Introducing Relish Technology

At Caring Homes, the wellbeing of our residents is as important to us as their clinical care and when they arrive, every resident is given a full health and wellbeing assessment.

Our Wellbeing Teams put Residents’ Requests Top of the List

To bring wellbeing to life, each home has a dedicated wellbeing team who create and deliver a programme of activities each day. They always aim to achieve a balance that will make a difference to all our residents, however or whenever they participate. Many activities are group-based, and some are also delivered as 1-1 sessions for residents who are unable to leave their rooms.

What’s important in all of our homes is that residents have as much input as possible in which events and activities are hosted by the team. Kerry, Activities Coordinator at Horsell Lodge explained: "Our residents are very clear about what they would like to do, and they let us know. We listen to their feedback - and input from their families - when planning our schedules so that we can organise activities and events that fully engage them. We also incorporate their past or current interests and hobbies as much as possible.”

Activities For All and for Every Individual

To support the process of choosing, creating and recording activities, Caring Homes introduced an electronic app-based system called Relish Wellbeing. When each resident arrives at the home, a unique profile is created on Relish where their interests and personal information are documented, and this information is updated as and when it changes. Through Relish, teams can then see which activities might be most suitable, then once they have taken place, which sessions are most popular overall, and which individuals have taken part. It’s another way of helping the team to create an activities programme that is based on every resident’s involvement and responses.

Sharing Residents’ Daily Lives with Relatives

The ability of family and friends to keep in touch with residents is important to us and through the app-based Relish Wellbeing Relatives Portal, they have a clear picture of all the activities their loved one has been enjoying. Families see regular updates, including photos, and can and share their own photos of activities they have attended, which the team then use during one to one conversations with residents. Relatives can also plan their next visit to coincide with an activity by checking the Relish calendar of events. Being able to see what’s been happening in the life of a particular person is especially meaningful for families whose loved one is living with dementia. One family member told us,

“I saw you had taken some photos of mum on the Relish app. Just wanted to say thank you (and to the team), plus share that I really appreciate the new app. It’s great to see Mum taking part because sadly mum doesn’t remember what she’s done when we call her in the evenings.”

Sam, Home Manager at Blenheim Court thinks that Relish is valuable tool for the team, residents and their relatives, adding: “Our wellbeing team can see when and how every resident engages and what fits the needs of each individual and importantly, families and friends can now get a real insight into the lives of their loved ones. Just knowing it’s there as an extra channel of communication and a reminder of what’s been happening is a comfort to many of our relatives”.

Overall, the key benefit of Relish Wellbeing is the way it enables our teams to stay true to our ethos which stresses the importance of each individual, ‘caring for the whole person and their unique personality, likes and interests so they have the opportunity to continue to live life to the full.’