Care Homes in Hastings

Hastings has 21 CQC registered care homes. 16 are rated Good, 3 Requires improvement, and 2 have not yet been rated. 16 of the 21 were last inspected more than three years ago.

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

Planning and paying for a care home place in Hastings

Fees are the question families most want answered, and the one that cannot properly be answered until the level of care needed has been established. That is what the assessment is for.

Requesting a care needs assessment

An assessment is free, is not means tested and is open to anyone who appears to need care. A social worker or occupational therapist will consider washing and dressing, meals, medication, mobility, continence and safety alone overnight, drawing on what relatives have seen as well as what the person says. East Sussex County Council Adult Social Care carries out that assessment and the financial assessment that follows it. If residential care is the recommendation, the reasons are written into a support plan that travels with the person to whichever home is chosen.

Who contributes to the weekly fee

The financial assessment weighs income, savings and capital. Above the national threshold, a placement is privately funded and the contract is made directly with the home. Below it, the council contributes up to a level it considers sufficient to meet assessed needs, and a third party top up may be requested where a family prefers a home charging more. Fees differ between homes and between rooms in the same building, so ask for the current weekly rate in writing, along with what is charged separately and how much notice is given before fees rise.

Choosing a home in Hastings and what to check

When sixteen homes share the same grade, the published rating becomes a starting point rather than a shortlist.

Reading behind the rating

A Good rating rests on five separate judgements covering safety, effectiveness, caring, responsiveness and leadership, and few homes are equally strong in all of them. Read what inspectors said about staffing levels, medicines and how the home is led, and check when the inspection took place. The three homes rated Requires Improvement will have reports naming exactly what fell short, which is a fairer basis for a decision than the grade by itself, particularly where the visit was some time ago. One home carries no rating, usually a sign of recent registration rather than of any concern.

What to look for on the visit

Call in at a busy hour rather than a convenient one, and try to see the home twice. Watch how staff speak to residents who cannot easily reply, whether people seem occupied, and how long anyone waits after asking for help. Ask how long the manager has been in post, what turnover has been like and how the home manages someone whose needs grow. Ask about food, visiting, night staffing and how families are told when something changes, then weigh what you saw against what the report records. Ask whether residents can bring their own furniture, how often a doctor calls and what the home does when someone becomes unsettled in the evening, because those answers show how a place really runs rather than how it presents itself.

Related searches

• Nursing Homes in Hastings
• Home Care in Hastings

Care Homes near Hastings

• St. Leonards-on-sea
• Battle
• Bexhill On Sea
• Rye