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Healthwatch South Gloucestershire created this report to highlight the work undertaken by their volunteer Enter and View Authorised Representatives during 2017/2018 to support the introduction or development of meaningful physical activity for elderly residents of Care Homes. There were a number of themes that emerged from analysis of the findings. One theme was the lack of ‘meaningful occupation, or purposeful activities’ for residents, and in particular a lack of emphasis on active, physical movement as part of residents’ day to day life. The phrase ‘meaningful occupation or purposeful activities’ was interpreted as those activities that enable each resident to be fully themselves, a way for residents to develop and achieve realistic outcomes to sustain lifelong skills, to enjoy social interactions and maintain a level of independence. This might just mean residents being able to undertake everyday type of activities that they may have done in their own homes, such as laying the table, dusting and polishing, gardening, folding laundry and so on, as well as joining in Care Home planned activities and entertainment. Through care planning with residents Care Homes should be engaging and stimulating residents by offering a choice of different activities that have been identified as having meaning for residents. Healthwatch South Gloucestershire staff and volunteers produced a poster that gave simple information about why exercise is important for older people, and made suggestions for such activities and links to websites with advice about how to get started. The poster was delivered by hand to forty Care Homes for Older People in South Gloucestershire. There was a clear emphasis on bringing physical activity into every day routine; the idea was not to create extra work for members of staff but for residents to be encouraged to move at every available opportunity. The report notes that the evaluation was only of a very small number of Care Homes and therefore no firm conclusions can be drawn, or recommendations can be made. It was notable that Care Homes appeared to view ‘activity’ as the responsibility of the activities manager and not everybody’s business.

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