With a decision as significant as choosing a care home for a relative, it shouldn't be rushed or taken lightly. There's added pressure when deciding on behalf of somebody else as their daily life becomes dependent on this decision.

There are ways and means of making sure any residential care home that you shortlist s suited to your relative's health and personal needs. Here we explain what things to look for in residential homes and what to consider when choosing the best residential home for a loved one. 

Open the Conversation

Before making any life-changing decisions, you need to open the conversation with your relative, but also others close to them. If they are competent enough for the conversation, you should sit them down and find out what they want from a residential home, and any requirements they have. Requests could be about the location, facilities, or room requirements, but if they can have such input, it is essential that they do. 

Similarly with other family members or close friends; they might have greater insight into what your loved one would consider as desirable or essential from a care home if they cannot convey this message themselves.  

Medical professionals that have cared for your loved one over the years will also be able to help with deciding what care home services and facilities are a necessity for your loved one to be adequately looked after. 

Start a Shortlist of Potential Residential Nursing Homes

When you know what specialist care needs the residential care home should meet, you can begin a shortlist of homes in your local area that comply. Whether you need a dementia care home, palliative care, mental health or respite care, you should narrow down your local residential care homes accordingly. 

The best way to form your shortlist is through inspection ratings and reports, and word of mouth - both of which are particularly important. Both give you an invaluable into the quality of the homes care, and the relationship between residents and carers in the home.

Contact the Residential Homes and Revise your Shortlist

After you have collated a shortlist of homes that you feel suitable for your loved one, you should begin contacting the care homes. To start, you should be able to gauge enough information via a phone call to help you revise your shortlist down to a chosen two or three homes to visit. 

Over the phone, you can request brochures and speak directly to the home manager to find out if they are equipped to meet your loved ones care needs. Other questions you want to ask to avoid a wasted visit are the availability of spaces in the home, and what are the home's fees. If the cost of the care home is out of budget or if there aren't any spaces, there isn't much point visiting. Therefore, you can eliminate this residential home from your shortlist.

When you are discussing costs over the phone, this should always be with a care home manager to eliminate the risk of inaccurate information. You should also request that they send a written breakdown of the costs to you when they post a brochure. 

Visit Finalised Shortlist of Care Homes 

After you are satisfied that your finalised shortlist of care homes offers the care and facilities you require, it's time to start visiting. On your visits, you want to extract as much information as possible from the managers, nurses and care workers. It might help to have a friendly chat with some of the residents, too. 

If your loved one can attend the care home with you, you should take them to become familiar with the setting in case it ends up being your chosen home. They might also form their own opinion on the places and help to make a final decision. If your loved one isn't able to attend, take another family member or friend with you as two opinions are better than one. 

You should be asking about the potential room for your relative, the social activities within the home, meal times, interactions and the body of staff that will be working each shift. 

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