Care Homes in Fleet

Fleet has 26 CQC registered care homes. 19 are rated Good, 2 Outstanding, 4 Requires improvement, and 1 has not yet been rated. 18 of the 26 were last inspected more than three years ago.

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

What residential care in Fleet involves and what to look for

The shape of life in a care home

A residential home provides a room of one's own within a building where help is available at any hour. Care staff support washing, dressing, medication, meals and getting about, and most homes offer an activities programme, laundry and housekeeping, and visits from a doctor, chiropodist or hairdresser. Facilities lists tend to look alike. What genuinely separates one home from another is the atmosphere: how the day is paced, how staff speak to residents, and whether people look settled and occupied rather than merely supervised.

Reading the ratings with a little care

Among the twenty six homes here, two are rated Outstanding and nineteen are rated Good, four have been told they Require Improvement and one has no published rating. That is a reassuring picture overall, but a rating summarises a single inspection. Open the report and read the safe and well led sections most closely, since staffing levels, medication handling and stable management are what families notice day to day. Check the inspection date as well, because a home may have changed manager or owner since inspectors last called.

What to notice on a visit

Visit at a busy time, ideally around a mealtime, and go twice before you decide. Watch how quickly call bells are answered, whether residents are out of their rooms and doing something, and how staff talk to someone who needs help with something private. Ask about overnight staffing, how much agency cover is used and what happens when a resident's needs grow. A brief candid word with a visiting relative usually tells you more than the tour does.

Getting an assessment and sorting out the funding

The care needs assessment

A care needs assessment is free and available to anyone who appears to need support, whatever their savings. A practitioner looks at mobility, personal care, nutrition, memory, medication and risk, then sets out in writing what is required and whether residential care is the right answer. Ask for a copy of the written outcome. A relative providing regular unpaid help is entitled to a separate carer's assessment of their own needs.

Who pays for a place

Help with fees is settled through a financial assessment of income and capital. Hampshire County Council is the authority responsible for both assessments in this area and for arranging funded placements where someone is eligible, and it is also where to ask about deferred payment agreements when a property forms part of the picture. Above the capital threshold a placement is self funded, but the assessment and the impartial advice that comes with it remain available and are worth taking up first.

Understanding the weekly fee

Weekly charges differ markedly between homes and rise where dementia support, a larger room or higher staffing is involved. Ask exactly what the quoted figure covers and what sits outside it, since hairdressing, chiropody, newspapers and escorted appointments are commonly billed separately. Confirm how often fees are reviewed and what notice is given of an increase, and ask whether a third party top up is expected and who would be responsible for paying it.

Related searches

• Nursing Homes in Fleet
• Home Care in Fleet

Care Homes near Fleet

• Farnborough
• Camberley
• Aldershot
• Farnham
• Crowthorne
• Wokingham
• Bracknell