WCS Care

Innovating to make “every day well lived”

Context

WCS Care provides 13 care homes in Warwickshire. Seven years ago, this charity provider started to focus on four values: play, make someone’s day, be there, and choose your attitude. This culture change gave staff permission to focus on the organisation’s ambition for residents (and staff) of “Every Day Well Lived”. People’s behaviour changed, and they felt inspired to try to do things – small and large – differently.

Approach

They have taken their philosophy and ambition to every area of care and have worked on a number of innovative projects as a result. The approach they have taken is to deeply engage staff and people who use services in their projects and encourage them to think creatively about how to improve the daily experience of people.

They have a rigorous focus on improving the life of care home residents. In 2016, they launched the UK’s first care home innovation hub to share their learning with others in health and social care, in the UK and internationally. This approach culminated in the opening of their care home village in Warwick in November 2019, bringing together building design, technology and care to provide residents with a familiar life in a community setting.

One notable project was their installation and use of night-time acoustic monitoring. They discovered acoustic monitoring systems being used in the Netherlands to monitor night-time activity, in relation to concerns such as urinary tract infections, falls and confusion. The rationale for installation was that the system would provide residents with greater night-time privacy, care at the time of need and a better night’s sleep, which would impact on residents’ general health and wellbeing.

There were lots of reasons not to install the system, ranging from cost to the challenge of system support if not widely adopted in the UK, to simply finding electricians to install a system they’d never come across. All these barriers were overcome because the reasons for going ahead were compelling.

Success

In its first year of use (2015/16), WCS Care recorded a 34% reduction in night falls. This was partly because most people who were sleeping were not disturbed by door knocking during night checks, and because when someone needed help, they were heard immediately and a carer was with them within 60 seconds. Residents who had previously been awake at night slowly adjusted their body clocks and returned to a healthy sleep/wake pattern. Residents were more alert during the day because they’d slept well. Relatives understood that WCS’s staff had to behave impeccably in residents’ rooms at night because someone was listening, and staff felt supported for the same reason when lone-working at night. WCS Care built on this success over time and has recently evidenced a reduction in falls at night and during the day by 55% in homes with acoustic monitoring.

By sharing these outcomes with the wider sector, WCS Care has contributed to the system’s adoption by numerous care home providers across the country; over 7,000 beds will be using the system by the end of 2020. One adopter reduced its night-time room visits across a 64-bed home from 300 to 15 over a two-month period post-installation, by ending frequent night checks.

Today, WCS Care have developed an eight-page visual explanation of how they aim to provide care in the most innovative way. It’s used as a recruitment and training tool and forms the backbone of care practice.

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