When you need care there are many options available; from moving into a residential home or assisted living to having care in your own home. But having so many options can make choosing care a little intimidating and overwhelming. How do you work out what is right for you or your loved one?
In this article, we will explain the benefits of moving into a nursing home compared to choosing home care or assisted living.
What is a nursing home and how does it differ from home care and assisted living?
The first thing you need to understand when looking at care is what the options are, and how they differ.
Nursing homes
A nursing home is different to a care home as while they are both residential homes for you or your loved one to move into, a nursing home has at least one qualified and registered nurse on site at all times to assist with any medical needs, where as a residential care home won’t always have a medical professional there. Both nursing homes and residential homes will have carers around to help with personal care and grooming. In a nursing home, an individual will have a private room, and then will have a communal lounge, dining room and gardens.
Read one of our previous blogs to find out more about the differences between a nursing home and care home.
Home care
Home care is when you or your loved one remains living at home and a carer helps them complete any tasks that they may need assistance with, from personal care to domestic help or assistance with attending social events. Depending on the level of care you need, you can have a live-in carer, who lives with you for around the clock care, or a carer that drops in at certain times that are convenient with your routines.
Assisted living
Finally, assisted living (which is also known as retirement living in the UK) are often blocks of flats, or complexes of bungalows, flats and houses. The individual can live on their own, in their own space but they have staff that are available 24 hours a day to provide assistance with anything they might need. This could be personal care, domestic help or meal preparation.
Benefits of a nursing home like Country Lodge
Constant care
Within a nursing home, the carers will be constant. This means that your loved one will build a rapport with those caring from them, creating trust and a friendship. The carer will get to know your loved one and will treat them like their own family.
While home care will try and make sure that the carer visiting you is consistent, they can not guarantee it. This is especially important when providing dementia or Parkinson’s care as consistency can be key to their mental and emotional wellbeing.
Our nursing home in Worthing has a team of staff who are passionate about delivering the best quality care to your loved ones. They are dedicated and experienced, allowing us to provide the consistent care needed.
All of our staff at Country Lodge are hired by Country Lodge, as opposed to hired through an agency ‘as and when’ we need them. It’s far more common for home care companies to use agencies due to the demand.
24 hour care
Nobody knows what’s around the corner, which means something may crop up at 4am or 4pm. At a nursing home, someone is around all the time to be able to deal with them. Assisted living also has someone available around the clock, and with a care home you know there are always a few extra pairs of hands to help out. However, due to the living arrangements of a nursing home, it can be easier and quicker for the staff to respond to an accident than it might be in assisted living.
If you or a loved one is living with Multiple Sclerosis for example, this might be something worth considering. As symptoms become worse, accidents may be more likely to happen, meaning that having someone ready to respond quickly can be an essential part of multiple sclerosis care.
Activities and socialising
As you get older, and maybe a bit frail, getting out and socialising can become more difficult. A nursing home will provide your loved one with a safe space to socialise with other residents, either in the gardens in the summer, or a comfy lounge in the winter.
It is also common for nursing homes to organise events and activities throughout the year. These encourage residents to stay active, engaged and social. Nursing homes will always try and motivate residents to mix with their neighbours rather than isolate themselves as this can have a real impact on their mental health.
Depending on the company you use, home carers might also help keep you or your loved ones active. Some home carers are able to help their clients attend social events, and gatherings, but they won’t organise any social events for you. Staying social will be yours, or a loved one’s responsibility.
Moreover, assisted living won’t help you or a loved one with attending social events. Again, depending on the company, they might organise events within the community for you to attend but it will be down to the individual to get there.
Our Worthing nursing home has its own Activities Coordinator, who likes to arrange weekly quizzes, and games. We also bring in musicians and shows and love a good movie afternoon complete with interval ice cream. And we will use any excuse to throw a party, from bonfire night, to Valentines Day and of course Christmas.
We also pamper our residents with regular hairdressing, manicures, hand massages and podiatry appointments.
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Cooked meals
Nursing homes will have a kitchen where meals are prepared for you, or your loved one. This can mean that you can rest assured that your loved one is eating healthy meals. And if your loved one is suffering from symptoms of Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis or motor neurone disease knowing that they aren’t having to cook for themselves in a kitchen might be a weight of your mind.
Some home care agencies might provide help with cooking and preparing meals, but in assisted living it is likely that you will need to prepare all your own meals.
Country Lodge nursing home provides home cooked meals to our residents. We are proud to serve nutritious, home cooked seasonal meals using locally sourced ingredients. Our residents have a say in the menus we set, so they get to enjoy their favourite meals. We will also use our meals to make any celebrations extra special.
Cost
A final benefit of moving into a nursing home is cost. It is possible that you would be paying over £2,000 for home care a week. However a nursing home such as Country Lodge can be much less.
To get an idea of how much you might pay at our nursing home in Worthing, take a look at our accommodation page, or speak to our Registered Manager on 01903 830600.
Is a nursing home what you are looking for?
These are just a few of the benefits of moving a loved one into a residential nursing home, especially if they need specialist Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis or Motor Neurone Disease care.
If you would like to hear more about the benefits of living in a nursing home, or would like to arrange a viewing of our nursing home, call us on 01903 830600.
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