Nursing Home V Care Home

[Tilly2]

I have googled this but have not come up with a satisfactory answer. What is the difference between a nursing home and a care home? Does anyone have any experience of moving a relative from a care home to a nursing home.

I know nursing homes have nurses on hand but is the level of care better. I am in such a quandary as to what my Dad's best interests are.

[furrypusscat]

I know of someone who had to move from a Care Home to a Nursing Home due to the lack of qualifications which were held by the Care Home staff as she needed more nursing care which they couldn't give.

[Tilly2]

Thank you, furrypussycat. I think I may be in that situation as my Dad's condition deteriorates.

[woofgang]

Nursing homes have 24 hour qualified nursing care as part of the package. There only needs to one one qualified nurse on duty but there must be one at all times. Some care homes won't accept, or continue to care for, people whose needs can only be met under the supervision of a qualified nurse. Apart from that difference the other services offered will be the same and will vary from place to place although they should all meet the CQC standards. Nursing homes often cost more because it costs more to have qualified nursing cover.

[EDDIE51]

The two words describe the same thing, 'Nursing Home ' is rather an old fashioned term now care home describes it better.
There are different levels of 'care home' from those that are no more than a block of flats with a few additions to make them more suitable for older people , up to those that supply 24/7 one to one intensive care.
Actual 'nurses' are not often found in care homes now the staff are usually qualified as 'care assistants' up to NVQ level. Nurses now need a degree!

[Tilly2]

So if Dad was in a care home and his blood pressure dropped to an alarmingly low level, for example, would he be able to be treated in a nursing home rather than being hoicked off to hospital again?

[woofgang]

Wrong Eddie
nursing homes offer care supervision by a qualified nurse
http://www.cqc.org.uk/content/care-homes

[pixie373]

They aren't the same, Eddie. As they have said above, a Nursing home has to have a nurse(s) 24 hours a day. Care homes use district nurses. In a care home, staff do Dependency scores every 3 months and when the scores are high enough, they wait for a nursing care bed (often months...)

[bednobs]

quite often, the impetus to move from a care home to a care home with nursing caomes from the care home itself. A residential home may feel they no longer have the skills to care a resident who is deteriorating. The decision is different for everyone, butif the home are willing to keep him, and he is happy there, the best thing to do is keep home there in my opinion

[EDDIE51]

^^ As said though there must be one qualified nurse in a care home that provides intensive care , but that nurse rarely gives care her/him self they are the 'managers'.
I have worked in several care homes from one that was no more than an 'apartment hotel' with an alarm in each apartment to one where the residents all needed 24 hour individual care. Cost vary enormously from £350 a week to well over £4000 a week for full on 1 to 1 24 hour care.
You need to assess the level of care your Dad needs and phone round a few homes to see if they can provide that care. Remember that unfortunately he is likely to need increasing levels of care as he gets older.

[pixie373]

Tilly, that would depend what treatment he needed. Homes don't have the same equipment. Very little, in fact.

[pixie373]

No, you don't need a qualified nurse in a Care home. The nurses on our nursing units were not allowed to see any residential clients. District nurses only.

[woofgang]

That would depend on many things Tilly, like the cause of the problem, what had been agreed between the supervising nurse and the GP and what you and your Dad want.

In general Nursing homes will be more prepared to do more before calling on the hospital services, because a nurse can do more than a care assistant and the GP may be prepared to prescribe more drugs to be kept on hand and used at need than they would in a situation where there is no qualified nursing supervision. Of course the other consideration is how far the treatment is expected to go....I mean (and my apologies) where the treatment plan is set between "keep the patient comfortable" and "keep the patient alive at all costs"

[EDDIE51]

Tilly what level of care does your Dad need? Can he wash and dress himself and eat without assistance as long as the food is cooked for him ? or does he need help with basic things like washing, dressing and feeding himself?

[Tilly2]

Eddie, he needs help with everything now. he does not have the strength to do anything for himself. He can't even get out of bed by himself. He cannot get himself to the toilet and yet he knows he has wet the bed or soiled himself. It's so degrading for him.

[pixie373]

He should be in Nursing care if he isn't weight-bearing. You need two carers for a hoist, so he probably should be moved soon.

[Tilly2]

They do hoist people in the care home, Prudie.

[EDDIE51]

Needs one to one care virtually 24/7 then tilly. Sorry, but it is going to be very expensive. What does his present care home suggest? they must have been in the situation before , what happened in those cases?

[Tilly2]

I haven't discussed it with the care home yet, Eddie. This is a crisis situation which has just happened over the last 24 hours. It was the ambulance crew, who took him into A&E, who put the idea of moving him into a care home into my head.

[pixie373]

They will do in a care home, but it should only be temporary until they are moved. That is nursing care at that point.

[Tilly2]

^ nursing home, not care home.