We're exploring a simple way for care homes and families to help those stories be heard, preserved and shared — through scheduled conversations on an ordinary phone.
The resident simply talks. Everything around that is designed for their comfort, their family, and their consent.
A familiar phone conversation at an agreed time, with no app to learn, no password and no blank page to face.
Stories, the resident's own voice and photographs kept together in a private family vault the family keeps.
Participation must be voluntary, understood and appropriate for the individual — decided by the right people.
No invented outcomes and no claims of existing care-home partnerships. We say only what is true today.
Families often know only a fraction of the experiences, people and places that shaped somebody they love.
HeartTold could help a care home create a gentle opportunity for those stories to be told — while the result stays with the family, in their own private vault.
Three simple steps, with consent at the start of every one.
The care home and family identify residents who are interested and able to give informed consent. Participation is always optional.
At an agreed time, HeartTold calls the resident's ordinary phone. Gentle questions and follow-ups help the conversation unfold naturally.
The conversation becomes a story the invited family can read and hear, with the resident's voice kept alongside their words.
An old photograph, a familiar place or a family name can open a story. HeartTold is not there to replace the visit, the family or the care team — it could help the conversation continue afterwards.
We don't want to arrive with a finished care-home programme and pretend we already know every answer. We want to learn with a small number of teams, residents and families.
We learn about your home, your residents, family engagement and your existing safeguarding approach.
Together we select an appropriate number of willing residents and define who supports consent and family invitations.
We agree the call schedule, contacts, escalation route, and what staff are — and are not — expected to do.
We listen to residents, families and staff, examine what worked, and decide together whether there is a sensible next step.
Privacy, consent and staff time matter. A pilot should begin only when the resident's wishes, the family's role and the care home's responsibilities are clear. These are design requirements, not footnotes.
HeartTold is private by design. Only invited family members can see and hear a shared story. A pilot would define access and family invitations clearly before any conversation takes place.
Participation must remain voluntary. The pilot design would include a clear, simple way to pause or stop calls and to review consent at any point.
The intended experience is deliberately light-touch, but we would agree setup, practical support and escalation responsibilities together before anything starts, so expectations on staff are clear.
No assumption should be made. Suitability, capacity, consent, wellbeing and family circumstances need individual consideration by the appropriate people. A pilot begins only where that is clear.
If you lead a care home, work in activities or resident experience, support families, or know a thoughtful organisation we should speak to, we'd value the introduction.
Illustrative photography does not depict customers, partners or verified programme participants. HeartTold is exploring care-home pilots and makes no claim of existing care-home partnerships.