WASHROOM & BATHROOMS
Liquid soaps provide a pleasantly mild hand washing medium and are the solution recommended by the Department of Health. Foam soaps are another good choice because they tend to lather more easily than liquid alternatives. But the push force required to access liquid or foam soaps via some dispensers can be high, and this could prove difficult for elderly residents with stiff hands. Care home managers should therefore choose a dispenser with this in mind.
The Tork Skincare Dispenser with Intuition is a good option for care homes since it is no-touch, hygienic and dispenses the soap automatically. There is also a manual version that has been specifically developed to make it easy to use for the frail and elderly. The Tork soap dispenser has been given the seal of approval by the Swedish Rheumatism Association, while Tork Sensitive Foam Soap is allergy-friendly and certified by ECARF, the European Centre for Allergy Research Foundation.
Disposable hand towels –the drying solution recommended by the Department of Health— should be sufficiently soſt to prevent any abrasion of elderly people’s delicate skin. Again, a system that allows hand towels to be pulled out of the dispenser one at a time will be easier to use than towels on a roll. And all efforts should be made to reduce the risk of cross- contamination because this could lead to the spread of viruses and infections.
Tork Xpress Hand Towels are available in an Extra Soſt version which is particularly kind to the hands and gentle on the elderly user’s skin. The towels are also presented one at a time which means that residents will only touch the towel they use.
Other factors that need to be taken into account when equipping a care home washroom include the design, lighting and colour scheme. The lighting needs to facilitate good visibility for the visually impaired, while motion sensor lighting may be required to assist the resident when using the toilet at night.
Care home providers need to carry out risk assessments to ascertain the likelihood of residents potentially scalding or burning themselves. They must take into account factors such as whether the resident is likely to try to run a bath or take a shower when unattended, and whether their lack of mobility means they would be unable to move away from the hot water source before they are scalded.
However, tearing off a strip of paper from a toilet roll is no easy task for someone with arthritic hands, while picking up a soap bar and using it to lather the hands will also require a degree of dexterity. Soap bars and toilet rolls could also become contaminated before use – and the soap quickly becomes a slipping hazard when dropped on the floor.
An ideal toilet tissue solution for less dexterous residents is one that gives out the paper in single sheets. For example, the Tork Folded Toilet Paper system provides easy access to tissue and allows the resident to use just one hand, with no tearing required. Each resident only touches the paper they use to prevent cross-contamination.
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The toilets and bathrooms in a care home should be cleaned regularly to help prevent the risk of cross-contamination. All staff members should also pay scrupulous attention to their hand hygiene for the same reason.
Essity runs two free online training solutions for care home staff: Tork Cleaning Training for Long Term Care Homes and Tork Clean Hands Training for Long Term Care Homes. These take operatives through real world cleaning scenarios in which cleaning and hand hygiene need to be carried out.
The safety of care home residents is paramount in the potentially hazardous bathroom environment. So, all efforts should be made to make these as comfortable, easy to use, hygienic - and as safe as possible.
www.tork.co.uk/longtermcare - 27 -
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