Chooosing a Care /Nursing Home

[hendy]

Hello to any one reading
Have just uncovered this very useful document. It was hidden deep in my Councils Website. It contains very useful information about what to look for in a good nursing home. It also includes a list of useful questions to ask. There are local and national contact details.

http://www.calderdale.gov.uk/socialcare/residentialcare/choosing/choosing-carehome.pdf

Hope somebody may find this to be of use.
take care
hendy

 

[TinaT]

Wow, what a very interesting document you have directed us to! It's very easy to read and clearly sets out attainable standards which should be there in all care homes. I have copied and pasted it into my resource file on my computer.

Thanks very much Hendy for directing us to a useful document for anyone who is looking for a good residential home. xxTinaT

 

[Grannie G]

Thank you Hendy. I have bookmarked it.

 

[Brucie]

I'll make this a sticky to resources.

You might want to point out to the council that they have the Alzheimer's Society's old address on the document, which needs updating in that respect.

Thanks for a very helpful link

 

[Grannie G]

Thanks Bruce.

My list of Favourites is becoming so long, it takes an age to find anything.

 

[Charlie1]

Thanks

A nursing home is needed and we don't know where to start. Just found and run off this document for reference. Thanks

 

[Grommit]

I am in the process of looking at Nursing Homes and i woud add a note of caution regarding some of the homes i have seen.

All of them are approved, all the staff are well versed in responses to questions but all of them I have seen so far do not pass the basic test.

Would I live there myself?

Would I want to uproot from my familiar surroundings and move in with several other people I have never met when I am confused and disressed?

I beleive that there should be schemes whereby you could move in with your loved one for a week or so until you are fully satisfied that the standards the home claims to have met are the standards which are acceptable in youreyes and those of your loved ones.

 

[Margarita]

Thanks I found it very helpfull as mum going to Nursing home soon.

Glad they menstion about that the home should not smell of ciggerrit smoke or urine , as mum went to a restpite care home that smalled really bad of urine.

 

[Grannie G]

I beleive that there should be schemes whereby you could move in with your loved one for a week or so until you are fully satisfied that the standards the home claims to have met are the standards which are acceptable in youreyes and those of your loved ones.

What a wonderful idea. But who would be brave enough to allow it.

 

[Brucie]

But who would be brave enough to allow it

I'm not sure that is the question, in reality.

Because there is such a shortage of good care homes, indeed a shortage of homes generally I think, no home, good or bad, needs - or is able - to keep several places free for trialling.

Often, rooms not used for residents are used for respite people, and those places are not easy to come by either.

As far as I can see, the only thing that would help would be to put care homes on something like Amazon [there are other similar places, eBay etc] and 'buy' the places under the conditions that apply for distance selling - whereby if you don't like the goods, or they are unfit for purpose, you can return them, undamaged, and receive repayment apart from postage/packing/running costs.

Clearly this is not going to happen, but it does seem strange that there are sensible rules in place when we buy something that is not essential, yet for something critical, caveat emptor applies to the full and not only do you not get refunds, but you may well be charged additional [large] money to get a relative out of a home.

 

[Grannie G]

I would be willing to sleep in a sleeping bag, on the floor besides Dhiren`s bed, if it came to it.

I know health and safety wouldn`t allow it, but I imagine [no I don`t imagine, I know] there are many things health and safety are blissfully unaware of.

I`m not wishing to be argumentative here but some care homes are totally unacceptable to the majority of us and yet still function.

 

[TinaT]

To have a nursing home where there is only one day room which all residents are expected to sit in during the day and to have a portion of this room 'hived' off as a dining room, is, in my opionion totally unacceptable. We have the choice to move from room to room. Apparently this is not necessary for people suffering from any form of dementia!!


To build a 3 storey block, put nursing home care on the first floor, specialist dementia care on the second, and EMI nursing on the third is, in my opinion totally unacceptable!! We have the choice to go outdoors whenever we want to when the weather is fine. Apparently this is not necessary for people suffering from any form of dementia!!

Whilst the the chronic shortage of nursing home places continues, none of the above will ever be addressed.

xxTinaT

 

[hendy]

Dear All on thread
I am in the unhappy position of waiting for a suitable placement to 'come up' for dad. It is depressing in the extreme. The situation is so bad that for a bed that has just become available in a highly specialised home(emi, nursing, mental health) there have been at least five referrals. Presumably all of the patients are in need of such specialist care. One 'lucky'(used in its loosest sense) patient will get the bed. This leaves the other patients in an horrendous situation - where will they go? The homes that fulfil this criteria in my area are failing CSCI inspections. It would be a distant dream to be able to shop for such a bed on Ebay or Amazon and It would be a miracle if I or dad were to be able to trial one prior to accepting a place. The situation is desperate.
What has my local coucillor had to say about this situation? *ugger All. Thats how seriously the powers that be consider the situation for care of the elderly and sick in the NHS.
take care
hendy

 

[Grannie G]

We have had reassurances there are good homes `out there` , we just have to search. We have TP members who have been fortunate enough to have found some of these good homes.

But as hendy has found, the waiting list for good homes endorses their worth. As I found, when I was searching for my mother, some of the standards in most of the homes I visited were dreadful. That was 12 years ago before CSCI came into being.

But as Grommit seems to have found, the CSCI doesn`t seem to have improved standards of care, just perhaps standards of inspection.

My mother suffered in a home I had thought was good. It was only towards the end of her life I managed to move her into an excellent home. The waiting list for this home had been 5 years.

I dread having to go through this for my husband.

 

[jannstan]

care standards

Hi
Ive just joined talking point and on reading this thread had to comment about care standards and inspections. I worked for 17 years in a council run childrens home and saw standards rise with regular inspections. I then worked in a private childrens home and immediately saw a different attitude to the standards and inspection at these homes they were way behind the council run homes. I have just started to work in a private residential home for adults with learning difficulties and already see a vast difference on how this is viewed by care standards. I am dreading the time that i have to look for a home for my mother.
Knowledge is a great tool and being armed with what you need to know to get the best and how to get it, makes looking far easier
I hope that my years working to care standards will help the process much easier. bye bye Great leaflet

 

[Marianne]

This is the home my dad went in after being discharged from hospital in 2005, this is the home that stole his teeth, glasses, and other personal belongings, apparently nothing much has changed over the last 4 years. It is about time these homes are punished severely for neglecting these patients.


http://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/8/news-headlines/22916/living-in-fear

 

[TinaT]

A quote from the blog underneath this article says just what I've felt for a long time now....

If sick or vulnerable children were treated in a similar manner that vulnerable and sick elderly people appear to be treated in this country there would be a national outcry. All these establishments should be investigated much more often and if neglect is discovered the companies contracts should be terminated.

Judging from my own area which is not too far from Oldham, the care homes run by the LA are far, far better run than the private homes. It makes my blood boil that my LA have now closed yet another care home which they ran........to be replaced by ?????

xxTinaT

 

[jenniferpa]

Comprehensive check list for choosing a care home.

Often when people ask what to look for when choosing a care home, I direct them to this post by TinaT http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showpost.php?p=126120&postcount=91

Tina as now very kindly incorporated this post into an excellent, easy to use checklist which is below. Many thanks Tina.

 

[Grannie G]

Thanks from me too Tina. It`s an excellent check list.

 

[KatherineW]

The check list is excellent - many thanks Tina.

For those who may not have seen it, Alzheimer's Society also produces a factsheet, Selecting a Care Home, which contains some useful info on this topic.

Katherine