Are you supporting the individuals you care for to heat their homes to a safe and comfortable temperature? The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) have recently published a quick guide for care managers around safe temperatures in people’s own homes and care homes that you may find useful.
It includes information on:
- What is a hard to heat home? Environmental factors to look out for
- Who is most at risk of deterioration associated with cold homes? Individual risk factors to look out for
- Making every contact count – using every contact with an individual as an opportunity to take action
- Successful discharge planning – making sure that an individual’s environment is ready to safely support an individual in the transition from hospital to home.
Considering the temperature of an individual’s home should not just happen in the depths of winter but also in moderate conditions and particularly when outside temperatures drop below 6 degrees.
Remember, hypothermia can happen indoors as well as outdoors! Cold weather directly impacts on the incidence of heart attacks, stroke, chest infections, falls and hypothermia which is why it is so important to protect the vulnerable individuals we care for.
Click here to read the NICE guide