Nursing Homes in Preston

Preston has 31 CQC registered nursing homes. 21 are rated Good, 3 Outstanding, 5 Requires improvement, and 2 have not yet been rated. 18 of the 31 were last inspected more than three years ago.

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

What nursing care in Preston involves and what to look for

How a nursing home differs in practice

A nursing home provides everything a residential home does, with accommodation, meals, personal care and company, and adds a registered nurse on duty at all hours. That matters where someone has complex wounds, a feeding tube, unstable diabetes, advanced frailty or a condition that needs clinical judgement at three in the morning rather than a telephone call to an out of hours service. The nursing presence is the whole point of the setting, so it is the thing to ask about in the most detail when you visit.

Making sense of the quality picture

Across the thirty one homes here, two are rated Outstanding and nineteen are rated Good, seven have been asked to make improvements and three carry no rating yet. Seven is a substantial group, so do not treat the rating as a filter and stop there. Open the reports, read the safe and well led sections most closely, and check when inspectors actually visited. Homes told to improve often act quickly, and a report from two years ago may describe a service under different management entirely.

What to look at on a visit

Ask how many registered nurses are on each shift, not just how many staff in total, and ask how nursing cover is maintained overnight and at weekends. Find out how much agency nursing is used, how pressure care and falls are monitored, and how the home works with the district nursing team and local GPs. Watch how residents with the highest needs are treated, since that tells you more than any brochure.

Getting an assessment and sorting out the funding

The care needs assessment

A care needs assessment is free and available to anyone who appears to need support, whatever their savings. A practitioner considers mobility, personal care, nutrition, medication, memory and clinical risk, then records in writing what is needed and whether nursing care is the right answer. Ask for a copy, because the document underpins every decision that follows. Where a move is being planned from hospital, the discharge team can trigger the assessment.

Who pays, and what NHS funded nursing care means

Funding is settled through a financial assessment of income and capital. Lancashire County Council is the authority responsible for both assessments in this area and for arranging funded placements where someone qualifies, and it is also the place to ask about deferred payment agreements when a property is involved. Nursing placements also involve a health funded contribution towards the registered nursing element, paid direct to the home, so ask how that is reflected in the fee you are quoted.

Understanding the weekly fee

Nursing home fees sit above residential rates and rise further where needs are complex or a larger room is involved. Ask precisely what the weekly figure covers and what is billed on top, since chiropody, hairdressing and escorted appointments often are. Check how frequently fees are reviewed, how much notice is given of an increase, and whether a third party top up is expected and who would pay it.

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