It was a real privilege as Chair of Social Work & Housing to see the new state of the art Edenholme care home officially opened on Friday 17th May at Stonehaven.
What all the guests saw as the home opened was that Edenholme is leading the way in the care and support of frail older people and people with dementia. It is, in every sense, a state-of-the-art facility. Designed in collaboration with Stirling University’s Dementia Centre, the layout and internal features meet and in fact exceed current guidelines on good dementia design.

From the start, all the residents have been invited to participate and a number opted to attend the “spade in the ground” ceremony over a year ago. Since then, some residents have visited the site to check on the progress of their new home. They helped to choose the flooring, wall colours, and fittings and they helped to select the company that supplied furniture and soft furnishings..

Although Aberdeenshire Council is a relatively small provider of care homes in contrast to the scale of the private sector, we have an important role in leading the way in promoting a good quality of life and standards of care for older people. For example bedrooms are much larger than in the old Edenholme; en-suite facilities for every resident improves their privacy and quality of life and this has been a welcome change for all the residents.

Edenholme is built on a cluster design. The 60 en-suite bedrooms are located within 5 households. Each household has its’ own sitting room and dining/kitchen area as well as assisted bathroom, various quiet spaces and access to outdoor space. The design, use of natural light and the layout have overcome the sense of being in a large building, which can sometimes happen with homes on this scale and the simple layout makes it easier for residents, particularly those with dementia, to find their way around.

Bathrooms, hallways, sitting rooms have all been designed to help people move more freely and comfortably and for staff to work more effectively. For the first time we can offer a residential suite that is suitable for couples or close friends who want to share accommodation.

The quality of home-cooked food at Edenholme has always been great and it’s a really important part of the lifestyle. I had visited twice already in my role as Social Work & Housing Chair and have tasted the food and It is truly excellent. The new, modern kitchen facilities means the cooks can continue to prepare tasty, nutritional food and give people choices at times that suit them. We can now offer people the chance to participate in home baking groups and preparing snacks for themselves to promote wellbeing and social interaction.

For the residents who moved from the old Edenholme on Arduthie Road, this short journey has been a major step and they have been closely involved throughout the design and build stages. Moving home is a big change for all of us and it can be very stressful. The atmosphere on Friday was happy and celebratory with pupils from all four local primary schools present.
It is a huge tribute to all the excellent staff team particularly Rhoda and Jason for making the transition as smooth as possible.