Video - an introduction to a care home.

The Department of Health 'Dignity in Care' campaign is looking for initiatives to help to promote dignity within our care homes by offering a small grant to people who have an idea that can benefit those who live in resiential care.

I have been a Dignity Champion for about a year and passionately believe that dignity in care is not an optional extra, it is a basic human right and it is not enough that care services are efficient, they must be compassionate too.

I have proposed an idea to the Dignity in Care team that aims to improve a residents control and choice of the care home they wish to live in.

I have suggested that care homes provide a video of their home - hosted on YouTube or their website that introduces the staff, building and the local environment to any prospective resident and their family.  This would be particularly useful for somebody who is housebound or in hospital and therefore unable to visit a care home before they move in - this is the case for a substantial amount of people.

The video would allow the prospective resident to familiarise themselves with their future home and enter their new life with more dignity and confidence than would otherwise have been felt  and having exerted some control over their living arrangements.

If you think this is a useful initiative please vote on the Dignity in Care website and click on the stars at the bottom of the article.

The cost of creating a video need not be a prohibiting factor for the care home.  A professionally shot 'vodcast' would take between one or two days to film, edit and upload onto YouTube or a website and cost in the region of £900.  The alternative would be an amateur video, a common feature of YouTube, that would cost nothing and still provide an introduction to the care home for a prospective resident.

I would be interested to her from anybody who has done this or who has any ideas on how this could be improved.