My Home Life & Care England Series: Thrive Securely

It’s week 4 of our guest blog series with My Home Life England, who are bringing to life the powerful stories uncovered in their ‘Thriving in Residential Care’ research, and shining a light on the immense benefit that care homes can provide older people.

Our theme this week is ‘Thrive Securely’.

The older people, families and care teams that we at My Home Life England interviewed for our research all expressed that safety and security were amongst the greatest benefits of living in residential care. Care homes offered older people reassurance, like 94-year-old Harriet who was becoming increasingly frail. She “felt really safe” after moving to her care home, whereas before she was “getting scared all the time” and had fallen on several occasions. Others, like 92-year-old Delith, felt anxious being in her own home, especially at night. But now, “When I go to bed at night, I don’t have told worry about whether anybody breaks in. If there’s any fire or anything, I feel safe at night.” Care team member Heather also recognised the value of providing psychological support when someone was unsettled; “if they just want to, during the night, they could have a chat with the carers. If they want a coffee during the night, they can have a coffee during the night”.

Some care team members had experience of working in domiciliary care and recognised the challenges that older people faced in the community, and the difference that living in a care home made to their lives. Manager Josie shared, “if you’re in the community, you’re allowed a maximum of four calls a day. That’s breakfast, lunch, teatime and bedtime… if they’re lonely, sat at home, vulnerable… sitting, waiting, watching the clock for their next visit, they’re probably long days. Or maybe they have been incontinent, but they can’t get out of bed, so they have to wait all morning for that call. Whereas here obviously we offer 24-hour care. They’re not spending a long night in a house in the dark on their own.” This was echoed by 88-year-old Pam who shared that she initially felt a bit down about her move into a care home, but that she was starting to settle in. She described that, for her, the biggest benefit was “you’re looked after, you know, you’re in safe hands, and there’s always somebody, you know, if you’re not well, whereas you wouldn’t get that if you were at home”.

As well as providing personal safety and comfort, the move to residential care also alleviated the strain and worry for families. Jim recalled how, when at home, his mother Pali would make breakfast but would frequently leave the gas on. Similarly, Sue’s mum had dementia and was struggling to remember how to do basic chores, which eventually culminated in a kitchen fire as “she microwaved a sausage roll for eight minutes”.

Before moving into residential care, some of the older people we spoke to experienced poor housing, insecurity and even violence. Care home manager Lynette remembered a traumatised lady, Rose, who had been living in “horrendous” conditions. She said, “the rats had eaten through the mattress. They had no hot water. They had no heating. …it was a terrible, terrible, situation”. But now “her life has completely ‘done a 360’”, and she was thriving in the home. Lynette said “you see the condition that people are living in. It’s just heartbreaking. And then you think, like a week later, she was clean. She had a bath. She had electricity. She had heating. She was having tea with her daughter. Those things are the difference that we make.”

We also met 75-year-old Pauline, who had lived in her care home for 2 years, but previously lived with her daughter and son-in-law, who she shared “was a drinker” and “used to throw bottles and all that”. Pauline felt much safer living in her care home and was now being treated with kindness and respect, saying; “I was glad that I come out of there and that I’m in here now. Very glad. Everything’s got better for me.”

One challenge we recognised was that some care homes may lean towards being overly risk averse for safety reasons, which can stifle meaningful engagement. It can be a difficult balance to achieve between managing risk and helping someone to feel empowered and independent. What we found to be most important was care teams finding creative ways to support people to do the things they enjoyed, even if there were risks involved.

We saw this in 93-year-old Ernie who used to like to go to the pub with his friends, and now had his own drinks cabinet in his room. Similarly, manager Yvette said “the best thing I’ve ever done” was supporting 90-year-old Hilda with her dream of trying ice-skating: “We did a risk assessment…we put some skates on her… and we took her out on the ice. She was absolutely hysterical… it was just such a wonderful experience.” As Yvette put it – “Who are we to say that some things shouldn’t happen?” – with careful planning, consideration and possibly some adaptions, this is proof they still can.

Our penultimate article next week will reveal how older people are ‘Thriving with Dignity’ in care homes, supported with aspects of daily living and things like bathing and using the toilet. At the end of the series we are holding a webinar exploring how all these ‘Thriving’ themes can be embedded into care services. Sign up here.

To read the full report, please click here.