WCS Newlands Care Home
Tag: Assisted Bathing, Care Home, innovation, Long Term Care, Rehabilitation, Residential Care, Respite Care, Reval Care, Reval Transcare, Transcare Bath, WCS Newlands
What does maintaining the ability to have a bath mean to you?
Newlands, part of Warwickshire-based charity WCS Care, believes your life doesn’t have to change when you move into a care home.
Enabling people to continue enjoying what they’ve always done and having the opportunity to try new things is an overriding philosophy of care where freedom, choice and dignity are paramount.
Being able to bathe is an essential part of maintaining a routine of normality – for many with reducing functional decline and change, bathing can be one of the first areas of an individual’s routine that become affected.
We spoke to Bonnie Burbury, Home Manager at Newlands in Kenilworth, about the importance of enabling a ‘normal’ routine, especially when it comes to bathing. “It is really important to us that we create a homely, inviting atmosphere and promote WCS Care’s values along the way. Our ambition is to make every day well lived for each and every person in our care. Personal care can sometimes seem daunting for residents, so to be able to offer a comfortable, relaxing environment with facilities such as the Reval Cocoon Ergo bath is great – it increases the length of time a person may spend in the bath; beneficial for both personal hygiene and wellbeing. There are a lot of physical benefits too – with Multiple Sclerosis for example, or conditions that affect muscles, being able to soak in the bath may relax or stimulate muscles and have a positive impact.
The Result
“Many residents living at Newlands are unable to address their balance, meaning that bathing can be difficult at times. The moulded shape of the Ergo Bath provides the feeling of stability, support, and safety, meaning bathing feels safer and becomes a much more enjoyable experience.”
Ergonomically shaped, with posture management built in, the Ergo range of high dependency bathing systems raise the bar in improving patient outcomes and wellbeing. The bath supports users to immerse deeper into the bath providing a more comfortable and relaxing experience, giving back to the user freedom of choice between a bath or shower.
Bonnie adds: “The Ergo has encouraged residents to use bathing facilities other than the shower. It enables them to relax and wind-down comfortably, whilst increasing a sense of wellbeing and independence. It also provides freedom when attending to personal hygiene routines by enabling those that can to independently wash their own hair -something that can often be taken for granted but provides a sense of empowerment and independence.
“We have a gentleman that much prefers a bath but before we had the Ergo Bath he refused and often used the shower instead. Since having the Reval bath, he uses it frequently, as the moulded seated end makes him feel secure yet free.”
With cutting edge innovation and user-friendly controls, the Ergo Bath features a touchless panel designed to reduce risk of cross-contamination, an important consideration for WCS Care.
Sharing hands-on experience of operating the Ergo Bath, Bonnie talks about the positive impact the touchless system has had on staff: “Often you are covered in suds or are delivering care and you have to top up water or drain the bath. The touchless operating panel makes the bath really easy to use. It rises to a good height, and lowers to enable those who can to step in and out with ease. The design makes it easy to assist individuals, and with no fiddly buttons it makes the whole process more hygienic, as there are less points to harbour germs.”
The Cocoon Ergo is a stylish variable height, high dependency bathing system for use with most mobile and ceiling track hoists within the high dependency care environment. The Cocoon Ergo concept has an internally spacious design. Ergonomically shaped, the keyhole shape allows bathers to immerse deeper into the bath providing a more comfortable and relaxing experience. The tub has tall side walls and a flat sloped floor. This is designed to accommodate the space taken up by the thickness of a stretcher. The design also provides more working space for care workers, which in turn makes bathing tasks more user-friendly and comfortable for care workers.
Reval’s vision is to transform the lives of people living with health and mobility challenges by promoting hygiene and rehabilitative solutions that focus on the safe and dignified needs of each individual and the overall impact on their sustainable well-being. By providing innovative product solutions with exceptional levels of service, we are recognised globally as industry experts and the first-choice supplier for acute and long-term care.