Residential care

Award-winning household model

In Belong, residential care is provided in small households (up to 12 people) to create a community within a community, with an extended family feel, where residents and colleagues build good relationships and enjoy a calm, homely atmosphere. We provide nursing, dementia and residential care within these household communities.

Belong is a founding member of a global aged care alliance to promote the benefits of small household models, along with Australia’s HammondCare and US based The Green House Project, together advocating for the wider adoption of this model.

Why choose a Belong household?

Each household is its own secure setting, with its own access to the outdoors, a shared open-plan living, dining and kitchen space and private en-suite rooms for every resident. This setting offers a number of advantages, including a higher-than-average staffing ratio, a more intimate environment that fosters a warm and responsive atmosphere, and above all, safety, security and peace of mind for residents and family members.

View our Sample Household Virtual Tour

Dementia-friendly design

Households are designed to maximise independence for people living with dementia, with their open plan layouts aiding navigation and reducing reliance on memory, while the contemporary design promotes a simple, clean and reassuring environment.

Beyond building design, Belong has a wide offer in terms of creative, sensory and physical pursuits which are well suited to the needs of people with dementia. All Belong colleagues receive dementia training, are sensitive to customer needs and skilled in implementing strategies to provide person-centred care for people living with dementia.

Specialist nursing

Nursing care is provided in all households at all Belong locations, based on a community nursing model rather than having dedicated nursing wings. This means that if a resident’s needs change and they suddenly require nursing care, the care moves to the resident rather than requiring people to move to the care. It also means that placements in a household are based on compatibility with other residents rather than physical conditions.

Our nurses work closely with household teams across the village to supervise resident care, drive standards and step in to provide a clinical judgement when needed. All established Belong villages hold accreditations for high quality end-of-life care, either within the Gold Standards Framework or NHS Six Steps accreditation scheme.

Take a tour of one of our households

Marvellous mealtimes

At the heart of each household is a kitchen, where meals are prepared and residents can enjoy the smell of home cooking, creating an appetising signal that mealtimes are approaching.

We aim that food continues to be a sociable aspect of life in Belong and residents typically come together in the household dining area at meal times. Alternatively, they can choose to visit the Bistro for lunch or enjoy the meal in the privacy of their room at a time to suit them.

Special diets are catered for and we prepare specialist reconstituted meals for people with swallowing difficulties, such as dysphagia, if these are needed. The food provision at each location is overseen by the village Bistro & Catering Manager, who aims to ensure that meals are varied, nutritious and, above all, tasty!

The outdoors

Belong households all feature access to fresh air and nature, with the ground floor households opening onto gardens and those on upper floors featuring spacious balconies.

Many of our villages have dementia-friendly sensory gardens, gardening clubs and village-wide social events, such as barbecues or garden entertainers; all designed to maximise opportunities for people to enjoy the outdoors.