Care Homes in Sevenoaks

Sevenoaks has 6 CQC registered care homes. 3 are rated Good, 3 Requires improvement. 3 of the 6 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 Sevenoaks

Getting the assessment under way

Because the choice here is narrow, it is worth having the person's needs formally recorded early, so that any funded option can be identified without delay. A care needs assessment is free and covers mobility, continence, meals, medication, memory, mood and how sustainable the arrangement at home has become. Ask for a carer's assessment at the same time if you provide regular unpaid care, since carers have needs the law recognises separately. A relative can make either request on the person's behalf.

Deciding the contribution

A financial assessment of income and capital follows, and the Kent County Council social care team is the body that carries out both stages and confirms the outcome. Funding may be granted in full, granted as a contribution towards the weekly fee, or declined on the basis of capital, in which case the place is arranged privately. Where a personal budget is agreed, taking it as a direct payment keeps the choice of home with the family, which matters particularly where local options are limited. Ask for the decision in writing before any contract is signed.

Fees and what surrounds them

Homes set their own weekly rates, shaped by the level of support needed and whichever room happens to be free. Ask what would trigger an increase, how much notice is given, and what the contract says about a spell in hospital. Ask too what falls outside the basic fee, as hairdressing, chiropody, escorted appointments, transport and toiletries are routinely charged on top. A written schedule of charges, read in advance, is the most practical protection a family has.

Choosing a Provider in Sevenoaks and What to Check

Taking a difficult spread of grades seriously

With one home rated Inadequate and two rated Requires Improvement, reading the reports is essential rather than advisable. Where a home has been rated Inadequate, check whether conditions were imposed on its registration and whether a later inspection shows progress, because a home can move a long way between visits. For the homes rated Requires Improvement, look at whether the concerns related to records and audits or to something residents would have felt directly. Note the date of each inspection too, since an older report may describe a team that has since changed entirely.

Questions to put directly

Ask how many staff are on duty by day and overnight, what training they have completed, and how long most of the team has been in post. Ask how care plans are written and reviewed, who checks medication when someone moves in, and how relatives are kept informed. Where a home has been rated below Good, ask the manager plainly what the inspector found and what has been done since, because the quality of that answer is itself revealing.

Looking beyond the local listing

Visit around a mealtime, when staffing levels and the atmosphere of a building are hardest to disguise, and watch whether residents are occupied rather than simply seated. Put questions about night cover, continence support and call bell response to a senior member of staff rather than an administrator. Where nothing locally feels right, raise that during the assessment, since the search need not stop at the boundary of one town. Then weigh what you saw against what the report recorded and decide with both in front of you.

Related searches

• Nursing Homes in Sevenoaks
• Home Care in Sevenoaks

Care Homes near Sevenoaks

• Gillingham
• Orpington
• Tonbridge
• Oxted
• Edenbridge