Care Homes in Sale

Sale has 14 CQC registered care homes. 9 are rated Good, 2 Outstanding, 2 Requires improvement, and 1 has not yet been rated. 6 of the 14 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 Sale

Needs and means are assessed through two separate processes carried out by the same authority, and both move slowly enough that starting early is worth more than almost anything else you can do.

The care needs assessment

Any adult who appears to need care and support has a right to an assessment, free of charge and whatever their income or capital. Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council is responsible for carrying it out and for the financial assessment that follows where funded support may apply. A person providing unpaid care has a separate right to a carer assessment in their own name. The support plan produced at the end describes the level of care considered necessary, and a home will ask to see it before confirming a place.

What the council may pay

The financial assessment examines income and capital, and in most permanent placements the value of a property is included once the relevant disregards have been applied. Where the council contributes, it pays up to its own agreed rate, so a home charging more than that will usually need a top up from a relative or another third party. If the need is chiefly clinical rather than practical, ask whether continuing healthcare funding has been assessed, since that is decided through the health service.

Fees and what sits outside them

Weekly rates vary with the room, its size and outlook, and the amount of personal support required. Ask for the figure in writing and establish exactly what is charged separately, because hairdressing, chiropody, escorted appointments, newspapers and some activities commonly are. Ask what notice is given of an increase and what happens if assessed needs rise after a move.

Comparing homes in Sale and what to check

Thirteen homes is a workable field, and the task is narrowing it to three or four seen properly rather than collecting more names.

Using the reports rather than the ratings

Cheshire House and Lime Tree House are both rated Outstanding. Eight homes hold a Good rating, among them Headonhey, Claremont Care Home, Fownhope, Mayfield Care Home and Ferrol Lodge. Two are marked Requires Improvement and one carries no rating yet. Each report names which of the five key questions the judgement rested on, what the home was asked to change and when the inspector called, all of which tell you far more than the single word on the front.

What to notice when you visit

Go when the home is under pressure rather than at its quietest, and take in the ordinary detail. Whether staff crouch to speak to someone seated, whether residents are occupied or simply placed in front of a television, how long a call bell rings, and how the place feels in the late afternoon. Ask whether you may return unannounced, and note how readily that is agreed.

Questions that get past the tour

Ask how long the manager has been in post and how much agency cover the home uses, because stability at the top shows up everywhere else. Ask how a fall is handled and who telephones the family. Ask how a new resident is supported through the first fortnight, and what has changed since the last inspection.

Related searches

• Nursing Homes in Sale
• Home Care in Sale

Care Homes near Sale

• Altrincham
• Manchester
• Salford
• Cheadle
• Stockport
• Leigh