1 Choosing a care home Choosing a care home
Introduction It can be hard to know when someone - whether this is a friend or family member- needs assistance. It may be even more difficult if they become unable to live on their own or their needs become too great for someone caring for them. This guide is designed to support anyone to choose a care home and includes helpful information to assist with this decision. Life in a care home can bring new opportunities such as new friends, social activities and trying a variety of foods. We aim to offer advice on your options when it comes to choosing the right care home for your loved one and hope to remove some of the anxiety associated with this. Getting Help There is support and guidance available if you or a loved one are looking for care. Below are some suggestions of how and where to seek advice, if you think you or a loved one needs care. • Discuss your concerns with your or your loved one’s GP or other designated healthcare professional. • Contact your or their local authority regarding the difficulties being experiences and request a needs assessment. This should clarify what assistance is needed and also give an indication of what level of financial assistance you or your relative is entitled to. This assessment is likely to initially involve a number of questions to understand the issues. • Following a needs assessment, the local authority will then work with the person needing care to plan this, depending on individual requirements.
Different Types of Care Anchor operates over 120 Anchor care homes throughout England, which provide residential and care for people living with dementia. Anchor have been providing care and housing for older
people for over 60 years. Residential care
Residential care homes provide support from care staff 24 hours a day 7 days per week, to help with tasks such as washing and dressing. In addition, they provide a room, meals and activities. Medical care can be provided as needed by visiting GPs or District Nurses as and when required. Each resident that lives in an Anchor care home has a tailored care plan. This takes into account their preferences, lifestyle and history and is to ensure their wellbeing and quality of life. We also encourage families and friends to contribute to care plans. Features in homes’ environments such as wider corridors, wheelchair access and lifts ensure that our care homes provide supportive environments to our residents.
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Dementia care Anchor care colleagues are highly trained and provided with ongoing support on how to provide individual care to each person living in our care homes. Our carer teams can also provide support to our residents’ families and other loved ones on understanding dementia and how this can affect day to day life. We work with all of our residents and their loved ones, to ensure they have the best quality of life through activities and other aspects of daily life. Our care homes are adapted for dementia needs where possible with pictorial signage, show plates at meal times and other ways to make life easier for our residents. Short breaks/Respite care Care sometimes may be needed temporarily, for example, following an operation to allow time to recover or if a carer is going on holiday. Short breaks are also helpful to give someone an insight into life in a care home. Shorter stays or respite care tend to be for a couple of weeks or a few months depending on individual requirements. Paying for care Details of how to access financial assistance for care and an indication of Anchor’s fees are provided here . For more information on funding assistance, visit government’s public services information website, or speak to your local GP or social services department.
Choosing a care home You should have a choice about the home you or your loved one move into, whether you or the local authority are funding the care. You may have priorities that you would personally like to consider for yourself or your loved ones. The most important factor is whether the care home offers the kind of care needed, which should have been identified by the needs assessment that the local authority undertake.
“My sister has been in the home for some years now and we can’t thank the staff enough they always go above and beyond for everyone. My sister doesn’t get many visitors but the staff always ensure she has what she needs they are all angels.” Harden Hall relative carehome.co.uk quote.
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Below are some considerations to bear in mind: • Location. If looking for yourself, you may think about living closer to relatives and/ or friends so they can visit frequently. • What care is available? Consider if the other residents have similar needs to you and whether the home can continue to meet your needs if they change. Will the team give consideration to your preferred routines such as what time you get up, your interests etc.? Other details can be clarified such as whether you will be able to see your own GP, staff turnover etc. • Visit any care homes that you are interested in. Get a feel for the homes, what facilities are on offer and chat to the residents and team. If the care is for you, take a friend or a relative along. Try to see as much of the home as possible including the outside space, communal areas and a bedroom if you are able to. Find out about the food and activities and whether these are as you would like. Talk to the colleague team and residents. Some care homes offer potential residents to stay for lunch, a day at the home or a short break to get a feel for life there. Anchor has a checklist of suggested questions to look for or discuss in most of our care home brochures.
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Care home Quality Standards
Anchor care homes are regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The CQC undertake regular inspections of all care homes to ensure that they meet outlined standards in 5 areas: Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led. The latest inspection reports can be found on the respective homes’ page on the Anchor website and on the CQC website via the link below. Reports not only include the inspector’s findings but also feedback from residents, their families and staff members. You can visit their website at www.cqc.org.uk .
Life in a care home Mixed emotions are not unusual among relatives when a loved one moves into a care home. Care homes have a lot more to offer than just a room and meals. Care homes aim to improve the quality of life of the residents living there. A good home will work with a resident and their loved ones to ensure that the journey into care from enquiry to moving in is as smooth as possible. They will find out as much as possible to help welcome new residents and their routines, preferred activities and interests as well as their life stories.
“Moore Place is a treat to be in. We have the kindness of the staff who are always a few yards away and always very smartly dressed, and very kind and helpful in all ways.”
Moore Place Resident carehome.co.uk quote.
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Activities Care homes can offer a wide range of activities, from individual daily activities such as reading, to group activities such as singing and gentle exercise. At Anchor’s care homes, activities and events are arranged with residents’ input to ensure everyone who lives with us enjoys living in later life. Care homes may also have visiting groups, such as nurseries and schools and arrange trips for residents to visit local sites of Our Chef Managers and catering teams will work to accommodate specific dietary requirements and tastes. Our highly trained colleagues prepare freshly cooked meals with locally sourced and seasonal ingredients where possible. Our mealtimes are sociable and enjoyable times of the day. Anchor hold an annual Chef of the Year competition, which is an opportunity for our talented staff to showcase their culinary excellence and flair that they provide to residents on a daily basis. You can find out more about our approach to food on our website here . Health and other services Residents are registered with a GP and also have access to other health care services such as district nurses, dentists and optometrists as required. interest. Food Many of our homes have visiting hairdressers that work from a salon area and other visiting services such as chiropodists.* *Additional charges may apply for these services. Please discuss with our care home.
Visiting We encourage friends and family to visit their loved ones living in a care home to maintain these links and links with the wider community. Most homes allow visits to suit residents and their families and are happy to speak to then to answer any questions that they may have. If you would like to arrange a visit, each homes’ contact details are available on the Anchor website or please call in. You can also arranging a visit through the Customer Enquiries team on 0800 731 2020. Carehome.co.uk is the leading UK care home review website with nearly 300,000 reviews published. Friends, family members and residents can submit reviews regarding the care home in which they or their loved one resides which can assist people looking for care with their decision. All reviews are independently verified by the website. If you wish to visit the website or find out further information, this can be found at www.carehome.co.uk .
“My mother spent 8 weeks here having respite care following her release from hospital, during that time she could not fault the care and help she received from the staff. Their care and support enabled her to recover sufficiently to return home.”
Timken Grange relative carehome.co.uk review.
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Moving into our care homes We know that moving into a care home can be emotional, however we can assure you that our colleagues are here for our new resident and their loved ones every step of the way. Our Home Manager will be happy to discuss admission in detail to make sure you and your loved ones know exactly what to expect and feel confident when they come to live with us. We encourage residents to bring their personal possessions and arrange their room as they would like. We introduce new residents to the rest of the home, so they get to know all of our friendly team and their fellow residents.
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More Information Through this guide, we aim to assist you with getting the best and most appropriate care for you or your loved one. Our website provides further information and our care homes will be happy to answer any questions or provide further information, either over the phone or on a visit, regarding their homes and the care they provide. About Anchor Anchor care homes are part of Anchor, which is England’s largest not-for- profit provider of housing and care for people aged over 55 years. We now provide 65,000 homes for people in later life across more than 1,700 sites. If you would like further information about our care homes, please contact us on 0800 731 2020 or please visit our care homes.
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