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10 Oct 2019
St Philips Care Group is the leading independent care home provider in the UK and is responsible for 32 homes across the country. As part of the company’s continued drive to provide a warm, welcoming atmosphere in its homes, the St Philips estate management team continually undertakes refurbishment programmes across the group. An area of particular focus at present is the updating of 100 en-suite and shared bathroom facilities at four of the group’s sites.
Cathedral Care Centre and Roxholm Hall Care Centre in Lincolnshire, Kippen House in the Perthshire Hills and Chestnuts Care Centre in Grimsby cater to a range of nursing and residential needs for those with mental health issues, dementia and other age-related conditions. As a result of the variety of needs across the four sites, the estates team decided to work with AKW, one of the UK’s leading providers of accessibility solutions, to come up with a bathroom upgrade solution that could be rolled out across the group’s facilities. AKW’s team of experts developed a ‘bathroom pack’ of fixtures and fittings that could be installed throughout the estate and looked visually attractive, whilst offering the inclusivity, cost-effectiveness and longevity needed by the St Philips Care Group.
Andy King, assistant estates manager for the St Philips Care Group explains: “With our continual refurbishment programme across the estate, we want to deliver the highest quality and functionality, as cost-effectively as possible. Working with the team at AKW, we were able to create a ‘bathroom pack’ of products that we can order for each installation. We have installed 20 of the 100 so far and the products are easy to install, look good and are hard-wearing. Due to the colour contrasts, they are great for our residents with visual impairments and dementia, as well as looking more welcoming than our existing bathrooms. The key is customer satisfaction and our residents and their families have loved the end result.”
The AKW bathroom pack for the St Philips Care Group includes a raised height pan and cistern with a dark blue, ergonomic toilet seat and lid, a toilet roll holder and dark blue, hinged arm support rail and grab rails. In addition a monobloc mixer tap has been specified with the sink for ease of use, incorporating a TMV3 valve – a regulatory requirement for all care home applications. To ensure the bathrooms meet a range of end-user requirements, some existing baths are being replaced with wet rooms. In these installations, AKW’s ultra-strong TuffForm wet room formers are being used, as they can accommodate a user with a wheelchair and two carers if required.
Nick Kaye and Rachel Eley at AKW were responsible for developing the bathroom pack for St Philips Care Group in conjunction with Andy King and comments: “With the addition of the dark blue grab rails and toilet seats to our range at AKW, we have been able to offer a full bathroom package to St Philips Care Group that is not only hard-working and cost-effective, but looks great. It was a privilege to have the estates team come to us with their refurbishment needs and for us to work together to create a bathroom package that can be replicated throughout the group’s entire estate if needed.”
As a result of the close working partnership between the estates team and AKW, the bathroom refurbishments have allowed for more flexible usage and reinforced the St Philips Care Group’s ethos of providing a warm, welcoming atmosphere in its homes.
