CONSIDERING
From enhancing wellbeing and improving mood, to wayfinding, safety and fall prevention, says Joe Hurst, Altro’s Key Account M
There is no doubt that aesthetics and design have a huge part to play in creating homely environments that are calming, healing and therapeutic. Where people may be feeling higher than normal levels of anxiety or confusion, creating the right environment can make a world of difference.
Looking more widely at colour in healthcare, there has been a very definite move towards creating ‘home from home’, warmer interior designs, deliberately stepping away from the colours that may have represented a colder, clinical traditional approach. Product designers have responded to this, and there are more products than ever that are suitable to the practical and aesthetic demands of the care home sector.
Although some care home residents may have health or additional needs, there is still an emphasis on living well and being independent. By reducing the risk of a slip, safety floors greatly improve the independence of care home residents. Look for modern, homely finishes in non-clinical shades – that way residents may be unaware that they’re walking on safety flooring.
Wood-look safety flooring is a good example of this. Wood creates the look and feel of home. It can be warm and comforting but also cool and light. It’s on-trend and therefore what many of us choose for our own home, making it an obvious and popular choice for a care home. Altro wood- look safety flooring can run through most areas within a care home, helping encourage residents to move freely, and making product choice and installation easier to manage. As well as looking great, with a PTV ≥36 for the lifetime of the flooring it also prevents slips, and offers the durability needed for busy areas where wheeled traffic is frequent.
FALL PREVENTION Although it is vital to enable residents to be independent, the fact that many are vulnerable means designers play a part in ensuring safety. This includes helping to prevent slips, making maintaining hygienic interiors easier, and supporting way-finding. As well as a duty of care to residents, care homes are also obliged by law to protect staff from unsafe working conditions.
For the elderly or frail, a simple trip can have catastrophic and life-changing effects, which makes fall prevention measures vital.
The effects of falling for an older person can be devastating. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) figures show that falls cost the NHS £2.3bn per year and, according to Age UK, falls and fractures in people aged 65 and over account for over 4million hospital bed days each year in England. Age UK's report, Facts about Falls, states that 10% of hip-fracture patients will die within one month of their fracture and 30% will die within a year.
We recommend safety flooring in all areas where there is a high, or very high, risk of a slip. For care homes, where people may be vulnerable, unwell or have difficulties moving around, safety flooring can be used throughout to ensure protection.
34 | HEALTHCARE
We have attractive, homely options specifically designed to minimise the slip risk in every area of a care home, including specialist areas such as shower rooms and bathrooms.
Age-related changes to our sense of sight include the loss of peripheral vision, colour vision changes, problems with glare and nearer images being blurred. This can mean that poor lighting or badly chosen flooring can be a real danger. For this reason, we recommend that in addition to choosing the right flooring products, consider lighting, handrails and other safety features, along with good housekeeping, to remove hazards and ensure best performance.
FROM COLOUR TO CONTRAST Care home residents can have specialist or complex needs such as visual impairment, dementia, autism, learning and physical disability that makes mobility difficult and these needs must also be taken into consideration.
Subtle differences between floors, walls, steps and doorways can cause enough uncertainty to result in a fall for people with various visual impairments. While colour choice is important here, it is the amount of light reflected from surfaces that is the main factor in determining a person's ability to identify different surfaces.
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