This was a two part project I completed whilst working at ThinkPublic. The first part was a research report on how people could help each other make informed choices about their own or their loved-ones care. I carried out a number of 1-to-1 interviews with people who had or were looking for care for their parents to understand what difficulties they came up against, what they wanted to know, who and what they would trust and how the systems currently work. We also spent time in a care home/sheltered accommodation with some residents finding out what their experiences of finding and choosing care were like.

The second part of the project was to develop a concept of what that service might be like. Postcards From Home is a simple service that allowed residents of care settings communicate what it is like for them. Often children of the person going into care chose based on their ideas and tastes, not what their parents actually wanted. The idea involved offline to online elements, allowing reviews and experiences to be written by the users of the service a way that suited them.