A Guide To Finding The Right Care Home For You

​Choosing a care home for you, or for a loved one, can be a daunting experience if you don’t know where to begin. Whether searching for care homes in London, up north, or anywhere in between, the decision is an important one regardless, and getting this right is vital for ensuring comfort in later years. The question remains, however - how do you go about doing just that? We’ve pulled together this simple guide to help you through the decision-making process, so you can ensure that you or your loved one is comfortable in their new home.

​What Kind Of Care Do You Need?

There are a number of different types of care on offer in homes around the country, and understanding which is needed is the first step to knowing where to begin your search. These are as follows:

• Residential Care – This is ideal for those that need around-the-clock care. It’s possible to retain independence here while receiving any support that may be needed with day-to-day activities.
• Nursing Care – Residential care often comes with nursing, but some will have a nurse onsite 24/7. This is ideal for those with medical conditions or with physical disabilities.
• Dementia Care – While most care homes will now offer dementia care as standard, some may specialise in the care, treatments and personal needs of those with Dementia.
• Respite Or Short-Stay – If the primary carer is away, or if you or your loved one is recovering from an illness where specialist care is required, a short-stay care home may be ideal.
• Intermediate Care – This is an alternative to a hospital stay, usually following surgery, a fall, or while recovering after illness. Intermediate care can either be provided within a care home, or in your own home.
• Specialist Care – Care homes will often have specialist areas, so if you or your loved one is in need of a specific type of care, then it’s important to research what help and specialist care may be available.
• Palliative/End-Of-Life Care – Palliative care is carefully designed to provide support and care for those who are usually within 12 months of death. This kind of care aims to ensure individuals are comfortable by managing pain and distress where possible. They will also offer support to family members and carers.

​Decide On Your Priorities

​While it’s not impossible to find a care home that has it all, determining your priorities from the offset can make your search much simpler. Some individuals need to stay locally to family or friends, others might need to give up locality in order to receive the best care for a certain condition or illness, and others may want something small and cosy. Deciding on the priorities can help you whittle down the hundreds of care homes across the country to just those with exactly what you need.

​Shortlist Potential Homes

​When you begin to research, it’s important not to settle on one care home and one care home only. Make a shortlist of some of your top choices, and then list out what each one has on offer. When researching a number of homes, you can easily forget good and bad points, so making a shortlist and then expanding on why you should and shouldn’t choose each one can clear your mind and make the decision-making process much easier. Work out the costs, what you can afford, what they have on offer and what could potentially cause an issue in the future – all of this will play a huge part in your later years, so making a careful decision is paramount.

​Visit Your Desired Homes

The final thing you should do is visit your shortlisted homes. While you may have picked one out that is perfect on paper, you may visit and find that it isn’t at all how you pictured and that you aren’t comfortable there at all. Similarly, a care home that may not appear to have much on offer could actually prove to be much more comfortable and viable to live in. 
Only you or your loved one will truly know what it is you need from your care home, but hopefully with our simple guide you have a good starting point to get you going. Most importantly, it’s vital to remember that a good care home will do exactly what the title suggests – care. It’s just up to you to decide which one suits your needs more.