The Covid-19 Pandemic has meant that visits for prospective residents and their families has been extremely difficult. Carless + Adams discuss the ways in which care homes have adapted to ensure that such tours can still occur.
Throughout the pandemic care homes have had to adapt to additional strict measures to ensure the safety of their residents. However, for the people who are seeking care homes for themselves or loved ones it has proved extremely difficult to arrange visits when the homes were in lockdown. The need for care beds is ever increasing and some care homes have found a way to overcome this problem to help ease the transition.
The UK’s leading care home reviews site, carehome.co.uk, has introduced a ‘Book a Tour’ to provide that invaluable experience of looking around a care home to see if it is suitable for the prospective resident and their family. Once the booking has been made with one of the 2,000 care homes participating in the tour on their profile, it can be carried out through Zoom or WhatsApp. This enables prospective residents to look around the homes in-depth and talk to the manager running the home to ensure that it suits their requirements.
Throughout the pandemic care homes have been utilising technology to enable their existing residents to contact family and friends, yet this demonstrates the further possibilities where new residents who wish to join the home can speak to the care staff as well as look around the home remotely.
Virtual tours can also be introduced onto a website with 360 degree camera technology where the user can move around the space on the screen in their own time; this combined with a virtual reality headsets can provide a more immersive experience. This technology allows prospective residents to have a look around the home and take in the surroundings without visiting. We have seen this on a number of our clients websites where they have already introduced these, it is a great way to have a look around their facilities.
The ready availability of Lateral Flow Testing has meant care homes that are set up for viewings, considering the additional social distancing needed and are happy to welcome visitors, that in person viewings can be feasible.
The choice of care home is often an emotive one and sufficient time needs to be made exploring the options available and making the right decision. This is often done by the family members as the person moving into care will only see their new home as they arrive to move in. Enabling people to make the right choice about care will ensure that the correct decision is made and guarantee that they are surrounded by the care, attention and love that suits them.
