Searching for a suitable residential home can be time-consuming and stressful, as you’ll want to make sure you choose the right place, with the right care for you.
The first step to getting access to long-term care services is for you to have an assessment of your care needs – a community care assessment .
image: Man looking at residential care home information
Your social worker or care manager should have information on local care homes, but it can really help to do some of your own research too.
The (External) Care Quality Commission (see the (External) SCSWIS website in Scotland) has information on finding care homes and lists all care homes in England. The list includes copies of the most recent inspection report.
You have the right to choose which care home you want to live in, providing they have a place for you and the costs are covered - see the page on paying for residential care .
All care homes are required to assess your needs fully, to make sure they can meet them properly. This can take place in your own home if need be.
As well as considering your particular care needs, it's worth thinking about:
Not all care homes that can care for younger people are registered to take people over 65. So if you are close to that age, check the age limits.
There aren’t that many places that are set up for, or who have many younger guests, and even fewer are able to meet the specialist care needs of people with MS. (External) Leonard Cheshire are the main organisation who can help. They have care homes which focus on the needs of younger disabled people. In many of their places, there is a high proportion of residents with MS.
It is important that you visit the homes you're interested in. This will give you the opportunity to have a look at the facilities and to talk with care staff, management and residents. This checklist for visiting a care home may be useful.
You may want to visit care homes more than once, if this helps you to make a decision. Some homes will let you have a meal and, if possible, stay overnight.
If you are planning to stay overnight for a trial period, a pre-admission assessment will be done. If this proves impossible due to your MS, try to make sure that someone you trust can do this for you.Care homes are required to assess the situation after a trial period when you first go to live there.Every home will have a Service User Guide, which will detail all the services and facilities available and how much they will cost. The guide should also include a copy of the most recent registration and inspection report from the (External) Care Quality Commission (see the (External) SCSWIS website in Scotland).
Your local authority must give you choice, and if it does not agree to arrange for a place in your preferred home, it must have a clear justification why.
If you are unable to express a preference about what happens, that is, to communicate your wishes because of problems with thinking, the local authority should take into account the views expressed by your family, carers and close relatives, unless it feels that these are not in your best interest. The Mental Capacity Act offers protection. If you have made a Lasting Power of Attorney or have a deputy, then they would make these decisions if you lack mental capacity.
(External) Find out more on the Ministry of Justice website
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