Essential Bath Aids for Care Homes & Assisted Living Facilities

If you’re building or refurbishing a facility that provides elderly care, you’ll no doubt be researching the best bath aids for elderly people for your installation.

We understand that in builds like care homes and assisted living facilities, accessibility is at the top of your agenda. That’s why as manufacturers of specialist healthcare equipment for over 60 years, we’re sharing our expertise in bath aids for the elderly, disabled people or those who need extra support.

In this guide, we’ll give you an introduction to the essential bath aids you should consider for your build and the reasons why.

The Best Bath Aids for the Elderly

When you’re considering elements to include in building out an accessible bathroom for the elderly, there are fixed pieces of equipment that make obvious choices - in particular, bathroom grab rails.

Grab Rails

Grab rails are the go-to bath aids for elderly care residents.

In care homes and other assisted living locations, the facilities have to cater to residents with a range of needs. Bath grab rails offer a way to  promote independence in elderly people with higher levels of mobility, as they can use them for support when getting in and out of the bath on their own or with additional help.

For residents who are less mobile and therefore not as independent, bath support handles offer a vital anchoring point. Elderly users can hold onto them while they are being transferred safely in and out of the bath by care staff, or staff can grab onto bath safety handles themselves to weight bear when leaning down.

Which Grab Rails Should You Install for a Bath?

The most common bath aids for elderly users are fixed grab rails positioned horizontally on a bathroom wall. They act as crucial bath support handles for entering and exiting the bath safely. A longer size, like a 700mm grab rail will run for the majority of the length of a UK standard size bath.

Alternatively, a corner grab rail can be a good choice to provide wraparound support for baths, showers and wet rooms.

Whichever grab rail you opt for, all of BOYCO’s grab rails are formed using a 32mm diameter steel tube for strength. The outer coating is our unique hot dip nylon, an innovative product technology which BOYCO’s R&D team pioneered.

Using our unique hot dip nylon offers a strong and comfortable grip that meets DDA compliance - such as not being cold to touch - as well as all other clinical legislative requirements.

Olakunle Fagbenro, Design Manager at BOYCO, explains:

‘Our coating is not cold to the touch , meeting our goal of making grab rails that are the perfect helping hand for those who need them.’

To explore more about the ins and outs of the different types of grab rails available, check out our  ultimate guide to grab rails.

Now that we’ve covered grabs rails, let’s continue with our recommendations of other essential bath aids for elderly people. We don’t sell these at BOYCO but still advise them for any building project of this nature.

Non-Slip Flooring

Install non-slip flooring in your build if at all possible in order to reduce the chance of slips and falls, especially for those with compromised balance. As bone density decreases with age, falls become far more likely to cause more serious injury. Non-slip flooring can help with preventing this.

Walk-in Baths

Specialist walk-in baths allow elderly people to get into their bath without having to lift their legs up and over the side threshold of the bath. They typically work by having a watertight door on the side of the bath for easy entry.

Ergonomic Mixer Taps

Small details in environment can make big differences when it comes to accessibility for bathrooms, wet rooms and en suite spaces. A lever-style mixer tap is a smart choice for elderly people as it requires less dexterity to operate.

Loose Accessibility Equipment

Of course, when planning the full scope of a care home, or assisted living build, it's important to consider other healthcare equipment for more complex needs such as bath hoists or bath steps. Our suggestions above are simply the key fixed elements that make up the basis of the best bath aids for elderly people. These are the aspects that you should be planning in as core elements of an accessible bathroom.

Need a supplier for unrivalled quality bath grab rails? Choose BOYCO

Manufacturing something of superior quality takes time. We’ve had 60 years to perfect our products for the healthcare sector. Our manufacturing heritage has led to the creation of innovative, thoughtfully designed products - like our grab rails.

What else does buying bath grab rails from BOYCO offer you?

•  - A 3-year warranty to demonstrate our confidence in the quality of our all of our products
• - A range of grab bars which are all proudly designed, developed and manufactured here in the UK at our own, purpose-built factory
• - Full compliance with Part M & DDA, the UK’s legislation about accessible building design requirements for elderly and disabled people

Shop our full range of bathroom grab rails for a variety of styles, lengths and colours to suit your building or refurbishment project needs.

Get in Touch

If you want to ask our team any questions about BOYCO’s products or processes, we’re always on hand. Get in touch directly or check out our FAQs for answers to common queries.