Care Homes in Widnes

Widnes has 10 CQC registered care homes. 7 are rated Good, 3 Requires improvement. 7 of the 10 were last inspected more than three years ago.

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

What a residential care home in Widnes provides

The support on offer

A residential care home offers accommodation, meals and help with everyday living, delivered by care staff throughout the day and night. That covers washing, dressing, support with medicines, company and keeping an eye on someone who is no longer safe alone overnight. It does not include clinical care from registered nurses based on site, which is the defining feature of a nursing home. Every home listed here is registered for personal care rather than nursing.

Reading the ratings properly

Six homes here are rated Good, three are at Requires Improvement and one has no rating yet. Where a home has been marked down, open the report and look at which of the five key questions fell short, because a finding about record keeping is a different matter from one touching safety or dignity. Check whether the home has been inspected since and whether the manager has changed, as either can alter the picture considerably. Where a home has no rating at all, ask how long it has been operating under its current registration and who owns it.

What to watch on a visit

Call in more than once and vary the hour, since late afternoon is often the most honest time to see a home. Watch whether staff speak to residents in passing rather than only while carrying out a task, and whether anyone sits without a drink within reach. Ask how long the manager has been in post, what proportion of staff have been there more than a year, and how much agency cover is used. Ask what happens when needs increase and nursing care becomes necessary, and how much notice a family would be given if the home decided it could no longer meet the need.

Getting an assessment and working out the cost

The assessment of need

Anyone who appears to need care and support has a right to a free assessment, whatever their income or savings. A practitioner will work through washing, dressing, eating, managing medicines, mobility and safety at home, and will consider how much a family carer is already absorbing. The written outcome becomes the reference point for comparing homes, and it makes the conversation with a manager far more productive than it would otherwise be.

Who pays

A financial assessment follows the assessment of need. Capital above the national threshold means funding a placement privately, while people below it receive a contribution towards the weekly fee, and a property is disregarded in certain circumstances, for instance where a partner continues to live in it. Both assessments are arranged through Halton Borough Council adult social care, which also commissions funded placements and reviews them as needs change.

Fees set out plainly

Weekly fees vary between homes and between rooms within the same home, shaped by size, whether there is an ensuite and the level of support required. Ask for a written schedule showing what is included and what is charged separately, since hairdressing, chiropody, outings and newspapers normally sit outside the fee. Ask how often fees are reviewed, what notice is given of an increase, and what happens if savings fall towards the threshold during a stay.

Related searches

• Nursing Homes in Widnes
• Home Care in Widnes

Care Homes near Widnes

• Runcorn
• Prescot
• St Helens
• Frodsham
• Warrington
• Liverpool
• Ellesmere Port