Despondent!!

blueyorkie

Registered User
Dec 30, 2013
17
0
Trying to find a nursing care home to meet my dads needs is a nightmare, we have seen 4 today none of which inspire us with any confidence that they will be suitable. He is 71 and is challenging around personal care, physically fit and well and otherwise no management problem. He has been on an elderly ward for 6 months and they have been brilliant. Before that he had just started in residential care which was awful as they could not cope and it caused safeguarding issues. We had to get him sectioned for his own safety and he went into this ward. We have just been awarded funded nursing care. Feeling very despondent at present, as he needs the same level of care to continue to keep him stable, but not sure of these places. Please can anyone shed any light on good nursing care home in the Essex area, we are very stressed!
 

Sue J

Registered User
Dec 9, 2009
8,032
0
Hi Blueyorkie

Sorry to read of your difficulty finding the right place for your Dad. Am sure someone wrote on here about their relative getting Chc funding and was looking at 24hr care at home.

Maybe you've had some PMs with details of some homes.

Hope you find somewhere soon.

Best wishes
Sue:)
 

looviloo

Registered User
May 3, 2015
463
0
Cheshire
I wish I could offer some practical help... can you look further afield, or is that too difficult? It's a good idea to look around as many as possible, but then come away and sleep on it, if you know what I mean.

I found this website quite useful when we were looking: carehome.co.uk

Or check ratings and reviews on the CQC website.

Let us know how you get on?
 

canary

Registered User
Feb 25, 2014
25,018
0
South coast
Sorry to read of your difficulty finding the right place for your Dad. Am sure someone wrote on here about their relative getting Chc funding and was looking at 24hr care at home.

Yes, someone was looking to see if they could get CHC at home, but several people posted to say that they wouldnt get 24 hours a day cover.

Can the SW not help by pointing you in the right direction?
 

fizzie

Registered User
Jul 20, 2011
2,725
0
personally i wouldn't trust any recommendation by a social worker but that is just my experience
Go to the CQC site http://www.cqc.org.uk/content/inspection-reports
and search for essex and care home. Have a look at the reports and don't go for anything less than good in every area of inspection ie Safe, Caring, Effective, Responsive and Well Led.

Once you have narrowed it down a bit then go and have a look taking with you a check list like this one http://www.ageuk.org.uk/home-and-care/care-homes/care-home-checklist/location-and-building/

The absolute best source of local information is your local carers cafe - people will give you direct experiences warts and all which noone would ever write down so if you've got time it is worth going to one

Whatever you do don't look at carehome.co.uk i've checked out some of their reviews and they don't match what people say about them in real life - in my opinion they are completely unreliable
 

looviloo

Registered User
May 3, 2015
463
0
Cheshire
Whatever you do don't look at carehome.co.uk

I found it useful for knowing what homes were available in a certain location, but never really looked at the reviews. Actually, my dad's care home doesn't have any reviews on that site, so perhaps it's just as well!
 

fizzie

Registered User
Jul 20, 2011
2,725
0
I found it useful for knowing what homes were available in a certain location, but never really looked at the reviews. Actually, my dad's care home doesn't have any reviews on that site, so perhaps it's just as well!

I've just asked a couple of people who don't think care homes are good to post on their site because I don't think they are putting up poor reviews. One home which is currently being sued has a rating of 9.8 on it - something very wrong. I also wrote to them to ask them what they do with poor reviews as everywhere gets them no matter how good they might be and they haven't replied!
 

looviloo

Registered User
May 3, 2015
463
0
Cheshire
One home which is currently being sued has a rating of 9.8 on it - something very wrong.

That's terrible!!! Sounds like they have an agenda of some kind, which is counter-productive... it doesn't help anyone to hide the truth :-/
 

canary

Registered User
Feb 25, 2014
25,018
0
South coast
personally i wouldn't trust any recommendation by a social worker but that is just my experience

The trouble with CHC is that not all places are registered to offer placement. I think it has to be a nursing home, so the OP would probably need a dementia nursing home. I just thought the social worker would know which places were registered to provide CHC as this might narrow down the search.
 

fizzie

Registered User
Jul 20, 2011
2,725
0
The trouble with CHC is that not all places are registered to offer placement. I think it has to be a nursing home, so the OP would probably need a dementia nursing home. I just thought the social worker would know which places were registered to provide CHC as this might narrow down the search.

Yes that's true, could be very helpful for that but would ignore any recommendations, in our area they are programmed to give out the cheapest or the ones with the most empty beds (I wonder why they have lots of empty beds!!)
 

blueyorkie

Registered User
Dec 30, 2013
17
0
Thank you all for the suggestions. I do trawl through the cqc reports and keep looking at different areas. Some of the places we tried seem to "cherry pick" so as soon as we mention managing personal care, they don't want to know. We are not getting any suggestions from the sw. The ward he is on recommend one in particular which they seem to send everyone to, but it was awful and I can't see my dad being happy there uughh this is so hard. We just want to know that he will be kept clean and not left soiled as has been our previous experiences which led to the safeguarding. Sounds basic doesn't it, but because he can get aggressive the staff need to know how to handle this. They have it exactly right on the ward he is on, we just need to know a care home can continue, and not feeling very confident so far. The search continues and apparently he will not get chc at present, lucky to get the fnc apparently.
 

canary

Registered User
Feb 25, 2014
25,018
0
South coast
The search continues and apparently he will not get chc at present, lucky to get the fnc apparently.

Thats a shame. You will still need a dementia nursing home, though, for the FNC. An ordinary care home will not be sufficient.

When you go to see them dont worry about decor and appearance - the thing to go for is the care and the attitude of the staff.