When it comes to looking for a care home for you or your loved ones, there’s a lot to consider and it can be quite overwhelming. But, once you’ve identified what’s most important to the individual in question, then you’ll be able to figure out priorities. These can be location-based, activity-based or specific to certain healthcare requirements, such as palliative care.
After all, moving home is one of the most stressful activities that we can go through in life, and pairing that with the circumstances around most moves to a care home, it’s certainly not going to be any easier. This is exactly the reason why you need to make sure the care home is perfect, a home away from home if you will.
To help you in your search and decision-making, we’ve put together five qualities that are present in all great care homes.
Great communication
A care home can only be as great as its staff. The relationships that you and your loved ones will build with the staff are vital to the overall experience and at the base of all good relationships is communication. Do residents get ample opportunity to meet with those in charge and give feedback or express concerns? Are they taken seriously? If the answer to these is ‘a lot’ and ‘yes’, then you have yourself a great care home.
Community
If possible, before you confirm your move into a care home, go and visit the residence and get a feel for the atmosphere and community spirit. After all, the community is one you’ll be spending a lot of time in so you’ll need to know if it’s the right fit and that you’ll be able to make friends. What kind of activities is available in the community? Are there many outings? Make sure these align with the individual’s desires. You can check all of this information out online, plus you’re able to filter by location, meaning that if, for instance, you wanted to search for care homes in Somerset, you could.
Freedom
You’ll want it to be explicitly clear how much freedom individuals are entitled to at the care home. This can range from the food that’s available to how medication is treated, all the way to friends and family visitation rights. The last thing you want is for you or your loved one to move into the care home only to find that freedom is uncomfortably restricted.
Certified staff
Be sure to check the qualifications of the staff at the care home, they should be highly qualified and happy to share their qualifications with you to prove it. Other things to look out for are whether the care home has a high staff turnover, something that’s never a good sign. It also goes without saying, but checking that the staffs are sufficiently DBS checked is a must.
Cleanliness
Finally, a visit to the care home will give you a good idea of how well maintained it is. Nobody wants to live somewhere that’s not kept clean and tidy. Luckily, care homes are monitored by the Care Quality Commission and there are certain rules and regulations that they must abide by. That being said, you still want to make sure they stand up next to your own personal standards.
