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The Consortium

MORE ACTIVITIES ON THE AGENDA IN UK CARE HOMES, REVEALS GROUNDBREAKING STUDY

“Traditional” pastimes still dominate for residents, while too few have contact with children, says research from NAPA and The Consortium 

Progressive attitudes to keeping care home residents active are not always being turned into reality, it emerged today.

This is one of the main findings of a new survey showing that bingo, other traditional games and listening to music still dominate the care home in many cases.

Around 400 homes took part in a survey carried out by the charity NAPA - the National Association for Providers of Activities for Older People – in conjunction with national procurement and fulfilment company The Consortium.

NAPA is carrying out a pioneering research project – “Activity and Wellbeing in Care Settings” – to help evaluate a NAPA project funded by the Big Lottery Fund, the findings of which will be shared with the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI). The research, which has received £4,000 in sponsorship from The Consortium, is due to be published early next year.

The Consortium‘s Chief Executive Melanie Teal said: “What we have discovered is that in most cases there is a realisation and a will to tackle the problem of keeping residents active.

But looking at the results of our survey I think it is vital that we find out about any obstacles that might be in the way of implementing a more activity-based strategy because it appears that more could be done.” 

Sally Knocker, Director of Communications at NAPA, said the survey indicated that many respondents knew what should be happening, but were finding it hard to achieve the desired results. 

She said many of the findings reflected encouragingly positive attitudes to activities but some of the practice still indicated an over-traditional approach.

“One of the most interesting findings was that flexible meal times appeared to be a good indicator of a higher overall frequency of activity,” she said.

The wide-ranging representation of the sector showed that listening to music was the most universally used activity (91.5 per cent) followed by bingo and other traditional games which 81.7 per cent had on offer on a daily or weekly basis. 

There was almost total agreement that even the most frail residents should benefit from activity, three-quarters of those questioned saw the benefit of supporting people being able to pursue their own hobbies on a regular basis and even more backed tailor-made activities for individuals.

Four out of five thought providing these opportunities was a job for all staff – including those involved in areas such as maintenance and catering. There was overwhelming backing from activity organisers (91 per cent) for all homes to have a member of staff trained in providing activities but the idea was supported by only 77 per cent of managers.

Exercise and movement sessions were a high priority in 73 per cent of homes and 67 per cent organised other group physical activities. The use of  “reminiscence-related activities” were used regularly by 60 per cent.

Just over 40 per cent of homes said their residents were supported to go out to the shops daily or weekly.

Helping to prepare food as an activity for residents was used by less than half of homes and about four in five had never used adult education tutors or Yoga or T‘ai Chi teachers. Two-thirds had never been out to sports events.

A major disappointment was the level of involvement of children in the life of care homes, with only a quarter bringing in toddlers or schoolchildren for a special occasion such as Christmas, and a third saying they never involved youngsters in their activities.

NAPA has around 1,000 members and works closely with organisations such as Help The Aged, the English Community Care Association and the National Care Forum. It operates a helpline and four regional support groups around the country, plus a series of “sharing and skills” days in London and other venues.

The charity has launched a new guide for activity organisers available for £2 from the office at Bondway Commercial Centre, 5th Floor, 71 Bondway, London SW8 1SQ (telephone 020 7078 9375) or info@napa-activities.co.uk

 

ENDS             5th June 2007

For further information please contact Neil Fraser, Sturgess Van Damme, on 01275 349011 or email neil@sturgessvandamme.co.uk

Photo captions:

Sylvie Silver of NAPA and Chris Hubbard of The Consortium, with a giant “Connect 4” game which is popular with care home residents

Notes to Editors

The Consortium is a national procurement and fulfilment business focused on meeting the needs of its many customers in the education, training and social care sectors. It also provides free tailored e-procurement solutions, which give its customers central control over non-core supplies purchasing and radically reduces the time and cost associated with paper-based purchasing.

The company has a fast-growing multi-million pound web business. Its product range of over 30,000 products covers four key areas:

  • janitorial products

  • furniture

  • office and business equipment

  • educational supplies

Our supplies business is combined with a growing services business, which focuses on fleet management and food contracting. Many organisations find they save time and money by outsourcing these arrangements to The Consortium.

Key dimensions:

  • annual sales turnover of over £40 million

  • services 25,000 customers per annum

  • supplies over 30,000 products per annum

  • 250 employees

  • 100,000 sq ft warehouse and office complex in Trowbridge, Wiltshire   

The Consortium offers all its customers:

  1. Prompt delivery – next day in UK if required

  2. One-stop convenience

  3. A low-price guarantee (thanks to our £100 million plus buying power)

  4. Thousands of branded and own-brand quality-assured products

  5. No quibble return and refund

  6. Easy ordering by post, fax, telephone or online