Shoes when I'm residential care

[DailyMailareDicks]

Hi all

I hope you don't mind me asking on this board. I'm looking at launching a mobile shoe measuring/fitting/sales service. Aimed at people in residential care who don't get out to buy their own shoes. Checking overall foot health, the current fit of shoe and slipper; and recommending new shoes or slippers as appropriate.

Is this a service you would be happy to use for your loved ones. How do you buy shoes for them currently?

Any advice you can't give me would be much appreciated. TIA

That title should read IN residential care.

Sure yes, that'd be a fab service. Just because someone is in residential care it doesn't remove their enjoyment of shopping! I think it's a lovely idea. Mil swears by hotter shoes! The half sizes are very important to old people!

Absolutely.
Not even residential homes I would use this as an at home service.
Currently we have three people who are relatively home bound who we would buy shoes for with problem feet.

For my DF we currently order a variety from Amazon and return the rest.

When I worked in a care home some of the more able residents could still go out shopping at the local market and shops with a carer. Not sure if health and safety still allows that.

For those who couldn't then residents relatives just bought them from stores and online based on their previous shoe size and swapped them if they didn't fit.

I would expect feet health is already checked by nurses at the home already tbh.

Not sure about patients who had no relatives. They might be a possible target audience but no idea how many of them still had access to money given the cost of care home fees and not sure how you would get access to do so.

I was going to say that for my Grandad who refused steadfastly to go into a Hospice or a care home this would have been perfect.
House bound at home would be a great service including the foot health.

I'd use it for my parents who are still at home. Dad has very difficult swollen, painful feet, and mum has painful feet and dementia so she is difficult to get shoes on, plus she walks awkwardly so they wear oddly.

I have to order online and hope for the best tbh

Do you have any qualifications to support assessment of foot health?

Even if you can get about ok problem feet aren't really shoppable for. By the time we have had to get there, measure feet, try on with three steps etc my DF would buy a pair of stiletto if it got him out of the shop.

This and eye tests could be made easier.

Are you qualified? Feet problems can be so dangerous. I really like the idea in principle and would use it if you had the appropriate training.

Are you qualified to check overall foot health. If not then don't advertise the service. How much will you be charging?

You would also have a market for those who are still at home using private care companies so you could contact private care companies and ask if this is a service they would be willing to recommend.

I think this is a great idea but you should be qualified.

Thanks for all your replies everyone. Yes I will be qualified when I launch this venture, I'm doing my training at the moment with the appropriate bodies. After 12 months, if this is going well, that is when I would extend my training to be qualified in minor podiatry treatments. Only if I can see a need for it.

I absolutely plan to offer this to individuals in their home, care homes would give me a more steady and regular customer base. Also kids shoes, where I think my most likely customers will be SEN children and multiples/large sibling groups where shoe shopping is just a nightmare parents would rather not face.

In terms of cost, it will be a free service for measuring and fitting the shoes. No pressure to buy, if current shoes are suitable then no expectation to buy different ones.

This actually sounds great. MIL is housebound, with massively swollen feet and ankles. She hasn't worn shoes, slippers or even socks in years. I'd like to think you'd be able to make a difference to people like her.

I was talking to my Mum about this yesterday. She is an ex nurse and thinks it is an amazing idea.

She also said if you can qualify in minor podiatry you will never he out of work.

Many years ago I was an admin in this sector. Local shoe shop did an outreach service of this type which was popular in 'old people's homes'. I caused much confusion with an invoice for Dolly Brown. Couldn't find the record for the resident of that name..... it was the name of the shoes purchased.

Thanks for your feedback, it's really encouraging. I'm faced with a really tough decision - go for it and struggle financially while I build the business up; or take a new job in my current field which is well paid but never going to get paid much more than I'm on now. I really want to go for it but I'm risk adverse!!! Thank you all.

It's a service that would be really useful for my mostly housebound DM. I need to take her to hospital appointments etc but gptakibg her shoe and slipper shopping is very difficult. I would need to know more about any qualifications and experience. Will DBS certification be appropriate?

I think definitely offer socks alongside. A lot of people struggle with maybe one leg or both being swollen and standard socks don't fit

My mum gets a NHS chiropodist who comes in regularly and checks her foot health and does her toenails for her. This is free (we are in Scotland so don’t know if this is a service in England for the elderly). My SIL is a care home manager in Scotland and they have regular NHS chiropodist visits.

For shoes I order in a selection of sizes online to her house for her and return the ones she doesn’t need after she’s tried them on. It’s one of the few shopping experiences we can do together now, although I appreciate some elderly people don’t have that support.

She has different sizes/shoes at home she uses depending on weather and her current weight which fluctuates due to health issues. Because she is pretty much housebound apart from hospital visits and occasional trips out her shoes last years as they just don’t get used enough.

The elderly should have good foot care and well fitting shoes, but I’m not sure of the market opportunities. Have you visited care homes and spoke to their managers to see if they would use your service?

I'm blind. I would like this, if the shoes were nice looking and not just 'worthy'. If you would clip my toenails, pumice dead skin and paint toenails, that would add to the inducement! Would also depend on cost obvs.

My DMum is a possible user of such a service, but right now she's happy with mail order and my DBro doing her feet.

One thing for you to check is what competition might already exist locally. There is an independent shoe shop in her town which does minor podiatry (and you have to book simply yonks in advance it's so popular) mainly at the shop, but will visit homes. It'll also trust regulars to take shoes on appro to the less mobile (they don't exactly advertise that, but one gets to know about it IYSWIM).

My mum is in a residential care home and I would love her to have access to this service. She sees a podiatrist regularly but it is difficult getting shoes for her. She is wearing shoes she has had a long time and because she has Alzheimers it is difficult to get a sense from her whether they are comfortable or fit properly. If you could make the shoes sound attractive and buying them fun, I think you will have lots of customers. Maybe sell slippers (my mum wears slippers most of the day in the home) and shoe horns as well.

LONG MESSAGE - @DailyMailareDicks

I have lymphedema of left leg and foot so slipper wise for example back 5 years ago i liked slip ons, then on advice of physio and ot before lymphedema came into my life, i went to a closed fitted slipper as it was less of a fall risk and now they are all too tight so i need to wear a moccassian type slipper which is still closed in but looser

I do my own footcare as far as possible and have approx 1 ingrown toenail a year (always big toes and alternative years lol).

I have spent months a couple of years ago in a nursing home despite the fact i am now only 42, i have had 5 stays when needed the longest being 4+ months. In fact this week due to the severe snow and lack of carers being able to get in they were trying to place me in respite again but couldnt get a bed.

I am also a wheelchair user and 95% housebound/ 60% bedbound, when i want to buy a pair of shoes for an occassion for example to go with an outfit, im also a wide foot, 8ee sometimes a 9

i actually purchased a shoe fitting measurement thingy and work out nearest from that, if left foot is a bigger size than needed previously i go by that size and cotton wool goes in the top of the other shoe as it will only be for a couple of steps from chair to a loo transfer that i wont be walking in them anyhow. I also have collapsing weakness when i try to stand.

I do nail varnish on my toenails as often as possible to retain my sense of being female as while at times i have to be washed, changed, fed etc by someone else im holding onto what i can when i can.

@Beehivesandhoney Im in NI, the nursing home i was in the last 2 times was a private one but the other 3 times was part of a chain, all funded by ss but i had to contribute dla care equilivant per week even when money had stopped (dont get me started on that)

the long term residents who were fully funded from ss got an allowance of i think it was 25-30 per week to get essentials,

families were welcome of course to add anything else extra they wanted, i recall one lady who i heard making her list out of what she wanted from where when the activities worker was going into the local town to do some shopping.

For any hard skin that does build up, i tend to soak my feet in a basin of hot water as hot as i can stand with a couple of caps of listerine and a scoop of epsom salts, 30 mins later it just falls off.

I need to plunge my feet into hot water for other reasons anyhow to draw blood to feet so i multi task.

I prob should add that at the first sign of a chiropody problem it will be spotted for me as one of my carers, they work in 2s and come in 4 visits a day is actually a qualified chiropodist but no work locally and cant afford to set up on her own, she is only just back p/t after mat leave so is doing care work as suits her better for now. I know that luck and she is happy she said to point out a problem if she sees it but if i have to see a chiropodist, it wont be her as would compromise her current job.

Socks - yes, maybe some colours you dont have to have them in hand but able to get easily for stock if you get orders or patterns,

Ex 3 days into my last nursing home stay, i had been moved after almost 4 weeks in hospital my friend sent me a lovely pair of socks with my name on tags inside both socks, the socks were still on the cardboard thingy. (see my powers of description), They were cat design socks as she knew i was missing my cat who had gone missing a week before i ended up in hospital.

After wearing for a day with all my other smalls (socks, pants x multi pairs in a zipped laundry bag) with my name tape stiched on it and my other washing went down as a load to the laundry,

The next day i saw cat socks on elderly lady who when i asked her nicely did she get new socks she told me her daughter brought them in to her that morning, my name tags still in place lol, i let her hold onto them as she was so happy her daughter came to visit as the ratbag never normally visited, that would be because she didnt have a daughter ...

So name tags, laundry bags the zipped ones with space for names on them and a way to secure in machines,

Black socks as easy for all, esp men and they go easy in the zipper bags

sock putter ons device / long/short shoe horns attached to other
as an option for those who want to try and do indenpently - an ot might provide to someone but provide not if they are in a nursing home but may like to take back some independence for themselves, its usually quicker in nursing homes to do it for the person

Also diabetic socks so the elastics dont cut circulation off like some normal ones do

Bed socks - furry on the inside, if someone is in bed and cant move around properly the heat goes out of extremeties fast and bed socks do help, not glamerous but some things arent

If i can help with anything else, message me

We buy from Cosyfeet brochure for my MIL who is a care home resident.

I buy a few and send some back. It would be easier if someone qualified brought even, some samples to try on with an order arriving in a week or two.

You are going to need a van

Thanks for all the responses. I really want to get this off the ground! I know I'll need a van eventually but have a newish big car for now. Think I could fit 50 boxes of shoes in the back and have storage space for around 300 so space is sorted.

Any other feedback? Wants or don't want from this kind of service? I'm a no pressure person and will definitely be pitching this as a regular service rather than a sales visit.