Household essentials kit for the elderly

Many of our service users live at home alone so it’s extremely important, not only that their house is safe to move around in, but also that it is organised, especially as they will regularly have carers coming in and out.

We always suggest that our service users have a handy household essentials kit to hand and it’s an idea you can use at home too. Here’s our top items on what to include:

• Spare batteries – how long do you spend trying to find spare batteries when they have run out in the remote controller? Keep spare ones in your home kit and you’ll always know where they are. Remember spare batteries for smoke alarms too.
• Light bulbs – you never know when one might blow, so it’s important to always have a spare at hand as you don’t want to be left in the dark
• Torches that work and if necessary are full charged – these will come in very handy in a powercut
• WD-40 – great if you’ve got a squeaky door that needs fixing

• Tissues and paper towels – always good to have a stock of these for any runny noses and paper towels are always handy for mopping up spillages quickly.

Don’t forget the ‘must be returned after use’ rule so you never lose anything and if anything is used, make sure it’s replaced again.