Elderly care providers: who should I trust for recommendation?

[christina1234567]

Hi all, I'm looking for recommendations for private homecare or care home options in the UK...where do y'all do your research on which one is the best? And who do you trust for recommendations? (e.g. do you listen to your doctor, your physio, or your hairdresser's recommendations?) Obviously there's a lot of advertising by different brands so hard to choose...

Professionals and charities generally aren't allowed to give recommendations, as a social worker I would give hints but tbh agencies change hands/ management so hard to keep up, also it can depend on the individual carer and relationship with the cared for etc. E.g I once thought a care home I'd visited a lot was great but then they got closed down for getting dementia residents up too early ( night staff 'helping' out day staff) So I'd read the CQC latest report and try and get word of mouth recommendations, visit a few times etc. And although its not ideal you can always change agency/ home down the line

@christina1234567 you sound as if you’re doing a survey

i started on the CQC website, to find out which were suitable (needed nursing and dementia care ) which cut it down quite a lot. Visited each, to see what impression they made, how they smelt, parking facilities and crucially availability. Made a short list from there and asked everyone I know for experiences. Nothing stood out as not congruent with my own experience so I was confident I had short listed the right ones and then it was just about waiting up coordinate a bed and hospital discharge.

I was told that with a credible plan to provide a nursing care bed the hospital discharge team would be reasonably flexible and do it proved.

Do not trust cqc reports for a start , ask about local homes on Facebook pages as you'll get honest reviews from families there. Don't phone and arrange viewings. Just pop in and speak to reception , they should do a viewing there and then , any home that says you need to come back, don't go back. Also make sure to set up cameras in the room and keep a presence in the home , no valuable jewelry or items , keep a very close eye and and visit at different times of day , care standards are very poor atm and the standard of carers employed is worse

Same goes for home care , most home carers are massively under trained