Care Homes in Basingstoke

Basingstoke has 23 CQC registered care homes. 20 are rated Good, 2 Outstanding, 1 Requires improvement. 21 of the 23 were last inspected more than three years ago.

Source: Care Quality Commission register, kept up to date as ratings change.

What Residential Care in Basingstoke Involves and What to Look For

What a care home provides, in practice, is help with the ordinary business of the day at whatever hour it is needed, covering washing, dressing, meals, medication and company, from staff who are present continuously rather than for a booked visit. That constant presence is the reason families move from support at home to a residential placement, and it is also the thing worth testing on a visit.

How the Ratings Compare Across Basingstoke

The twenty three homes listed here sit close together on the published measures. Two of them, Sansa House and The Conifers, hold a rating of Outstanding, twenty are rated Good and one is rated Requires Improvement. Because so little separates the field on paper, the report behind each rating matters more than the headline word. Each rating rests on five key questions, asking whether a service is safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led, and a home rated Good overall may still carry a weaker judgement on one of them. Check the date of the inspection too, as an older judgement can predate a change of manager or owner.

Questions That Are Worth Asking on a Visit

Ask how many care staff are on duty by day and overnight, how the home covers sickness and leave, and how long the current team has been in post, since stable staffing shapes daily life more than decor does. Ask what happens if a resident's needs increase, particularly whether the home can continue to support someone who later needs nursing care or is approaching the end of life. Look at how residents are spending the afternoon and whether staff speak to them by name. Visiting twice, once quietly and once at a mealtime, tells you more than a single guided tour.

Getting an Assessment and Sorting Out the Funding

A placement rests on two decisions, one about the level of care a person needs and one about who pays for it. Both come from assessments that take time to arrange, so it is worth setting them going while visits are still being booked.

Requesting a Care Needs Assessment

Anyone who appears to need care and support can ask for a needs assessment, free of charge and regardless of savings. Hampshire County Council Adult Social Care is the authority responsible for carrying out that assessment for people living in Basingstoke and for arranging any funded support that follows from it. A practitioner will look at daily tasks, mobility, medication, memory, night time needs and the load being carried by relatives, then set out whether residential care is the appropriate level. Relatives providing regular support can request a carer's assessment of their own at the same time.

Fees, Means Testing and What to Check in Writing

A financial assessment follows and considers income, savings and, for a residential placement, usually the value of a property. Where capital sits above the national threshold a family funds the placement privately, and below it the council contributes according to that means test. Weekly fees differ between the homes on this page according to the room, the setting and the level of support needed, so ask each one for a written schedule showing exactly what the fee covers and what is billed separately, including trips, hairdressing and chiropody. Ask as well how much notice is given before a fee increase.

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