By Hadley Gavin
When you are considering placing a family member in a care home, finding a good facility can take some patience. Beginning with a list of care homes in your area can be a good start, but it can be a little more complicated than that. There are certain considerations you need to keep in mind when considering a certain facility.
A good place to start can be online. Using an online directory, such as Trusted Care, you will find a complete list of all registered care homes and care providers, with website details, contact details, photos and ratings.
Things to Consider
For any care homes that you are considering, you ideally want to visit each one. If you are seriously considering a facility, you probably want to visit it several times to get a good feel for the staff and how the residents are treated.
There are ratings for local care homes, and that may help contribute to your decision. It is always possible that a facility with a great ranking is one that you just don’t like. If at all possible, you should make your own observations and not take the word of the CQC. After all, it is your relative who will be living there 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Ask yourself if you would want to spend every day in that facility possibly for the rest of your life.
Finding a list of care homes is easy. Deciding on which particular care home you will choose from that list of care homes is another matter. Visiting the care homes and taking into consideration the overall reputation and input from official agencies can help narrow down your list of care homes. Whichever home you decide on, make sure you are completely comfortable with your final decision. A clean, cheerful facility that has happy, healthy residents can be a hard place to find, but it is out there.
