Reducing Bathroom Accidents- Flanshaw Lodge

Flanshaw Lodge a care home in Wakefield looking for ways to reduce bathroom accidents. They have added coloured toilet seats to their bathrooms, in order to assist their residents in locating the toilet.

Reducing Bathroom Accidents- Flanshaw Lodge accommodates up to 26 people, over the age of 65, who are living with dementia and require nursing or personal care.

Reducing Bathroom Accidents- Flanshaw Lodge introduce Finds Toilet Seats

Flanshaw has incorporated Find Memory Care’s Premium and Standard Toilet Seats in the colour red. They also have added correlating bathroom signage which shows images of toilets with red seats – further assisting their residents in understanding what the toilet looks like and where it can be found.

According to Stirling DSDC, “Colour and contrast can be used to help people with sight loss and dementia to identify key features and rooms. Good use of colour and contrast can facilitate independent living, for example, by supporting people to find their way around and to use fixtures and facilities such as lighting unassisted.”

Additionally, Stirling DSDC state that as people get older, there are a number of changes in normal vision which are simply due to ageing.

These include:
• the need for additional light
• increased sensitivity to glare
• reduced peripheral vision
• reduced sensitivity to contrasts
• reduced speed of adapting to change in light level
• reduced visual acuity• reduced depth perception
• altered perception of colour i.e. being less able to discriminate between unsaturated (less intense) colours such as pastels

Adding coloured toilet seats, paired with well designed and well-placed signage, can play a fundamental role in reducing distress, maintaining independence, and improving overall wellbeing.

This, in turn, can reduce bathroom accidents, as people are more likely to locate the toilet in time and are less agitated and confused.

Ann Marie, Assistant Manager at Flanshaw Lodge care home, shares her experience of this, stating:
“Continence is a problem for some of our residents and many people need assistance in the bathroom. People will often sit and miss the toilet or urinate in the corner instead of on the toilet.”

“It’s important to have a coloured seat because a certain type of dementia affect what people are able to see. Adding a seat that stands out will improve things for people, not every person, but for some.”

Ann Marie continues: “A lot of places have bathrooms that are built in all white with white toilet seats. But research shows that when things are all the same colour they can sometimes appear flat to someone with dementia. So by adding a toilet seat that stands out to people with dementia, you are really improving their lives.”

Find Memory care has helped thousands of homes and hospitals achieve incredible improvements and help reduce bathroom accidents

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