Social Care News

CFW members celebrate National Care Home Open Day on June 20

More than 3,000 care homes across the UK, including many CFW members, opened their doors on June 20 as part of National Care Home Open Day. Some held World Cup-themed parties and others participated in a virtual ‘mexican wave’ with photos and videos posted to Twitter showing the progress of the ‘wave’.

Among the CFW members taking part was Cartref Ael-y-Bryn in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire. Managing director, Thasan Yoganatha, said: “We opened up our care home and served tea and cakes to residents and their families. We were also visited by a group of physiotherapy students who hadn’t visited a care home before, so it was great to be able to show them around and talk to them about the type of work we do.”

Alex Kelleher, director of nursing for the Summerhill group, which had eight care homes participating across Newport, Torfaen and Cardiff, said: “All our homes chose different themes. Some chose a country like France or Spain for their theme and dressed up and organised entertainment to fit with that. One did a pantomime and a picnic and another had a ‘Ladies’ Day’ at Ascot them which was great fun. We always have a good turn-out from families and it’s great for the staff who work so hard to be able to enjoy the day too.”

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The aim of the day was to help reach out to the public with positive messages about care homes – research commissioned by the National Care Home Open Day committee found that those with first-hand experiences of residential care homes have a more positive view of the sector and are more likely to show an interest in volunteering to help out with activities for those in residential care (41%) compared with the general public (28%).

Gloria Hunniford, National Care Home Open Day Ambassador, said: “With only a quarter of people visiting a care home in the last year, the perceptions that most people have of care homes are not based on personal experiences, but instead on old stereotypes and on media coverage when things go wrong.

“Such misperceptions are damaging to the care sector and do a disservice to the large number of devoted carers working in the residential care sector.”

She added: “Last year's National Care Home Open Day was a great success, and this year we are taking it to a whole new level with older people and care homes from across the world getting involved and showing their support for the care sector."