In October 2017, members of the Persona Leadership Team attended the Care Show Conference, where we received a demo of a fantastic piece of equipment – a mobile showering system developed by a company called Reval Continuing Care.
This specific piece of equipment goes by the name of ‘Ruby’ and is a mobile showering system which enables customers to have the opportunity to enjoy a nice, hot and relaxing bathing experience in the comfort of their own bed.
Reval kindly loaned the piece of equipment to Spurr House late last year where staff were able to trial it with a number of customers in Older People’s short stay. Following the fantastic feedback and seeing the positive difference it has made not just for our customers but also their families and our staff, Persona have now purchased our very own ‘Ruby’.
An excellent example of using the ‘Ruby’ was with customer ‘Ellen’ who had Dementia and previously did not like any type of bathing/ showering experience and would become agitated, uncooperative, upset and physically challenging towards people who tried to support her.
Staff at Spurr House decided to spend some time with Ellen and her daughter to plan on using ‘Ruby’ as an alternative bathing method for her, and what a success it was.
We asked staff how this went and they said “Ellen was calm, relaxed and comfortable whilst we supported to give her a bath”.
Ellen’s daughter was also present at the time and was also amazed at how successful this went as she had not seen her mum have a bath in such a long time and said “I can’t believe it, mum was so relaxed and calm and I’m very impressed”.
We also asked other customers and staff who have used the system, who have said…
“I love it and it is great for some of our customers who are unable to get out of bed as they can still have the chance to enjoy a nice hot bath and having their hair shampooed”. (Sue Stockman, Care Assistant)
“I really enjoyed it and this way was much more relaxing for her compared to when she normally has to be fully hoisted into the bath” (LB, Customer).
“I thoroughly enjoyed having a bath and my hair washed in the comfort of my own bed”. (AM, Customer)
To find out more about out Short Stay Services here, and to find out more about our new bathing services at Grundy Day Centre, click here.
You can watch a short video showing how Ruby works by clicking on the photo below:
