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Elderly parents
Original poster

AMA - I bought a residential care home for those living with dementia

32 replies

MPF080619 · 09/07/2019 17:20

I have NC'd. I have been lurking the last few months and wondered whether this may be of interest to people. 18 months ago I bought a dementia care home. I had no actual background in dementia care. I absolutely love what I do and have a wonderful team of carers who work with me. But.... it is a challenge in so many ways. So... AMA... I will be as honest as I can be!

OP posts:
raffle · 09/07/2019 17:22

What made you decide to do this if you have no relevant experience of dementia?

Are you a nurse?

How many patients do you have?

Original poster
MPF080619 · 09/07/2019 17:25

It was a family business, the owner I was related to and died. We wanted to continue the legacy of the owner and bought out other family owners.

I have a very experienced team who work with me including a registered manager but I am very hands on.
No, I am not a nurse.

20 residents.

OP posts:
Original poster
MPF080619 · 09/07/2019 17:26

Should say family members - not owners.

OP posts:
OrgasmicScalp · 09/07/2019 17:30

I've worked in elderly care for around 18 years.. I would love to do what you've done. It saddens me to see how some homes are run and I'd love to be able to own my own and run it the right way.
I'm currently working nights for minimum wage and alot of responsibility.. I'm actively looking for a new job away from care which saddens me but in my experience most homes are all the same
Not saying yours is like that of course..
I hope you make a great success of it

OrgasmicScalp · 09/07/2019 17:31

Apologies I didn't ask a question!

mimibunz · 09/07/2019 17:31

Are you in South Wales?

IWouldPreferNotTo · 09/07/2019 17:35

I think the question a lot of people wonder is "what are the margins like and how do the costs split out as a percentage of revenue"

GleefulGlitch · 09/07/2019 17:37

Whats your CQC rating?

Original poster
MPF080619 · 09/07/2019 17:41

orgasmicscalp - I could not agree more. We take mostly LA funded residents, so we are very much at the cheaper end of the market. I pay the wonderful carers as much as I can, but I would love to pay more.
People definitely don't become carers for the money. Although I may own the business I still make sure I do actual caring and the majority of carers are worth their weight in gold. It makes me so sad to see all the awful care homes around, and the higher the fee certainly doesn't equal better care.
Luckily my husband has another job and we do not have to rely on any income from the care home, it is very hard to make any sort of profit as the LA's have such limited funds, and so our fees are very low , but I remain committed to look after residents who are LA funded.

OP posts:
Original poster
MPF080619 · 09/07/2019 17:47

mimibunz
No, not South Wales

GleefulGlitch
Good

IWouldPreferNotTo
All I can say is that if we have occupancy of less 90% there is no profit.

OP posts:
GleefulGlitch · 09/07/2019 17:55

Thanks for answering OP.

Outside of the basic daily care washing/dressing/feeding what do you do to support the Dementia patients?

Original poster
MPF080619 · 09/07/2019 18:03

GleefulGlitch
Every resident with dementia has different needs so it varies from person to person. So in no particular order..We have pets that live in the home which provide a lot of comfort to some residents. School children visit once a week and do a variety of different activities with the residents. This may seem mundane, but keeping doing activities that residents would have done in the past are important - folding up washing, making cakes, laying the table. Alexa is a great hit. Archers. Dancing. Singing (lots and lots). Crosswords. Chair based exercises. Quizzes. Memory boxes and items. Church visits / Communion for some residents.

What is more important however is all the carers taking time to read and know about our residents life history and discussing things a resident did / went to / loved doing.

OP posts:
Original poster
MPF080619 · 09/07/2019 18:07

Gleeful Glitch
On the subject of supporting residents with dementia, there are some brilliant tech based solutions at the moment - one is a sort of clip with a chip thing which you can put on a resident's clothes which links to a screen with a google earth type view so a person can, by moving their hand explore an area where they lived / visited etc.
The interactive tables are incredible and we had some great resident responses when we tried them.
Both of these things are in excess of £7K, and sadly we can not afford these things at the present time.

OP posts:
OrgasmicScalp · 09/07/2019 18:39

Your home sounds wonderful..
It makes me so sad when the residents are essentially just a product of the job rather than human beings. On my nights I sit and we drink tea and chat and I care for them as if they were my own family.
I've worked with other staff who just want them all in bed and out the way..
There is no more rewarding job and the relationship you build with the residents is wonderful..
Best of luck to you

GleefulGlitch · 09/07/2019 18:48

Thanks OP that sounds fantastic!!

I visited a dementia care home recently and I found these little touches to be genius.

Everyone's bedroom door looked like the front door to a house. With house number, door knocker and letter box. They also had a perspex display box next to the door that displayed items personnel to the resident such as picture of their pet or children or some knitting needles and wool. It helped them to recognise their door.

Also the corridors looked like a street. So they have a working red post box and telephone box. A cafe sign for the place they can get hot drinks and a newsagents where they can get their morning paper.
All of this felt familiar and normal and helped with the fear that dementia brings of not knowing where or what year you are.

The staff were also amazing and unless a residents perception of time/date caused them harm staff never corrected them.

Sounds like a great home you run Flowers

Whosorrynow · 10/07/2019 00:35

what a great thread,:o
I love that you have pets!
how optimistic are you for the future wrt dementia care,?
do you think we'll ever have effective treatment or a cure?
(appreciate that may be out of your area?)

SD1978 · 10/07/2019 00:55

If you've involved yourself in the care of the residents, with no qualifications or training, have you now gained them or just do what you want?

glosbucks · 10/07/2019 10:04

Sd1978
Yes, I have the required training, and more than I technically need. I have invested heavily on additional training for the existing staff too.

I'm working today so will reply more later this evening.

fiftiesmum · 10/07/2019 13:18

I saw earlier that your home has LA residents, am I right in assuming they pay the bare minimum. In that case how much are the self funders paying extra to make up for this

Rainbowsintherain · 10/07/2019 13:30

Do all your patients have DNARs? And if not why not? Do you have discussions about this with residents relatives? No-one with dementia living in a care home is a candidate for ITU and therefore not appropriate to resuscitate in the event of a cardiac arrest, but this seems to come as a surprise to 90% of family members when the question is raised in hospital. (To clarify, DNAR means to not try and restart a heart when it has stopped, and is entirely different from not treating an infection etc)

Original poster
MPF080619 · 10/07/2019 22:10

Sorry, just got back home, so replying now.
Gleeful Glitch - yes, I have seen some of those street style corridors and they are brilliant.

Whosorrynow
Can't comment about future of dementia and treatment - out of my area. But I think the social care model is in crisis and I'm not very optimistic with the current political climate.

Fiftiesmum
The rates we charge are exactly the same for Self funders and LA residents. Two new residents I have had in the last few months, both pay exactly the same. One is private, one is LA funded. However, once someone is placed by LA is is pretty much impossible to get any increase each year but I do have to put in place an increase for the private funders. But they start at the same point.

Rainbowsintherain
Nearly all of our residents have DNR's in place and it is discussed when we have a new resident, both between us and the family but also between the resident / family and the GP. However I don't think that there should be a "everyone should have a DNR" as peoples needs, beliefs and life expectancy and health varies enormously so we would never try to persuade a resident and family one way or the other. But yes, it is discussed and in the vast majority of cases they have one.

OP posts:
Original poster
MPF080619 · 10/07/2019 22:11

I will be going to bed soon, it was a long day at work, but I will check in again tomorrow at some point and reply to any questions.

OP posts:
fiftiesmum · 10/07/2019 22:45

Thanks for the reply. It makes me think that mums home have gone down the same road and more so as the increases each year have been of the order of 12-15%.

EleanorOalike · 10/07/2019 22:53

Do people wrongly assume that you are making loads of money from this and that you are only in it for financial gain?

I see this awful attitude about care home owners all the time on Mumsnet as well as hearing derogatory comment offline and know firsthand from small care home owners IRL that they are under huge amounts of pressure and stress 24/7 and often don’t make profits at all. I find people in general are quite ignorant about the realities of the care industry and how important a role it plays in our society.

fiftiesmum · 11/07/2019 07:48

It is wrong that the LA shirk their responsibilities by setting their rates at lower than the cost of a care place of a home in many parts of the country and owners are forced to increase their rates to self funders to be able to pay at their wage bill. That is an emotional blackmail where the LA funded place cannot increase the fees because it would be wrong to move someone with dementia once they are settled in a home so the home will keep that person even though funding becomes less than costs after a couple of years of fixed fees. The cost of the carers wages has to come from somewhere.