Thermal comfort in care homes: vulnerability, responsibility and ‘thermal care’

Abstract

Care homes are a distinctive setting for the management of thermal comfort due to the expectations involving the provision of both a home environment and caring service. Based on six UK case studies, the care home setting is investigated for how owners, managers and staff understand thermal needs and how their management of thermal comfort is shaped. The core function of good quality care is understood as closely related to the provision of thermal comfort. The association between ‘old and cold' and the obligations that follow for the provision of care are deeply entrenched in activities: such as the provision of hot drinks, use of blankets and the non-stop operation of heating systems. The responsibility for the provision of ‘thermal care' for residents is challenging and complicated by the diversity of people living (and working) together, their occupation of communal spaces, and the interactions between the means of providing thermal comfort and physical safety. The wider implications are identified for the uptake of sustainable technology, patterns of thermal-related vulnerability and, most significantly, for how the ethics, agency and relationality of thermal care provision are to be understood. Future research needs and directions are considered.

Keywords:

• agency
• care
• care homes
• elderly people
• ethics
• older people
• space heating
• thermal comfort
• user needs

Acknowledgements

The authors are very grateful to the care home owners who allowed them access to the case studies; and to all the interviewees who participated in our research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Funding

The research project was carried out as part of the ‘People, Energy and Buildings' Programme funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council with EDF Research and Development [project grant EP/H051082/1].

Notes

1 Both residential and nursing homes form part of this sample. Thus, the term ‘care homes’ is used to cover both types of institution.

2 See http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/research/marc/research/conditioningdemand/, retrieved October 12, 2014.

3 Table 1 shows the type of care provided at each home. Some homes have specialist units for caring for people with dementia. Others provide both residential and nursing care, the latter being for people who have medical needs that require regular nursing support.

4 Although care can also be provided in peoples' own homes, particularly in older age, and relatives and external agencies may take on responsibility for various of these actions.

5 The energy consumption per resident may not necessarily be high if compared with people living in their own homes.

6 By a corollary, policies focused on enabling people to stay in their own homes for longer may not be helping to address the prevalence of fuel poverty, although they have many other virtues.