Care home company ‘best in the industry’
THE owners of a Widnes care home have been declared best in the business at the Health Investor Awards.
Anchor, which runs Widnes Hall care home on Coronation Drive, were awarded the title of Residential Care Provider Of The Year on Wednesday, June 13.
Speaking after the event, Anchor’s care services director Mark Greaves said: “My commitment has always been to constantly improve the quality of care for our customers and support those people living with dementia.
“What I have found in my numerous visits to homes is a real passion to deliver services that stand out and lead the way in the important area of dementia care so on behalf of these wonderful people, it gives me great pleasure to accept this award.
“The judges recognised our achievements in providing great care for our residents, while continuing to develop and innovate in a competitive and challenging market.
“The award is testament to everyone’s hard work throughout Anchor, from colleagues in our care settings to those in our support functions.”
Widnes Hall is pioneering the jewel in Anchor’s crown - their trialling of Tovertafel, the Dutch invention that connects older people in the late stage of their dementia journey with each other and with their sur- ● roundings through interactive games.
The Tovertafel is a box that can be mounted on the ceiling, for instance, above the dining room table of a care institute.
Inside the box is a high quality projector, infrared sensors, speaker, and processor that work together to project the games onto the table.
The invention is also known as ‘magic tables’.
An Anchor spokesperson said: “Amongst numerous innovations, the judges noted that Anchor has trialled Tovertafel, the Dutch invention also known as Magic Tables in 11 care homes, increased the number of homes meeting the challenge of Anchor Inspires, the organisation’s best practice model of care for people living with dementia, and made its food offering more responsive to customer preferences.
“On a national level Anchor became the first care and housing provider to introduce Workplace By Facebook, an innovative social media platform for internal communications, and its Standing Up 4 Sitting Down campaign asked retailers to provide seating in shops, so older people can access the high street more easily.
“The campaign received an enormous response and led to high street retailers such as Sainsbury’s, Argos, Virgin Money, Debenhams, and Morrisons pledging their support bringing a little known issue affecting older people to the fore.”