Care Homes in Waterlooville

Waterlooville has 15 CQC registered care homes. 10 are rated Good, 5 Requires improvement. 8 of the 15 were last inspected more than three years ago.

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

Arranging and funding a care home place in Waterlooville

Needs and means are assessed through two separate processes, and both take longer than most families expect. Beginning them before a decision feels urgent is the most useful step you can take.

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. Hampshire County Council Adult Social Care is responsible for carrying it out and for the financial assessment that follows where funded support may apply. Anyone providing unpaid care has a separate right to a carer assessment of their own. The support plan produced at the end describes the level of care considered necessary, and it is the first document a home will ask to see.

What the council may contribute

The financial assessment examines income and capital, and in most permanent placements the value of a property counts once the relevant disregards have been applied. Where the council pays, it does so up to its own agreed rate, which means a home charging more will normally 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.

Choosing the right home in Waterlooville and what to look for

With more than a third of the local field sitting below Good, this is a place where the shortlist has to be built on evidence rather than on first impressions.

Reading the reports rather than the ratings

The nine homes rated Good include Oaklands Care Home, Denmead Grange Care Home, Holmside, Parkwood Lodge, Winston Lodge and Bere Grove Care Home. Six are marked Requires Improvement, among them Nightingale Court Care Home, Whitehaven Residential Home and Woodlands Care Home. A home rated below Good is not automatically one to avoid, but you should read what was found, when the inspection took place and what has changed since, and ask the manager about it directly.

Questions to put to the manager

Ask how long the manager has been in post, how much agency cover the home relies on, and how many of the staff you meet have been there more than a year. Ask who writes the care plan, how often it is reviewed, and how a family is told when something changes. Ask what happens after a fall and who telephones home, since the answer reveals how the home handles the things that go wrong rather than the things that go well.

What a visit reveals

Go when the home is under pressure rather than at its quietest, and return unannounced if you can. Watch whether staff crouch to speak to someone seated, whether residents are occupied, how long a call bell rings, and how the place feels in the late afternoon. Ask how long the manager has been in post and how much agency cover is used, since instability at the top is behind a great many disappointing inspections.

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Care Homes near Waterlooville

• Horndean
• Havant
• Emsworth
• Portsmouth
• Hayling Island
• Southsea
• Fareham
• Gosport
• Petersfield