ECL Basildon Older People Day Centre

At ECL, we recognise the importance of keeping our customers connected to the communities they live in. Ashleigh Day Centre’s central location makes getting out and about a breeze, and the town is packed full of things to do. There is a shopping centre, market, cinema, theatre, and various places of worship nearby, while the Festival Leisure Park is just a 10-minute drive away offering restaurants, bowling, arcades, and crazy golf.

Basildon Leisure Centre with its swimming pool is also within easy reach and we often take customers along to join in with inclusive sports confidence sessions.

Based in Basildon, Ashleigh is conveniently located next to a parade of shops, cafes and a library. We are just over a mile away from the town centre and benefit from excellent public transport links, with regular buses running to and from, so getting to us is easy.

Our day care centre also has access to shared transportation, which allows us to take customers on trips further afield to places like Canvey, Leigh-On-Sea, and Southend.

We are fully accessible, with wheelchair-friendly facilities and a trusty Sara Stedy transfer aid to make moving around the site even simpler, as well as an overhead tracking hoist for assisting customers in the bathroom.

We can adapt our staff support ratios to the needs of our customers and are also able to assist adults with medication. Among our team, we have professionals trained to NVQ Level 3 in caring for adults and those qualified in enteral feeding. Colleagues are trained to understand varying nutrition and hydration requirements and can support customers through ‘intensive interaction’ – recognising and understanding sensory challenges and regulation of emotion.

All the facilities at Ashleigh are designed to cater to the diverse needs and interests of our customers, who include those with dementia and learning disabilities, as well as older people with complex health conditions.

The main room is always a hive of activity. A hub for entertainment, here you’ll find a large TV on which customers can view their favourite films, as well as iPads for internet browsing and Alexa devices for listening to music.

Ashleigh Day Centre is also able to offer customers with dementia and their carers the chance to access its ‘WayBack VR’. The Wayback is a virtual reality film series which captures key moments in history. Through these immersive films, people living with dementia and memory loss are transported back in time, triggering fond memories and encouraging positive engagement with relatives and caregivers.

OMI, an interactive LED light is also available, flooding surfaces with colour to create a stunning kaleidoscope effect, known to increase participation and social engagement for people with dementia.

We are currently constructing a spacious garden to the rear of the day centre, with raised beds for growing an abundance of fruit, veg, and flowers and a host of other gardening projects for our customers to get stuck into.

Our schedule of activities at Ashleigh Day Centre has been designed with all our customers in mind, whether that be an older person with limited mobility, someone living with dementia or Alzheimer’s, or an adult with learning disabilities.

We want to ensure that all our customers can actively participate, which is why we encourage input from the people we support when shaping our weekly programmes. The schedule is regularly reviewed and adapted to suit their evolving needs and interests.

Our flexible roster of activities includes everything from baking and board games to singing, dancing and arts and crafts. All activities promote the maintenance of cognitive skills, provide opportunities for valuable social interaction, and allow people to express their creativity.

We’re pleased to have staff trained to deliver Fitness and Balance (FABS) exercise classes, designed to help people move more, sit less and age well. The exercises are scientifically proven to improve muscle strength, leading to better balance and reducing the risk of falls, particularly beneficial to elderly people.

Nearby, Basildon Sporting Village runs regular Sports for Confidence in tandem with an occupational therapist and in-house coach to make a range of sports accessible for those requiring dementia care, adults with learning disabilities, and people with other health conditions.

Our highly skilled specialists are dedicated to creating a warm, positive atmosphere at Ashleigh Day Centre. They are experienced in supporting older people with sensory impairments, learning disabilities, dementia, and Alzheimer's but also understand that caregivers require support as well. That’s why our services cater to the needs of our customers and carers, recognising the importance of taking time out to reset and recharge.

Both the day centre and the schedule of activities we’ve curated have been carefully conceived to foster independence and improve the overall wellbeing of our customers. You’ll always find a hot two-course meal on offer, because whether on or offsite, we want everyone to feel fed, fulfilled and happy during their time with us.