Marbrook 2

“Assisted bathing provides multiple rehabilitation benefits to our residents and can be for some, a far more pleasurable option than showering in an accessible wet room”

Gainsborough Baths has been chosen to supply Ascot and Kent 2 hi-lo baths with Air Spa to a new  purpose-built specialist neurological and Dementia care centre near St. Neots, Cambridgeshire.

The Marbrook Centre, which opened in April, has the facilities to care for 81 residents living with life-changing conditions such as Acquired Brain Injury, Spinal Injury, Stroke or Dementia and includes a two bedroom pre-discharge training flat. This is designed to enable individuals and their carers to gain the required skills and confidence to move on.

Once fully operational the Marbrook Centre will have a 100-strong multi-disciplinary clinical team specialising in neurological care. The Centre’s specialist Dementia service has utilised University of Stirling’s Dementia Design Best Practice, to enable each Marbrook resident to be as independent as possible. This University is regarded as a world leader in ‘Dementia friendly’ design and has worked in partnership with the Marbrook Management team to deliver a ‘calm and friendly’ environment with a ‘sense of meaning’ for clients. Best Practice features include colour coding of fixtures and fittings to assist with orientation and location, specific tonal variations between walls and floors to encourage confident walking through to wall mounted memory boxes containing objects of personal significance.

Marbrook 1

The RSPB has advised how to ensure the exterior of the Marbrook Centre and its sensory garden is wildlife friendly – adding to the overall vision to produce a place ‘full of life’ with a ‘sense of community’. There is also an impressive rehabilitation gymnasium onsite along with a salon, cinema, café, nine ‘rehabilitation’ kitchens and several multi-purpose entertainment rooms – all focused on encouraging as much independent activity as possible. The staff team also wear appropriate yet non-professional clothing to encourage a more homely, less institutional feeling.

Head of Care Pathways, Robert Myers, said: “We believe assisted bathing provides multiple rehabilitation benefits to our residents and can be for some, a far more pleasurable option than showering in an accessible wet room. Gainsborough’s  product quality, committed service and varied design and installation experience impressed us along with an ability to add sensory features to the baths. Functions such as Chromotherapy and Air Spa enhance residents’ experience so that bathing sessions are both relaxing yet stimulating and help promote engagement with their key carers.”

Robert added: “The support we received from Gainsborough was exceptional from concept to completion. Their technicians worked closely with the Contracts Manager to ensure all pre-installation works were completed and the bathroom design facilitated easy wheelchair manoeuvring and 360-degree carer access to the bath. Even when we changed the specification of baths just before delivery, Gainsborough were able to accommodate our needs without impacting on the tight installation schedule.”

The website for the company is HERE

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