Amrit Dhaliwal, chief executive of Walfinch home care, says his company is making moves to improve its care clients’ lives

As carers we want to improve lives, and we are motivated by the kindest of intentions – yet our care often may not deliver the best results for clients.

We could do better if we took on board the need for movement. The care media is awash with pictures of clients sitting comfortably while smiling carers do tasks for them. It’s a heartwarming image – but this kind of care could be hastening clients’ physical and mental decline.

I believe that care should deliver wellness, and, for our clients, it should be a time to thrive. Key to this is greater activity.

The inactivity crisis

The sedentary lifestyle is a known killer. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that physical inactivity puts adults at greater risk of cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and strokes, type 2 diabetes, dementia and cancers such as breast and zolon. Lack of movement is costing lives.

The WHO recommends that adults have 150 minutes of moderate-intensity, or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity, or equivalent, per week. Yet around a third of people don’t achieve this, and lives are becoming increasingly sedentary through the increased use of cars and screens. Inactivity is even more common in women and the over-60s.

Carers see it daily; many people, especially older adults, sit in front of television or computer screens for hours. The care sector finds itself dealing with the results – many clients are suffering from conditions that are exacerbated, or even caused, by inactivity.

How can we change this?

Most people already know they should be more active, yet they are not doing much about it. Why?

One reason is that ‘activity’ is often associated with going to the gym, or swimming 50 lengths a day, or 10-mile hikes – and most don’t fancy doing that. For many care clients, exercise like this is almost impossible, so they are being realistic.

We need to redefine ‘activity’

Physical activity is not solely about vigorous exercise, especially for older and less able people. Will Ferguson, founder of The Caring Physio, whose physiotherapy team delivers services to clients at home, explains that care clients often face much more basic challenges. “They may be unable to get out of bed, or out of their home into a car, so their lives are severely restricted,” he says.

This inactivity can be frustrating, and tends to cause deterioration in physical and mental health, as people focus on what they can’t do, rather than what they can.

Ferguson says: “This can result in a lack of motivation, so they move even less, so the body becomes weaker, there is a higher risk of inflammation and infections, and when they do move around, falls and fractures are more common.”

Increasing motivation

Clients can be asked at initial care assessments what they want to achieve and the physical challenges they face in reaching these goals. Often their aims are personal to them, such as attending a family wedding, resuming an art class, or meeting a friend for coffee.

Ferguson and his team often work with carers, including some from Walfinch. The physios assess the health and capability of the client, and their environment, to ensure that they can move around easily. Once a physiotherapy plan is created, the carers can be trained safely to help the client achieve the greater mobility they need.

How carers can help

“The carer can go with the client while they make their way to the kitchen and make themselves a cup of tea, rather than the carer delivering the tea to the sedentary client,” Ferguson says.

The activity should be chosen by the client, and the carer should join in. Carers getting involved with activities alongside clients increases motivation for both, making it more likely they will continue with the activity, and the carer’s physical and mental health can benefit too.

One Walfinch franchisee is providing free online chair yoga sessions for clients, led by a local yoga instructor. Not only did it result in a 20% take-up among clients, but carers, including some who were pregnant, joined in too.

At Walfinch our carers aim to get clients to take part in activity for at least 10 minutes of every visit of one hour or more. It could be a short spell outside (maybe walking), or gardening, or going to a community exercise session – some of our franchisees make these available free to clients, families and communities.

Activity also makes the carer’s job more interesting, which can increase retention and engagement, and improve mental and physical fitness across the whole care team.

For Walfinch activity is a core part of care, which is why we have launched ‘Wellness With Walfinch’, the first initiative under Walfinch’s new ‘Time to Thrive’ tagline. Mobility is vital to wellness. Surely this is part of what care is all about?

Carers must be committed too

Gurprit Gill, the franchise managing director at Walfinch home care in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, understands the importance of care that includes meeting a client’s aspirations.

Gill, who has 15 years’ experience in the care sector, says she wants to work with her care team to deliver holistic fitness coaching to help clients increase physical skills, such as getting up from chairs more easily, and has plans for arts and crafts activities, pamper sessions and social occasions – all of which tie in with the Walfinch philosophy.

“I aim to bring our care clients a healthy life, fresh food, and the ability to attend social occasions, and I have the commitment and the experience to do it,” she says.

A moving story: how walking improved a life

Home care franchisee Tiffany Meachim explains: “Our client Patrick, was prone to balance problems, and only able to complete 10 to 15 steps unaided – so his family was stunned on the day that he got up from his chair and walked upstairs. It was something he had been unable to do for years.”

The transformation was down to Meachim and her team. Patrick, who is in his fifties, had had mobility problems since an accident when he was seven and a stroke as an adult.

“After daily visits from our care team, who accompany Patrick round his village on social calls and help him with physiotherapy exercises, he can now walk up to 200 yards.” said Meachim. His family told Tiffany how pleased they were to see the huge improvement in his mobility since her team started working with him.

The inactivity crisis

Lack of activity is taking a terrible toll on the health of people around the world. World Health Organization figures released in June this year showed that nearly a third (31%) of adults worldwide – approximately 1.8 billion people – didn’t meet the recommended levels of physical activity in 2022. What’s more, the trend of physical inactivity among adults, which has increased by about five percentage points between 2010 and 2022, looks set to continue. If that happens, levels of inactivity are projected to reach 35% by 2030. How many lives will be lost as a result?