Opinion


would attract local business people and students; newspapers and magazines would tempt those who want a few minutes to relax.


To secure early success, it would be worth leveraging ‘the power of a brand’ to provide that essential magnetic pull. Coffee shops are on every high street – to work they must either differentiate, which can be prohibitively expensive, or align with a high street brand through a franchised business. Imagine the effect of a Starbucks, Costa or Caffè Nero sign at the end of your drive.


It has to be worth serious thought, not least because there would be mutual benefits and the necessary investment would be limited with commercial support coming from the coffee company. Numbers count for a lot in business planning, so if a care home can provide initial intelligent assessment of likely footfall, customer demographic and expenditure, it could prove an easy concept to sell.


On the menu


All care homes have a restaurant and most have grounds designed for enjoyment when the weather allows. How difficult would it be to open up these areas to the public, providing quality refreshments throughout the day – every day?


Care home kitchen facilities have to be good; menus have to be nutritionally balanced and stimulating, so why not use the kitchen facilities and the staff and offer lunches, picnics and catering for private events? Innovative thinking at the planning stages could ensure that care home facilities are geared up to cater for wider service provision and a broader customer base, with the potential for additional profits to be re-invested in its ongoing upkeep.


Just think how much easier it could be to recruit and retain high level chefs and catering staff if there was a wider brief for them to work to, greater professional development opportunities and a commercial value in what they were doing?


To go one step further, let’s imagine a kitchen garden that grows produce for the care home restaurant, and if space permits, perhaps grows enough to sell to local restaurants too. Now there’s another idea.


The benefits would be far reaching – to the care home, to customers/clients/ diners and also to the staff – and the concept could be developed to appeal to the commercial market too.


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sponsorship opportunities (for facilities, rooms, activities, events); meeting facilities; training rooms and programmes; dining facilities; conferences and events; arts space – gallery or performing arts; and presentations by local businesses to relatives, the management team, staff and so on.


Conclusion


Imagine a kitchen garden that grows produce for the care home restaurant


Interaction


It is widely recognised that elderly people who are unable to live independently, some suffering from early onset dementia, benefit enormously from frequent interaction with a wide range of people of all ages. New draft guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), states that there is good evidence that intergenerational activities improve health outcomes and recommends that all local authorities support and provide such schemes. At least one high profile care home in the US has a nursery/creche on site, which helps create a lively, joyful environment. Imagine how something similar might be received here, particularly if it also eased the family/ career juggling act of carers with young children. For care homes in areas where there are numerous employers, this facility would have considerable benefits. If that’s a bridge too far, what about a supervised soft play area so that local nursery groups could use the facility on a regular basis? A safely fenced and supervised activity area in the grounds could be an attraction too – not just for the children visiting, but for the elderly residents who would enjoy watching their antics from inside!


All of these initiatives would no doubt add community value as well as financial turnover to the care home as well as enhancing its attraction as a place to work. While some additional staff would be needed, the overlap in skills and qualifications would be significant. If care home facilities could be designed to appeal to a corporate audience, all sorts of possibilities could open up, including: commercial


The effect of the changes I have described could be three-fold: rising standards within care homes with direct benefits to residents; new social venues for the community; and fantastic publicity for the homes themselves – all translating into income. As a result, members of the public will be better informed and more comfortable with care homes and what they provide. It will demand imagination and innovation from care home owners, and the recognition that it’ll take time to gather momentum, but I am convinced there is the potential to change how people view care homes for ever, securing engagement and interest from those who would never normally give them a thought until they have to. TCHE


Debbie Harris


Following a career as an estate agent and then as a full time mum, Debbie gained an insight into care provision through caring for an elderly aunt before achieving a BSc in Health and Social Care through the Open University.


In 2015, Debbie established Chosen with Care, an organisation that works with elderly people and their relatives, the medical and the legal professions, to search for, evaluate and continually review care homes for the vulnerable people that need them.


www.thecarehomeenvironment .com • May 2017


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