How to find a care home
1. Choosing a care home
All care homes vary in their quality, and it can be hard to know what qualities to look for when choosing a home.
A good care home will probably do the following:
- Offer new residents and their families or carers a guide (in a variety of accessible formats) describing what they can expect while they’re living there. Ideally, residents of the home would have helped to produce the guide
- Have a majority of staff who have worked there for a long time. They know the residents well, and are friendly, supportive and respectful
- Involve residents, carers and their families in decision making, perhaps through regular meetings with staff
- Support residents in doing things for themselves and maximising their independence, including keeping contact with the outside community
- Offer a choice of tasty and nutritious food, which residents may have helped to prepare
- Take into account the needs and wishes of all residents, and provide a variety of leisure and social activities
- Be in a clean, bright and hygienic environment that’s been adapted appropriately for residents, with single bedrooms available. A good environment encourages residents to personalise their room
- Have staff who respect residents’ privacy and knock before they enter someone’s room
- Be staffed by well-trained people, for example, nurses trained in dementia care
- Respect residents’ modesty and make sure that they look respectable, while recognising residents’ choice about what they wear
- Be accredited under the Gold Standards Framework for end of life care
A bad care home might do the following:
- Have a code of practice and a set of aims, but doesn’t make them a priority
- Offers little opportunity to listen to residents, with most decisions made by staff
- Have residents’ care plans that are out of date and don’t reflect their needs accurately. This means that some residents aren’t getting the support they need with their healthcare and personal care
- Give residents little privacy. Staff often enter residents’ rooms without knocking, and they talk about residents within earshot of other people
- Have staff who don’t make an effort to interact with residents, and leave them sitting in front of the TV all day
- Be in a poorly maintained building, with rooms that all look the same and have little choice in furnishings
- Need cleaning, with shared bathrooms that aren’t cleaned regularly
- Deny residents their independence, for example, by not allowing someone to feed themselves because it takes too long
As a resident in a care home, you should expect:
- The right to be treated politely and with dignity
- The right to privacy for yourself, and your relatives and friends when they visit
- The right to deal with your own finances and spend your money how you choose
- The right to eat food that’s prepared in line with your faith, and to worship when and where you want to
- The right to choose the food that you eat, and to be given the time and space to relax and enjoy your meal
- The right to choose when you get up in the mornings and go to bed at night
- The right to complain if you’re unhappy with your care
There are many types of residential care homes available. These include permanent care homes for older people, homes for younger adults with disabilities and homes for children. They may be privately owned or run by the voluntary sector or local authorities. You may want to consider in detail the many options for residential care before you make a decision.
2. Older People
Care homes for older people may provide personal care or nursing care.
A care home which is registered to provide personal care (see the section on care home regulation, below) will offer support, ensuring that basic personal needs, such as meals, bathing, going to the toilet and medication, are taken care of.
In some homes more able residents have greater independence and take care of many of their own needs.
Some residents may need medical care and some care homes are registered to provide this. These are often referred to as nursing homes.
Some homes specialise in certain types of disability, for example, dementia care.
3. Adults aged 18-65
There are also residential care homes that provide care and support for younger adults with, for example, severe physical disabilities, learning disabilities, acquired brain injury, progressive neurological conditions or mental health problems.
Care can be provided for adults with more than one condition and some homes have expertise in providing care for adults with alcohol or drug dependency.
These homes offer permanent residence or provide care for a temporary period until the adult is able to live independently or move to a different type of accommodation.
4. Choosing between residential care and independent living
Social services normally encourage younger adults who they assess for support to be as independent as their circumstances allow. The care plan for adults with disabilities will consider what independent tasks they can carry out and how they can be helped to achieve more.
Even if adults have very severe disabilities their needs are reviewed from time to time to check whether residential care or a very high level of support is still appropriate.
Supported living may be an option for younger adults. This allows people to live independently in the community but with basic support. The support offered includes help with setting up a home and managing finances, and assistance with cleaning and shopping.
For older people there are various alternatives to residential care. These include sheltered housing and extra care housing schemes, which offer independence with an increased level of care and support. For many people there is also the choice of living independently at home with community care support.
5. Choice of Accommodation
The law says that where the local authority is funding accommodation it must allow the person entering residential care to choose which care home they would prefer.
Social services must first agree that the home is suitable for the person’s needs and that it would not cost more than they would normally pay for a home that would meet those needs.
If the person chooses to go into a more expensive home, a relative or friend may be able to ‘top up’ the difference in cost.
6. Deciding on a Care Home
Care homes may be arranged through the local authority but many people will want to arrange them independently.
It is a good idea to visit several homes before making a choice. Make sure you spend enough time in each home to get a good idea of what it is like.
7. Respite and Short Term Stays
Residential care home stays don’t necessarily have to be permanent. Temporary stays can be arranged for respite care (in which you take a break from caring for somebody else), or as a trial period before a permanent stay.
Temporary stays can give you flexibility when covering unexpected events, such as:
- Palliative care (which manages or reduces pain) after a hospital stay or illness
- Support for newly disabled people and their carers
- Enabling someone to continue living independently if they live alone and suddenly require care
- Giving someone a chance to try potential future homes
8. What your choices are
Every care home in England must be registered with the national regulatory body Care Quality Commission (CQC). They inspect each care home on a regular basis and write an inspection report for you to read.
It is advisable to read this report before making a final decision. In addition to this, Healthwatch Trafford have conducted Enter and View visits at many of the homes in the borough, which you can view on our reports page.
You can also contact Age UK Trafford for the most up to date vacancy list (published weekly) within Trafford care homes. You can call them on 0161 746 9754.
