Care Home Open Week is an annual, nationwide event hosted by Championing Social Care.
This year, it runs from 27th June – 3rd July.
The overall intention of Care Home Open Week is to encourage local people to visit care homes within their communities, and to help form and develop relationships.
Here are our tips for taking part in this important event.
- Register as a home that would like to participate by filling in this quick and simple form. This will provide you with a Care Home Open Week materials pack, as well as invitations and templates for promoting your event. This will also mean you are featured on the interactive map, so that your local community can access your details and find out more about your event.
- Decide on a timetable of events with your Manager. Aim for these to be set times, to avoid people turning up during handovers or mealtimes, when it could be tricky to accommodate them to the best of your ability.
- Don’t over commit. Two sessions over the course of the week would be adequate (some homes will only run one session) A light afternoon tea and tour on one day, and a ‘Meet the Manager’ session on another day could work well. Running an event in the evening would be appealing to individuals who work full-time and are therefore unavailable to attend a daytime session.
- Make posters – use the templates provided or involve your residents in designing their own. Put these up in your local area, on social media. You could also request that they are displayed in local Churches, GP surgery waiting rooms, or shop windows.
- Arrange sufficient refreshments in advance with your kitchen team.
- Use the event as an opportunity to recruit volunteers. Make a display about your volunteers – who they are, what they do and how valued they are in your care home. Provide simple forms for people to fill in, if they are interested in volunteering themselves.
- Provide a comment box for visitors. This is an excellent way to obtain honest opinions about your home.
- Remember that the event isn’t just about advertising your care home to people who may require care in the future. It is about forming connections within the community.
“One year we decided to hold an Open Week all week and it meant that not many people came. I suppose they didn’t know what to expect and of course no one ever wants to be the only one there! The following year we set specific times and found ourselves flooded with visitors! It was a lovely atmosphere. Make sure you emphasise it is an event open to everyone, not just those looking to move in to care.” – Jan, our AC mentor
We would love to hear what you are doing for Care Home Open Week. Feel free to send your news and photos to for your chance to be featured in our Reader’s Corner.
