Care homes need to open up to their local communities

If people became more involved with care homes it would benefit residents and provide an extra quality check, by Lord Michael Bichard

Cookery classes, art installations, coffee mornings. On Friday, more than 2,000 care homes open their doors to the general public for activities during National Care Home Open Day. I am very much looking forward to visiting one in Birmingham, and my colleagues from the Social Care Institute for Excellence are visiting other care homes around the country.

In Edgbaston, Birmingham, I’ll be looking at a Barchester scheme, which sees young people with special educational needs going into their local care home. Some take part in arts projects and others are doing work experience, such as typing and catering. It will be good to see the artwork and to witness the different generations working together.

But we need to see care homes opening their doors more frequently than once a year, and of course, many already do. We also need to see local communities taking more of an interest in the homes in their neighbourhood. This is important for a number of reasons:
• It means residents are not just forgotten people who live down the end of a driveway.
• It’s likely to mean that residents are more involved in what’s happening locally.
• It helps ensure that residents receive a more personalised and rich experience, and remain motivated and engaged with their community.

But there are other reasons why it’s important that care homes are seen to be more transparent. Many homes, of course, provide excellent care, but we must all be concerned about the scenes we have recently seen from homes where standards have dropped to an unacceptable level. Often, relatives can be reluctant to complain about anything, for fear of being labelled “troublemakers”. Equally, inspectors can only ever provide a snapshot of care quality. So it’s really very important to have a steady flow of local people coming through the doors, to provide not just opportunities for the residents, but a regular, extra quality check.

We can learn from education. Volunteers already play an important role in the way our schools are run, and that is to the benefit of teachers and pupils. Much the same can happen in care homes, so that they can all be connected to local residents, who feel they have a stake in ensuring that “their” home is the best it can be. And if some of those volunteers are young pensioners, that would be a way of them playing an important part in local life for longer.

The potential is endless. For instance, many care homes have activities that help bring back memories for people with dementia. Just take the role of activity co-ordinators in homes; they are responsible for music, action, dancing, singing and other activities. There are many people in the community who can offer support for this. A good relationship with local schools, theatre groups, sports clubs and businesses can have a beneficial effect on the home. So, using local volunteers could help forge improved links with the community.

I encourage you to visit your local care home on Friday to take part in the activities, from dance classes to tours of care homes. Let’s hope that the open day ushers in a new way of thinking so that care homes are open more generally and that an open day is a thing of the past. If you run a care home and didn’t get involved, why not take the opportunity of now becoming more open and show what an inspiring place your care home can be.

Lord Michael Bichard is chair of the Social Care Institute for Excellence