Nursing Homes in Stafford

Stafford has 11 CQC registered nursing homes. 6 are rated Good, 3 Requires improvement, and 2 have not yet been rated. 6 of the 11 were last inspected more than three years ago.

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

What nursing care in Stafford involves and what to look for

Nursing care is a specific registration rather than a general description, and understanding what it covers stops families viewing the wrong homes. A nursing home provides accommodation, meals and personal care, and employs registered nurses who are on the premises at every hour to deliver clinical care. That might mean complex wound management, tube feeding, catheter care or the close monitoring of a condition that changes quickly. Eleven homes hold that registration in Stafford.

Making sense of the inspection outcomes

Six of the eleven are rated Good, three have been rated Requires Improvement, and two carry no published rating yet, which normally reflects recent registration. Where a report exists, look beyond the overall grade to how the home performed against the five questions inspectors ask, covering whether it is safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led. A home can be rated Good overall while inspectors have asked for work in one area, and that area may be the one that matters most in your circumstances. Where a home has been asked to improve, ask what was found, what has been done since, and whether inspectors have returned.

Judging whether a home can meet the need

Ask how many registered nurses are rostered by day, overnight and at weekends, and what share of those shifts is filled by agency staff, since continuity of nursing affects how quickly a change in someone's condition is noticed. Ask whether the home has cared for people with the same diagnosis, how it handles deterioration, and whether it can support someone to the end of life without a further move. Homes including St Joseph's Convent Nursing Home, Weston House, Queensway House, Goldenpark Nursing Home, The Manor House Nursing Home and Wheaton Aston Care Home each have a profile here setting out their registration and inspection history.

Getting an assessment and sorting out the funding

The care needs assessment

Anyone who appears to need care and support may ask for a free care needs assessment, whatever their savings. Staffordshire County Council is responsible for carrying that assessment out for people living in Stafford, and for the financial assessment that follows, which establishes what a person contributes towards their fees. A practitioner will examine health, mobility, medication, continence and how safely someone manages overnight, then record in writing whether care from a registered nurse is needed at all times. Homes will ask to see that conclusion, so having it settled early makes every subsequent conversation quicker.

What a nursing placement costs

Weekly fees for nursing care sit above residential rates, reflecting the clinical staffing behind them, and they rise as needs become more complex. Ask each home for a written schedule showing the basic fee and everything billed on top, such as chiropody, hairdressing or transport to appointments. Where a person has been assessed as needing care from a registered nurse, the NHS pays a contribution towards that nursing element straight to the home, and it is reasonable to ask how it appears in the figure quoted. Where health needs are substantial, the NHS may fund the whole placement, which is assessed separately from the local authority route, and it is worth asking whether that has been considered.

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