Choosing a Care Home

How do you know which care home is the most suitable for your beloved relative or friend? How can you decide where they will be happy and well cared for?

Many hospitals complain there is a bed shortage. It is claimed elderly patients cause this because they have nowhere to go after leaving hospital as there is nobody to look after them at home and so they have to stay in hospital. They now need care and help with the activities of daily living such as washing and dressing etc. Some elderly patients are fit enough to be cared for in a residential care home, others need some or total nursing care. There are also elderly patients in the early or middle stages of Alzheimer's disease and others who suffer from a mental illness.

Hospital staff are anxious to free the beds as soon as possible to make way for new patients who need surgery or urgent medical treatment. This puts pressure on care managers and the patient's relatives to find somewhere where their loved one can be cared for on a temporary or permanent basis.

To help a new resident feel at home and as happy as they can be in the circumstances, they need to have the basic requirements for an elderly person. These are:

• privacy
• comfort
• warmth
• appropriate food
• kind, understanding staff
• company with people with whom they can make friends
• clean clothing
• toilet training, incontinence pads and pants if required
• help with washing/bathing and toilet
• occupational ploys - hobbies, crafts, etc
• somebody within the staff with whom they can relate
• hand rails along walls, in bathrooms, toilets, etc
• competent care when they are healthy
• competent care during sickness, i.e. headaches, migraines, colds, etc
• a good sized, nicely decorated bedroom with an adequate amount of serviceable furniture including a comfortable bed and chair, wardrobe, chest of drawers, a chair for visitors, commode (if required) curtains and bed linen, towels, etc, hand basin or en-suite facilities.

When all the hard work is done and your relative has settled down you will be able to relax and congratulate yourself on a job well done.