FURNITURE & INTERIORS Colour Me Happy
Tony Huggins, Managing Director of David Bailey Furniture Systems Ltd, explains how changes to the visual environment in Britain’s care homes can make a huge difference to the lives of those who live there.
The care home market in the UK continues to grow rapidly and the quality of care provided plays a significant role in influencing the wellbeing, health, and lifespan of residents. If care homes are to continue to thrive, they must go the extra mile, especially when considering challenges like Covid-19, staff shortages, and inflation rates.
Dementia care in particular and the importance of well-designed environments, poses unique challenges while choice of colour also plays a significant role.
Dementia care is now big business. Some industry experts suggest that the current care home market in the UK is worth some £7.7bn and is growing at an annual rate of 1.4%. Other estimates suggest that it is twice that size, delivering a turnover of around £15bn a year.
Care homes clearly play both a positive and major role in the UK economy and it can be shown that the type and quality of care a person receives can significantly influence their wellbeing, health and lifespan.
Innovative use of colour is particularly paramount for care home owners wanting to make their properties more resident friendly with blue and green tones said to be the most calming, friendly and relaxing colours for the mind. It has been reported that when
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these colour tones are introduced into a care environment, they help to change a person’s emotions and lower blood pressure. And therefore, want to maximise each space to its full potential while being extremely efficient to achieve the most effective outcome for all stakeholders such as the NHS.
It has also been proven that the quality of the visual environment has a positive effect on a patient’s feeling of wellbeing and in the case of care homes, it is known that this can also affect staff performance.
Like everything else, furniture and storage units have a job to do, which means that they can become tired and directly affect the look of a room. This is why they should be regularly replaced especially in an environment which has large numbers of older people. It has been shown that visually attractive furniture, cupboards and other storage units are more recognisable to those with dementia.
It is because many of those living with dementia experience difficulties with their sight and perception which leads them to easily misinterpret their surroundings. In a world already fraught with confusion and uncertainty, any steps that can be taken to alleviate this should be considered wholeheartedly. Using bright and contrasting colours for fitted furniture and furnishings can help these to be distinguished more easily.
www.tomorrowscare.co.uk
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