Additional ways that we’re protecting one another at Runwood Homes

It is understandable that people are naturally worried about the most vulnerable and high risk individuals in our society, which has posed the question whether it is safe for residents living in care homes at this time.

With this in mind, we believe that our hard work and efforts to protect one another can offer some much needed reassurance about how our care homes can be a safe place for people to live, looking beyond the personalised care, companionship and carefully considered living facilities.

We think it’s important to draw your attention to the careful steps that we’ve taken to keep viruses under control and out of homes as best we possibly can.

As well as the all-important PPE, regular testing, good sanitisation and policies and processes in place, all adhering to the Government’s care home guidelines, to step up our infection prevention and control levels we are -  

• Installing more handwashing stations and alcohol gel dispensers around our homes.
• Using ShieldMe disinfectant fogging machines; an easy to use, safe spray to quickly and effectively sanitise a room or entire area.
• Upgrading our steam cleaning machines that deliver clean and sanitised results with ease, which can be used on floors, walls and ceilings.
• Seeing hands-free, face recognition thermometers installed in all our homes, in addition to the standard handheld infrared thermometers, as part of our robust screening process for anyone visiting a home, such as health care professionals.
• Providing staff with more uniforms to ensure that clean attire is easily achievable to change into at the beginning of each and every shift to help keep viruses at bay.
• Suppling new stainless-steel pedal bins, encouraging more touch-free processes in our homes.
• Purchasing more outdoor furniture where required to support safe and comfortable outdoor visiting sessions. The imminent publishing of our Winter Plan will outline how we’ll be making visiting safe indoors for the cold months ahead.
• Providing a stock of special FFP2 masks and face shields to support staff’s needs or for use with vulnerable residents.
• Seeing more paperless care planning by utilising our access to digital care devises, helping to reduce the number of surfaces viruses may sit.
• Making changes to furniture and flooring where possible to help further protect against viruses.

We’re in no doubt that our efforts will continue to develop as more new ways become available to further protect those we care for, and indeed, our amazing team members too. For more information about our residential and dementia care services, please visit runwoodhomes.co.uk.