How do you find a care home?

[Grable]

It is soon going to be the case that Mum needs to go into a nursing/care home. How on earth do you find such a beast? I live in Poole - if anybody has first-hand experience of such, I'd be grateful for a private message. The other place we will be looking, because there are family around there, is Micleover - in Derby. Again, if anybody has knowledge of places nearby, I'd be grateful to hear.

My question, though, is ... how on earth do you find out what facilities are available in any area? I've tried googling 'residential homes, Poole', and have found some - but is there a list somewhere for each area? Help would be very useful.

 

[Toddleo]

My question, though, is ... how on earth do you find out what facilities are available in any area? I've tried googling 'residential homes, Poole', and have found some - but is there a list somewhere for each area? Help would be very useful.

How about looking at wwwcarehome.co.uk - you can search by area.
Good luck

 

[Shedrech]

Hi Grable
any use?
https://www.mylifemycare.com/choosing-a-care-home
https://carehomes.derby.gov.uk/search/

http://www.nhs.uk/Service-Search/Disambiguation/Location?entityId=11&serviceName=Care%20homes%20and%20care%20at%20home&locationId=0&locationName=derby&distance=25&redirCont=Search&redirAction=LocationSearch
http://www.cqc.org.uk/search/site/poole?sort=default&distance=15&mode=html&f[0]=im_field_popular_services%3A3668

I looked for the LA website for each location - they don't make it easy to find care homes !

 

[MimoMilo]

The care home website from the first reply is what I looked at and found it very useful. I looked on the LA website and found a map of care homes and I started to visit them all to either be put on a waiting list or write them off if I found them unsuitable. I found all the care homes very accommodating as to turning up to view, give them a quick ring first. Most viewings take an hour. After your first you will know what to look for. Best of luck. X

 

[Grable]

Thanks for the replies .... but LA website? I'm not sure what that is.

 

[Kitten71]

We picked up a booklet listing all local care homes from a council office. Your local authority or adult social services may be able to provide you with something similar. Word of mouth recommendations may be useful too, start asking around but make sure you get information about dementia specific homes and not just for general old age. How about looking on the CQC website too? Once you have a list of homes, then that website will tell you how they rate. Good luck xx

 

[Grable]

Are, Kitten, I think you've answered two questions - my original one and the LA one. It's Local Authority, isn't it? D'oh!

Thanks!

 

[Chook]

It's a bit of a nightmare isn't it. You think it would be easier than it is with the internet these days! I've done it 2 ways.

The first time I wrote a list of all the care homes in the area and phoned the appropriate ones to find out how much they cost. That whittled down a lot! Then the ones that were in our price range, I visited. Then to whittle them down further I read the cqc reports.

The second time there was very little choice and the social worker just found the nearest one who would take mum!

Good luck.

 

[Kevinl]

I think the link Shedrench put up (third one) is the best, I've put it in again below (first link below).
It's the Care Quality Commission site and they're the government body who review the standards in the home, so if anyone knows they should and all the homes are given a rating a bit like OFSTED do for schools.
I'm surprised no ones mentioned it but if you go down to the local dementia café and ask around, local knowledge is usually best, see link 2, Poole is number 10 (on the list), from the look of it it's in the Stanley Green area of Poole.
Don't be shy ask people, you might mention a place and get "a raised eyebrow" reaction as some people are reluctant to say too much sometimes, but feet on the ground local knowledge is the way to go for me.
K

http://www.cqc.org.uk/search/site/poole?sort=default&distance=15&mode=html&f[0]=im_field_popular_services%3A3668

https://www.mylifemycare.com/directory-of-memory-cafes

 

[Crunchy]

I've had to find three different care homes for my parents, and we moved to a different county at the start of the process too, it's a steep learning curve!
The first step I used was carehome.co.uk. All the homes listed there have links to their CQC report. Don't be put off if they aren't rated outstanding or good on every factor, as some of them are out of date, and some are under new management etc, so explore the full reports to find out what any issues are. I ruled out any that weren't rated as "good" in the Caring score though!
The most useful deciding factor after that for me was asking for personal experiences from families of residents. My nearest town has a Facebook Page for local news and chat, so I posted up there that I was looking for a care home if anyone could recommend one. I was amazed by the responses I got, lots of private messages as well as posts, that really helped me choose the best option for my mum/ dads' needs.