Dementia Designed Care Homes in Cumbria

Cumbria Care is the County Council's in-house provider of reablement, homecare, residential care, supported living, shared lives and day care services to adults with eligible care needs.

Requirement

Cumbria Care had developed two new purpose-built 60-bed care homes offering care for older residents living with all types of dementia inc. Alzheimer’s disease, sensory impairment and physical disabilities and now required a supplier to supply and install residential furniture and fixtures.

Key requirements in finding a solution included furniture and soft furnishings that:

- Were in line with pre-determined interior design schemes

- Complied with Quality Standards

- Met the general principles of Cumbria County Council’s Dementia Design Guidelines

- and fit within the set budget.

 The Solution

After winning both projects via a tendering process, Renray went on to successfully supply, deliver and install circa 1,500 products across the two sites (inc. bedroom furniture, lounge chairs and sofas, dining chairs and tables, occasional coffee tables and sideboards, and soft furnishings inclusive of curtains, pelmets and scatter cushions), within the required time scales.

Dementia Furniture Solutions

The furniture and furnishings proposed had to meet Cumbria County Council’s detailed dementia design guidelines, for example, healthcare furniture to ensure high levels of care and ease of cleaning, a variety of pressure relieving seat pads to support good posture and enhance skin viability, use of fabrics that are completely waterproof, urine proof and stain repellent, antimicrobial and breathable, wardrobes that have an open or glazed fronted section to display clothes, bedroom furniture wood finish to contrast to floor, walls, tops to have rounded corners to avoid injury etc.

The dementia furniture ranges and finishes we proposed (including our Boston and Delaware dementia bedroom ranges) met the specification required and were developed with following important features and benefits built in:

-        Perspex panels to help with visual impairments and features such as open viewing sections in wardrobes to hang clothes for the next day

-        Contrasting, clearly visible, easy to use handles

-        Use of subtle, simplistic, fabric patterns (as strong and detailed patterns can cause confusion to some, but not all, dementia sufferers).

-        Use of items that can hold memory or “cue” information to stimulate the residents

-        Wood grain that is plain and simple and not heavily patterned

-        Vinyl wrapped curved, smooth edges and corners to ensure safety

-        Easy wipe clean surfaces to assist infection control

-        Stable and comfortable seating enabling residents to use for prolonged periods

-        Strength and durability for all furniture items

Account Management Solutions

Renray’s Sales Director and Project Manager worked closely with Cumbria Care and their Interior Designer to pull together products and finishes that met their brief, communicating regularly to keep the client up to date on progress, and quickly resolving any issues encountered. The client commented that Renray’s personnel, including the delivery team, are one of our key strengths with staff who are “helpful and knowledgeable” and “worked well with the client and Cumbria County Council” producing a high-quality service throughout the contract.

Issue Solutions

Some issues were encountered onsite, mainly damaged or faulty products that required replacement. The response from Renray’s Project Manager and the team was positive and they set to work quickly to replace the products which reassured the client. The client commented that “it’s easy for companies to appear good when everything goes well but the real test is how they respond when things go wrong.  Your response demonstrated that as a company, you care about your customers” which resonates with Renray’s core value of putting our customer’s first.

Feedback on Renray’s Service

When asked what Cumbria Care found most attractive about Renray’s solution, they replied “Renray understood the tender brief and proposed products which were attractive, fulfilled requirements and could be delivered within time and budget. They worked brilliantly with the client and the interior designer in refining the choice of products and finishes whilst keeping costs within the brief.”

Overall, our work with Cumbria Care and the County Council was a huge success story. The key objective to create homely and safe facilities within budget was exceeded. Cumbria Care has reported they have only received positive comments and feedback on the interior of their homes and confirmed they would work with us again and recommend our services.