What makes a good care home? Three ways to enhance your care home and its operations
The transition from independent living to life in a care home can be challenging. But creating a good care home, where residents and staff feel their different needs are catered for, can make all the difference to their wellbeing and your operations. So, what makes a good care home?
At NESCAFÉ, we believe a good care home means a great environment for everyone. Where residents and staff – from all walks of life – feel seen and connected as a community.
According to Age UK, there are 1.4 million chronically lonely older people in England. With older age linked to challenges around isolation and emotional wellbeing, it couldn’t be a more important time to bring people together to chat, connect, and create new memories. From organised activities and events to simply connecting over a coffee, there are so many things you can do to build a positive and supportive care home!
So, where are the key opportunities to make your care home great?
Motivating your staff
Your staff are your most valuable asset for making your care home the best it can be. Thanks to the skills they bring to the table and their relationships with residents and colleagues, they're at the centre of creating a connected culture.
When you have a positive organisational culture, you can attract (and keep!) the best people for the job, increase their engagement and productivity, improve their wellbeing and safety, enhance your organisation’s diversity, equity and inclusion, and deliver the best possible customer experience.1
On a practical level, it’s all about making them feel supported and motivated...
Getting their feedback:
They're your people on the ground, so asking for their continuous feedback and suggestions makes them feel heard. On top of that, it helps you understand patterns in your care home (like the types of initiatives that consistently work well), areas for improvement (where the same challenges continue to crop up), and the tools your people need to put their best foot forward (like new or improved resources for activity sessions). These are just a few examples of good practice in care homes and ways to involve your staff in decision-making that you may wish to consider.
Exploring their passions:
Do you have an artist in your midst? Quizmaster extraordinaire? Budding pianist? Encouraging your staff to lead care home activities linked to their passions helps them feel happy and valued. The feeling's bound to spread to your residents too.
Making chat work:
Look out for your staff by making sure they’re taking their allocated coffee breaks! It’s their chance to catch their breath, connect and chat with colleagues, plus enjoy a quality brew!
Building out social wellbeing initiatives
According to Age UK, taking part in social activities helps people to stay sharp in later life. Good care homes understand their residents have varying needs for social contact and create social spaces and activities to suit everyone.
This can look like:
- a diverse calendar of meaningful activities that nurture residents and staff on physical, emotional and social levels. Think creative sessions, coffee tasting mornings, and gentle exercise classes.
- opening doors to family and friends – to encourage connection, reduce loneliness, and grow your care home community.
Identifying opportunities for connection
As well as offering diverse activities and events, there are key areas to make the most of when building a good care home culture...
Utilise activity packs
Easy to download and print, resources like The NESCAFÉ Care Home Activity Pack are filled with puzzles and challenges that get people talking. They’re free, and pair perfectly with quality coffee and conversation.
Review your food and beverage (F&B) offering
Food and drink is a wonderfully simple way to bring people together. So why not look at how your F&B offering can bring some added fun or comfort? By encouraging people to enjoy their favourites together, such as a cup of coffee, you can add extra warmth with the food and beverages residents love.
Create ‘connection corners’: Make the most of even the smallest space…
Connection corners can be putting phones/devices (with larger text and good contrast) in quiet corners so residents can call family easily. You could even link up with local schools to get tech-savvy pupils to support! Connection corners can also be break-out areas where residents and/or staff can meet for impromptu chats. All you need is a couple of armchairs, quality coffee, and great conversation!
Link up with the wider community
Organise days out – whether that’s attending local events and talks, museums, or more relaxed shopping trips in the community.
Bring the outside world in
Include outside entertainers, speakers or even pets in your social calendar. People connect in different ways so why not offer a variety of options for all-round smiles? For example, if some of your residents are keen gardeners – why not bring in local allotment holders to share their stories and even learn from your residents?
What are the hurdles?
Because great care homes aren’t built in a day, there will always be challenges along the way... From getting all of your staff to stay motivated and working together as a team, to encouraging residents to join in. Knowing your care home as you do, you may find it useful to list the potential challenges to creating a great environment, and then map out ideas for overcoming them.
By finding new and fun ways of catering to residents’ varying needs, plus supporting and motivating your staff, you can continue making your care home a great place to be. As the nation’s favourite coffee3, NESCAFÉ can help you bring everyone together over quality coffee while you create an environment with community, collaboration and connection at its heart.
1 Gallup, Organisational Culture, 2023
2 Age UK – Social Activities (Staying sharp - Thinking skills in later life | Age UK )
3 Circana: Volume Sales, Hot Coffee, IRI All Outlets & KWP Discounters, 52 w/e 25th Feb, 2023
