"Civilise" care homes with personal possessions, says care minister

Norman Lamb, the Minister of State for Care and Support, is on a mission to "civilise" care facilities by making them more like home.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph on Sunday (17th August), Mr Lamb warned that being "plunged into" a new environment is upsetting and confusing for many care home residents.  

He told the newspaper that under a "robust" new inspection regime, which gets underway in October, care homes will be judged on whether or not they create a "real sense of an individual’s home."   

Mr Lamb said: "The whole focus needs to be on personalising care as much as possible. For everyone, but particularly with dementia, it is particularly important to focus on things that are familiar and enable people create a link back to their life before entering a care home."

He added that care homes should allow residents to bring in some of their own furniture, bedspreads, curtains or whatever it might be that will make the facility feel like a "real home."

From October, 25,000 homes and homecare providers will be subject to the new inspection and rating system.  Underperforming facilities can be put on special measures, giving them limited time to improve or close.