Care Homes in Wigan

Wigan has 33 CQC registered care homes. 28 are rated Good, 1 Outstanding, 1 Requires improvement, and 3 have not yet been rated. 23 of the 33 were last inspected more than three years ago.

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

What residential care in Wigan involves and what to look for

What a residential home offers

Residential care provides a room of one's own, meals, laundry and help with whatever has become difficult, whether that is washing, dressing, moving about safely or remembering medication, with staff present at every hour. Nursing is not part of the registration, so a health need requiring a registered nurse would point towards a nursing home instead. Thirty one homes in Wigan hold residential registration, which means a family can afford to be selective rather than taking whatever is free.

Making use of the inspection record

Heathside Residential Home holds the one Outstanding judgement here, twenty six homes are rated Good, one is at Requires Improvement and three have no published rating yet. An absent rating generally reflects recent registration rather than any concern, but it does leave you without a report to lean on, so expect to ask more questions and to be given full answers. For the rest, check the inspection date first, then read what was recorded about staffing, medicines and how residents spend their days.

Questions that separate one home from another

Ask how many staff are on duty overnight as well as during the day, how long the manager has been in post and what turnover has been over the past year. Ask whether agency staff are used regularly, and how a resident's day is structured for someone who cannot join in group activity. Homes such as Montrose Hall, Norley Hall Care Home, The Old Rectory and Worthington Lake Care Home will answer those differently, and those differences are the substance of the choice.

Getting an assessment and sorting out the funding

The assessment and who can have one

An assessment of need is free, open to anyone who appears to require care and support, and unaffected by savings. It covers personal care, mobility, memory, medication, nutrition and the risks a person faces where they live now, and produces a written care and support plan setting out what a home must be able to provide. Request one from Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council adult social care, which is responsible for assessments and for agreeing any funded support that follows. A relative providing unpaid care can be assessed in their own right at the same time.

How the council decides what to pay

A financial assessment considers income, savings and capital, and for a permanent residential placement the value of a property is normally included unless a partner or certain other relatives still live in it. The result determines whether the council contributes to fees, meets them entirely, or whether someone funds their own place while paying in from pension income. Where the council funds a placement it sets a budget reflecting assessed need, and a home above that figure usually calls for a third party contribution from a relative.

The cost questions to settle now

Ask what the weekly fee covers and what is billed separately, since hairdressing, chiropody and escorted appointments are commonly extra. Ask how often fees are reviewed and what the most recent increase came to. Ask what the home does when a self funding resident's savings fall to the point where council support becomes necessary, because not every home will continue a placement at a council funded rate.

Related searches

• Nursing Homes in Wigan
• Home Care in Wigan

Care Homes near Wigan

• Leigh
• Skelmersdale
• St Helens
• Bolton
• Chorley
• Warrington
• Ormskirk