En Suite Facilities
Not all homes have en suite rooms. Some establishments have rooms with their own bathroom facilities, others only have a toilet. All rooms are provided with a hand basin and hot and cold water.
En suite facilities are often too small to be of use to an elderly disabled person. Unless your relative can do most things for themselves they may find it easier to use the
communal bathrooms and toilets where there is more space and bathing equipment, making it safer and easier for them.
Facilities
Laundry ServicesAlmost all homes have an in-house laundry where residents’ clothing is washed and ironed and taken back to the person’s room and put away. Unfortunately if clothing is not marked with the resident’s name it can get mislaid.
Laundry services do not generally include articles that need to be dry-cleaned and it is usually the responsibility of the resident’s relatives to take the clothes to the dry cleaners and pay for this service themselves. If the home agrees to take clothing that needs dry-cleaning to the appropriate place to be dealt with, there will be an extra charge to cover the cost of this service.
Gp Services
Your relative’s current doctor may be willing to continue to visit, monitor their progress, advise, and prescribe for them if and when they succumb to illness, on condition the surgery is near the home.
However, if it is not practical for your relative’s own doctor to continue caring for them, they will have the opportunity to change to a more local practice. The matron will advise in this case.
Sometimes patients are not very happy with the treatment they receive from their current GP and would be pleased to be transferred to another doctor’s list at this time.
Most doctors arrange for their patients, in all types of residential care, to receive their annual flu vaccination as a preventative measure, providing they are willing to take advantage of it.
Activities
Many care establishments have an activities programme. Some employ a person to draw up a daily activities list and put it into operation. It is difficult to suit all the residents all the time. They may enjoy some activities more than others but if they join in they will make new friends and enrich their lives.
The activities might include such things as craft work; story telling; games; bingo; cards; music and movement;
* board games; listening to audio tapes; video tapes, making items for special functions such as Christmas; knitting or sewing. Some care establishments are fortunate enough to own a mini-bus which they use to take the residents to the local town or places of interest.
If your relative has a particular hobby ask the matron if it can be included in the activities.
Entertainment
On occasions there may be a solo musician or group who will visit and entertain the residents. The matron would have to make arrangements with such a person or company if the fee does not exceed the amount budgeted for entertainments. The artistes are not always well known but they bring a smile and an interest to the residents, especially if they sing the popular songs of the residents’ youth. Sometimes the staff will band together and put on a concert themselves for the residents and their visitors.
Library Services
There is generally a library within the homes for those residents who like to read. Sometimes the books are donated but in some areas the local library is able to bring a selection of books initially and change them at regular intervals. If there is no such facility, books can be borrowed by friends or relatives on a resident’s behalf from the local library. However, the person borrowing the books is generally responsible for their safe return at the proper time. Secondhand books can also be purchased from charity shops, boot fairs, jumble sales or market stalls.