources required for building-based care.”

Help at Hand gives patients/care users the freedom and reassurance to get out and about, whilst staying connected to the people and support they depend upon for care. A discreet pendant or wristwatch connects them to a 24/7/365 alarm receiving centre with specially trained staff who, if alerted, will so everything they can to help. Features of the pendant or wristwatch include a fall down detector and GPS so the user’s location can be identified. Safe zones can also be defined; and if the individual moves out of this zone the receiving centre is alerted and staff can take the appropriate action. Guidelines for the user’s care are set up via the secure Help at Hand website.

Nurcombe continues: “For many patient groups now being considered for telecare services, being confined to their homes is no longer acceptable. They want to be able to go about their daily lives with the reassurance that help is quickly available should they need it. Mobile technology is a natural fit – this is where we have identified a need and developed Help at Hand to meet it.”

Help at Hand was developed in conjunction with Telefónica Digital’s Health Research & Development team in Granada. eHealth is one of the key digital service focus areas for Telefónica’s new Digital business which has been formed to create new opportunities in the digital world.

Help at Hand has a simple pricing model. The customer will pay for each device plus a monthly fee which includes free calls to our alarm receiving centre.

Sensory gardens with dementia in mind

Tim Lynch Associates, Landscape Architects for the elderly and dementia have been commissioned by Signature Senior Living for their new site at Brentwood, Essex. The new care homeis located next to a nature trail and park and was formally the site of 5 private homes.

One of these homes had an extensive garden and it is to this garden space that the new care home of 70 care rooms and 15 dementia care rooms; will be linked. The garden will have a mixture of woodland walks and natural springs that then leads down to the more formal garden.

The garden will retain its raised beds formed from granite blocks to form a garden club area for the more active. This then leads down to a pergola walkway, with raised water rill, to provide sound and touch to the garden.

Seating areas in both sun and shade have been located along all footpaths, which lead of the main central patio. Quite secluded areas to enjoy the sounds of the garden and the environment have been positioned within the woodland. For those not able to easily walk to the garden club area, a further smaller raised bed area with greenhouse leads of the main activity patio area.

The garden is fully secure, which will allow residents with dementia to enjoy the garden spaces. The garden has been design with a sense of normal appearance with clear land marking and self mapping locations.

There is ample opportunity for families to enjoy the garden of all ages, with play space for children and for programmed and non programmed activity.

Construction has started on site by Higgins Construction and it is planned for the home to be open in the middle of 2013.