We’ve introduced circadian lighting throughout Woodside Care Village (the first care home in the country to have this lighting throughout all resident areas) after a successful trial on one household at Drovers House. Circadian, or human-centric, lighting follows a daylight rhythm, with brighter, white light during the day and a softer, orange light in the evening which tells the body at a biological level that it’s time for sleep.

Our trial at Drovers House showed a range of impacts for residents with a reduction in sundowning, improved sleep and a reduction in the use of some medications. We’ve seen similar results at Woodside Care Village and are now working on a PhD with Oxford University into the benefits of circadian lighting for people with dementia living in residential care.

In most care homes, care staff spend their night shifts opening the doors to every resident’s room to check that they’re okay. This often wakes up residents who then try to get out of bed, creating a falls risk. Or at the very least, these checks frequently disturb their sleep. This upsets their natural day/night rhythm resulting in a range of negative health and wellbeing impacts.

WCS Care installed an acoustic system at one home as a trial in 2016. We were the first UK provider to use it, but within a year we evidenced a 34% reduction in night-time falls. This was because people were left to sleep undisturbed by door-knocking, and we could get to them quickly if they needed our help. Because people were sleeping better they were more alert during the day, ate better and did more exercise. This resulted in an overall reduction in falls, over days and nights, of 55%. With an optional camera, something most residents choose to have, falls have reduced by up to 75%.

More and more providers are now adopting acoustic monitoring across the country. And the NHS Digital Transformation Fund is awarding grants to install this technology because reducing falls in care homes benefits the wider healthcare system.

There are 150,000 vacancies in social care across the country (2023). At WCS Care we’re bucking the trend by supporting our staff to have more control over their work/life balance through the use of new technology, and introducing a new mobile carer role which is, and has, nearly completely stopped our use of external agency.

After downloading the BookJane app to their phones, staff can see all of their shifts easily, as well as open shifts that are still available, giving them the opportunity to choose how much they work and earn, picking up additional hours, and all too importantly, at times that suit them. By saving on expensive agency staff we now pay more than agencies do and have been able to attract the very best staff who would not have worked for us before in our new role of mobile carer.

These amazing workers choose their shifts through our app and aren’t tied down to any one of our homes, so they still have the freedom of the open road while benefiting from everything that comes with a contract of employment. This work was recognised with the Leaders in Care Innovation in Care Homes award 2023.