Any advise please on how to find a good care home for my DH's Nan.

[mckenzie]

DH's nan is 98 and a lovely lovely lady. She's been at home up til now with a home help coming in three times a day and family and friends doing a rota to keep her compnay in between.
The last few weeks though she has taken a turn for the worse (the doctors think she had a minor stroke which made her fall).
My FIL (her only son) has been fantastic but he is off on holiday at the weekend and is going to move her to a BUPA care home for the 2 weeks that he is away so that we know she is being well looked after day and night but at £1000 per week it can only be short term. I have agreed to start looking for a care home for her while FIL is away so that if she is agreeable and still not 100% then she can move straight from the BUPA place to the new home.

Trouble is, I dotn really know where to start. I've done the obvious and got out the Yellow Pages but how on eartjh do I know if these places are any good or not.

Any help gratefully received.

TIA

visit a few check what costs, care given as some dont help with washing dressing etc, what she would be left to do in the day, make sure you and dh nan is comfortable with as if you going nursery check different times of day asn others that are local to you where there elderly relatives are (if in homes)

You could try help the aged or her local social services they may be able to point you in the right directions.

Unfortunately, you'll soon find out which ones are good, because they'll have a 3 or 4 year waiting list! If you're in Scotland you can put a postcode and a radius into the care commission's website and get reports on them all. I'm sure the equivalent body in England or Wales has a similar system. Having been in your situation 6 months ago (sadly, my gran has now died, after a fall in the home) my advice would be to avoid those that smell of pee, visit unexpectedly and at mealtimes if you can, go for one that has a variety of activities for the residents, and hang about outside and corner people who are visiting their relatives to find out their opinions on the home. Good luck.

thank you for the replies. So sorry to hear about your Nan Mrs Muddle but good tips - thanks

Look on here for reports on specific homes.
Obviously not a substitute for visiting them but may help to weed some out.
Also, stating the obvious but see if you can get any personal recommendations.

thanks OhNo40. The first one that I called just now wouldn't even take Nan as she is too old so I'll need to whittle it down by age restriction first.
I've called Social Services and they are going to fax me over a list of homes in the area. Fingers crossed they have the age range on the list otherwise I could be on the telephone for a couple of days finding out .

It's a good job DH's nan is such a lovely lady. I think this is going to be quite a project isn't it?

Mckenzie,

It nice to know that at 98 your to old to do somethings.

true Lizziemum. Up until she was 96 she was still going by taxi to her club every day, going on holiday three times a year, coming to every family get-together. She has gone downhill very very quickly and it's so sad to see. We always hoped that while she was still enjoying life that she would just pass away in her sleep one night. She's a lovely lovely lady who still has her wits about her and so she knows exactly what's going on and she's obviously quite scared.

can she get any assistance with funding? ( i work in a bupa care home and many of the residents get £96 a week towards fees)

my first reaction tiredemma was "wow, that's great, £98!!". Then i realised that you were talking per week and the one that Nan is going into tomorrow is over £150 per day!
FIL will find out about funding once we've found a home (she gets some funding for the carer who comes to her at home now so I assume that means she'll qualify for somehting) but the home is more important than the costs. I think if necessary the family will all pull together and pay and then Nan's home can be sold to cover the costs.

Does she need a full care home or sheltered or very sheltered accommodation? My Granny was in an Abbeyfield Home which was really nice but don't think it could have cost the earth because she did not have very much money...

she needs help to get out of bed, help to get dressed, help with feeding now really too. and also she needs to have someone fairly close by because she's had quite a few falls recently. I think, although not certain, that sheltered wont be enough for her. what do you think?

Have alook at their website - she was in sheltered accomm but there are different levels. I think they are a charity (but might be wrong) and I think there are care homes.

thanks noodlestroodle. They look like lovely homes but they don't have one in our area unfortunately.

All care homes, Private run and Social Services are regulated by the Care Standards Inspectorate. For example here we have the Care & Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW) that inspect annually & carry out unnanounced visits. All national minimum standards have to be met and an inspection report is available online from them. I presume there is the equivalent in England, try typing in the search engine. Also homes are required to make available their most recent inspection report to you, phone any up that you are interested in and ask them to send you a copy. Hope you find somewhere.

me again - just read your description of nan, to me she sounds like requiring more than sheltered accom, I would say 'Residential Care' which is 24 hr care in a home. The next stage from that is 'Nursing Care'.

thansk very much mamimwnci.
I'll get searching again in the morning.
She is moving into the BUPA one tomorrow for the next two weeks at least and FIL is going to find out how expensive their long term care is. He was really impressed with the home itself but can't afford £1000 per week for who knows how many more weeks.

Stargate came up trumps on another thread with a link to the 'Commission for Social care inspection' which seems to be the equivalent of your CSSIW mamimwnci.