With the New Year approaching, now might be the best time to organise elderly care for your loved one. This has been a challenging year for many, so you might feel that you need to find a different form of care for a relative or friend who may be struggling to live alone.
Living in a residential care home could mean that your loved one has a better quality of life, surrounded by friends and high-quality care from expert staff. This guide helps you begin the process of organising elderly care, and how our care home in Worthing can help.
What is residential elderly care?
Care homes provide accommodation and personal care for people who need extra support in their daily lives. This might include help with eating, washing, dressing, going to the toilet or taking medication. However, choosing elderly care in a residential home doesn’t mean they will lose their independence or dignity. At our care home Worthing, we provide all residents with their own private room, regular and unscheduled visits from friends and relatives and a support network of carers.
The care home you choose should be a happy and comfortable place to live – in short, it should feel like home which is what we strive to deliver to our residents.
When should you consider a care home?
If you’ve noticed that a friend or loved one can no longer live alone, or this past year has been particularly hard on them (being in isolation), then a care home move may help. As well as physical support, residential elderly care also provides that much needed social interaction and companionship.
Sometimes the conversations around elderly care can be a bit tricky, especially if the person is reluctant to leave their home or admit they need extra support. It’s important that they feel they’re being listened to and respected so involving them in the decision making process is the right way to start. We believe once they see the environment and the support and companionship they will receive, they will understand the benefits of moving.
Want a better idea of what life is like in our home? Follow our Facebook page for regular updates and photos!
Choosing a care home
Once the decision has been made to move your loved one into a home, the next step of finding a suitable elderly care home to suit all your needs can be a bit of a minefield.
We recommend you make a list of your top priorities to ensure that the care home meets all your requirements such as budget, travel distance, environment, specialist health care needs (Strokes, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis, etc.).
Once you have made a shortlist of homes, to ensure you are making a fully informed decision, we recommend asking each of them the following questions:
- What does my loved one get in their room?
- How are meals prepared? What about snacks, drinks etc.?
- What activities do you offer? Ask for a sample program
- When can I visit and how often?
- What’s the staff-to-resident ratio?
- What medical skills and experience do the staff have?
- Are residents and their families involved in decisions about their care?
You may also want to consider the following:
- Read the most recent inspection report for the home. You can ask the home for it, or look for it on the CQC website.
- Are the buildings and grounds well maintained?
- Is the home clean and tidy?
- Is the care home safe and secure?
- Are the rooms a comfortable temperature?
- Are the staff and management welcoming and interested?
- Do residents seem happy and occupied?
At our care home in Worthing, we are fully aware of the big decision this is for relatives so we will answer any questions you have and you’re welcome to come and visit as many times as you’d like. Phone our team on 01903 830600 or email manager@countrylodgenursing.co.uk.
Want to learn more about our care home in Worthing? Read our brochure.
About our care home in West Sussex
At Country Lodge, we provide unrivalled nursing care for elderly people in West Sussex and have a strong emphasis firmly placed on respect and compassion, with kind, gentle care.
“Growing old can be very hard indeed, but I really do not think I could have found a more caring nursing home with so many kind staff.” Relative
Excellent facilities
Our care home offers residents daily activities such as singing, games and crafts, private en-suite rooms including access to our beautiful garden and freshly prepared home cooked meals – our afternoon teas are a particular favourite!
To help keep our residents connected during the pandemic, we have recently opened our new visiting pod for COVIDsafe family visits. This has provided our residents with some much-needed interaction with loved ones over this difficult time.
Skilled staff
Our staff are committed to providing the very best quality of nursing care, comforts of home and companionship for our residents. This is achieved by ensuring that they receive the highest level of training in all areas. Both our Manager and her Deputy have the Registered Managers Award Level 5 and many of our staff have achieved NVQ level 3.
We’re here to help
We are currently offering virtual tours of the home, plus telephone or video calls are available with our Manager. We will answer any questions you may have and can let you know what current room availability. Give us a call on 01903 830600 or email manager@countrylodgenursing.co.uk.