HW100: The Care home information report
Over the years that Healthwatch Trafford has been in existence, one of the subjects that we have been asked for information about numerous times is information on care homes. We decided we would carry out a survey to find out what people that live, work and use services in Trafford think of the provision of information about care homes in the area. To do this, we used our Trafford Healthwatch 100* programme, which consists of people in Trafford that have signed up for regular surveys about health and social care in the area.
We created a survey for this group on care home information, and made it available online via our website, social media and email. What we have found is there are a lot of people that do not know where to go to find information. Only 39.2% of respondents said that they knew where to go to find information on finding a care home, with people 38 years old and younger as well as males being much more likely not to know.
There is a big gap in knowledge as far as funding streams are concerned, with 50% saying they did not know what NHS continuing healthcare and NHS funded nursing care are.
We are aware that online there are some very good resources to help people get information to lead them through the process, but there is currently very little signposting from the likes of Trafford Council to these resources. There is also a real shortage and difficulty in finding this information for those people that are not online.
Comments people made highlighted a number of problems with the availability of information, including the lack of information about care home vacancies in the area, as well as the costs associated with them. There is also a lack of clarity around what funding people are entitled to from both the local authority and the NHS and what the rules and conditions around the funding are.
After analysis of the findings, we have formulated five recommendations to address what we have found.
Recommendations
Recommendation: There should be a central point for information about local care homes which should be kept updated and publicly available – with locations of homes, type and vacancies available
- This should be the responsibility of the Local Authority, as it should have the most accurate and up-to-date information already. This should be online, but be able to be referred to or printed for those that have no access to the internet.
Recommendation: Information about potential funding for places in care homes should be made clear
- This should include what the conditions of eligibility are, how to claim them and what the awards are, Local Authority contributions and the financial assessment, continuing healthcare and NHS funded nursing care as well as the rules and conditions to getting them.
Recommendation: Local organisations should promote the existing publications that are freely available that can help guide people through the process (such as those from Independent Age, Age UK and Which? )
- . In particular, these could be recommended or signposted from the Local Authority assessment team, who can use it to help guide people from the process.
Recommendation: Care homes should make the fees they charge clear and upfront, so people know what to expect.
- As most people will access the care homes’ own website to find information about it, this should carry information on all the fees that they charge. Some already do this, but most do not, and some do not even have their own websites.
Recommendation: Better information provided on the differences in care homes available and different options of types of accommodation should be more widely available
- This should be from from all agencies that provide information, particularly the Local Authority regarding the homes that it places residents in (E.g. extra care facilities, homes specialising in certain types of care etc.).
Downloads
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