Nursing Homes in Somerset

Somerset has 55 CQC registered nursing homes. 44 are rated Good, 4 Outstanding, 4 Requires improvement, and 3 have not yet been rated. 36 of the 55 were last inspected more than three years ago.

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

Arranging and Funding a Nursing Home Placement in Somerset

The paperwork for a nursing placement rarely arrives in a tidy order. Families are often asked to pick a home before anybody has explained who pays for it, and the explanations come afterwards in pieces. Taking the steps in the right sequence puts the family back in charge of the decision.

The assessment that decides everything else

A care needs assessment establishes what level of support a person requires and whether that support genuinely calls for a registered nurse on site. It is free, it is not means tested, and it can be requested by the person themselves or by someone acting for them. Somerset Council adult social care is the authority responsible for carrying out that assessment and for deciding what funded support follows from it. Where the process is being run from a hospital ward, ask who is coordinating it, ask when it will be finished, and ask for the outcome in writing rather than as a summary over the telephone.

Health funding that applies to nursing homes only

Two health funding routes apply here that would not apply to residential care, and neither depends on savings. NHS funded nursing care is a weekly sum paid directly to the home towards the registered nursing element of the fee, awarded on assessment to people living in a nursing home. NHS Continuing Healthcare goes considerably further and meets the whole cost of a placement where a person's primary need is judged to be a health need rather than a social one. Ask explicitly whether each has been considered, and ask for the decision in writing, because neither is reliably raised without prompting.

Where the council fits in and what fees look like

Beyond health funding, council support rests on a financial assessment of capital and income, usually including the value of a property for a permanent move. Fees differ between homes according to nursing input, room and complexity of need, so ask each home for a written breakdown that separates the nursing element from the rest and states when fees are next reviewed.

Choosing the Right Nursing Home in Somerset

What the inspection results show locally

Fifty five nursing homes are registered across Somerset. Four hold Outstanding, among them Castle House Nursing Home Limited, Dunkirk Memorial House and Cooksons Court. Forty four are rated Good, including Avalon Nursing Home, Gotton Manor, Calway House, Mountbatten Nursing Home and Wessex House. Four sit at Requires Improvement and three have yet to be rated. Because clinical standards depend heavily on stable leadership, read the well led and safe domains in the report rather than stopping at the overall word, and note how long ago the inspection took place.

Clinical questions worth pressing

Ask how many registered nurses cover the day and the night, and whether those shifts are filled by permanent staff or by agency. Ask what happens when a resident deteriorates out of hours, which health professionals visit regularly, and how the home handles pressure area care, catheters and end of life support. Ask whether the home has cared for someone with the same condition recently and what that involved in practice.

What you can only judge in person

Visit twice, once arranged and once without notice, and try to be present while a meal is served. Watch whether residents who cannot easily speak are still spoken to, how quickly call bells are answered, and whether staff seem to have enough time between tasks. Ask to see an ordinary empty room rather than the one kept ready for viewings.

Local care news in Somerset

• New 20 bed care home registered with CQC in Somerset: St Georges Care Home (5 November 2026)

More local care news for Somerset

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Nursing Homes near Somerset

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