Retirement care homes are invariably perceived as closed communities – places where you don’t venture until there is a need to.
While it’s understandable, it is also a great shame. People don’t get to know or experience the heart of a care home. The chances are they won’t meet any staff or know their way around a home, they won’t be aware of the levels of service or the events schedules.
Most people’s first taste of care home living will be when the sudden need arises to find appropriate care accommodation for a relative or loved one. In many instances, this may have to be a relatively quick decision; a whirlwind tour of care homes in the area; and copious reading of each home’s independent Care Quality Commission (CQC) report.
Making such a big decision about a person’s future livelihood has to be thought through and, while none of us really wants to face it, a little forward planning and advance homework could be worthwhile, not least, because it allows time to plan, consider and assess while feelings and emotions are on a relatively even keel.
For all of these reasons, we are delighted to support the forthcoming National Care Home Open Day on June 21.
This gives care homes an ideal opportunity to open their doors to the public and show exactly what life is really like. For the public, it’s an invitation to call in and see for yourself what really goes on. I think you may well be surprised and I’m expecting it will probably change perceptions for some people.
Our own retirement care homes and care villages regularly hold open days for the public to come along to (page link here to events page) but National Care Home Open Day provides another exciting opportunity for all homes around the UK to really showcase themselves.
We are planning a number of our own events with details to follow shortly on our Events page. In the meantime, if you’re wanting to know more about this national event, here’s a link to an article in the Guardian which reported on the initiative in October 2012.
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