How to Choose a Care Home
The idea of care home placement is something most of us don’t even want to consider at first. However, we can’t all offer full-time in-home care. Care homes can really be the best option when someone needs 24-hour, high-quality care. Although there may be pressure to choose a care home quickly, you are strongly urged to take a tour of the care homes you are considering before making your final selection.
During your visit, try to speak to anyone and everyone who can give you information.
Family members, residents, nurses, in order to develop as full a picture as possible of the day-to-day operation of the facility. All the staff at any good care home will be more than willing to help and give you the advice and information you need. Some people stay at a care home for a short time after being in the hospital. After they recover, they go home.
However, most care home residents live there permanently because they have ongoing conditions that require constant care and supervision. Many people also find that their NHS and local authority are less than proactive in providing accurate guidance and advice. Finding the right care home can be a tricky business. That’s why, when you’re looking for one, it’s vital to do your research – and to find out as much as you can about what it’s really like to live there.
Care homes are usually situated in quiet neighbourhoods. It is important that care home residents feel safe and happy in the place they live. Ensure the care home provides a homely and friendly environment. Care homes should be constantly improving their facilities, decoration, and buildings. They should also ideally be built above the regulatory standards.
Unfortunately, most people don’t get much time to make this decision.
There is often a rapid change in the individual’s health that requires immediate placement. Other times, the placement begins when the individual needs to stay in a care home. While they recover from a surgery. Consider what is important to you—nursing care, meals, physical therapy, a religious connection, hospice care, or special care units for dementia patients? Do you want a place close to family and friends so they can easily visit?
By law, adult health and social care providers must ensure they meet essential quality and safety standards.
Official care quality guidelines also state that care planning should build in measures to prevent health and welfare problems occurring. Unfortunately, these official inspections don’t always reflect the day-to-day standards of care that elderly residents actually experience. So, our advice before you even begin to examine the range of residential TrustedCare settings available to you, is to make a list. This list should contain the ideal attributes you want from the care home. If you are helping someone about to move into a care home, involve them in making the decision as much as possible. If they are not in a position to communicate well, it is extremely important to bear their values in mind when making this important life decision.
