Touchscreen Tables Innovate Newcare Homes

Touchscreen Tables Innovate Newcare Homes

Established in 2009, Newcare Projects is a development-steered care home provider offering…

specialist ‘new generation’ care facilities to its residents in the Midlands and North West. Adopting a home-from-home mentality, Newcare wanted to stimulate the minds of occupants through innovative touchscreen technology, all whilst in-keeping with the homes’ 5-star finish.

The Problem: Lack of Innovative Touchscreen Technology

Problem 1: Challenging the minds of residents
Problem 2: Keeping everyone engaged in-between activities 
Problem 3: Technology in-keeping with the décor 

Priding itself on the provision of comfortable, safe, and engaging living environments, a constant problem for Newcare is ensuring that its residents remain engaged. The organisation caters for people of all intellects and abilities, many of whom, whilst immobile or movement impaired, are still entirely capable mentally. The company also provides a safe space for people suffering with dementia, so the main concern for staff was finding touchscreen technology that would benefit and be used by all by challenging their minds, particularly during periods in-between scheduled activities.

Furthermore, purpose-built by an award-winning construction team, each of Newcare’s five homes are carefully considered and expertly designed by interior designers to facilitate the highest standard of care, any technology being brought in had to seamlessly assimilate into its surroundings.

The Solution: Five Interactive Touchscreen Tables

Solution 1: Engaging touchscreen technology
Solution 2: Product versatility
Solution 3: Sleek design that blends with the environment

Midshire’s solution was to provide Newcare with intuitive interactive touchscreen tables, which were proposed for several reasons. With access to thousands of downloadable games, puzzles, and quizzes, all with adjustable difficulties, the touchscreens would be the perfect tool to challenge the minds of every resident, whilst sensory applications would help provide dementia patients with an engaging familiarity.

Secondly, the manoeuvrability of the devices makes them extremely versatile in function. During periods in-between scheduled activities Newcare staff would be able to set up the device in a horizontal table position for residents to play group games together, such as poker or ice hockey, and easily change the orientation of the touchscreen table to vertical for showing videos or playing films. The sleek aluminium frame and oak finish of the touch table would also integrate perfectly with the modern finish of the home.

“Newcare is really fantastic; their homes are like nothing I’ve ever seen. Modern and stylish, we really needed to consider the products we offer to ensure that they would fit with the design of the homes. After a consultation and demonstration, it was unanimously decided that the touchscreen tables would suit each of the homes’ spaces and benefit in different ways.

“The results of the installation have been really amazing, particularly amongst dementia patients who see it as a safe familiarity.” – Stuart Carruthers, IT Sales Manager, Midshire

The Outcome: A Versatile Touchscreen Beneficial for all

The touchscreen tables have integrated perfectly at Newcare. The devices are used by the activities team with residents individually or in groups, and occupants now use the table autonomously in-between scheduled events without input from the Newcare team. The devices are so versatile that the residential floor use it for playing films and challenging their minds with word and memory games, occupants on the nursing floor use the screen supervised for chair yoga, whilst patients on the dementia level remain stimulated with sensory apps that involve light and sound.

“The residents can’t resist, we switch the table on in the morning after charging it overnight and we see all sorts of people gathering around it throughout the day. It really gets people together and creates a dialogue between residents, staff, and relatives that wouldn’t normally interact, it’s so interactive!” – Alicia Lowry, Activities Supervisor, Newcare