Care Homes in Princes Risborough

Princes Risborough has 3 CQC registered care homes. 1 is rated Good, 1 Requires improvement, and 1 has not yet been rated. 1 of the 3 was last inspected more than three years ago.

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

Planning and paying for care in Princes Risborough

Getting the funding question settled early tends to make everything that follows simpler, because it determines which homes are realistically in play. The starting point is a care needs assessment, which costs nothing and is open to anybody who appears to need care and support, whatever their savings. It produces a written account of what the person needs rather than a bare decision, and that document carries weight in conversations with providers.

Assessments and the local authority role

The assessment is arranged through the London Borough of Southwark adult social care team, which is the body responsible for care needs assessments and funded support. A separate financial assessment then examines capital and income to work out what, if anything, the authority will contribute. Requesting both at the same time avoids the delay of running one after the other. A relative can make the request on somebody else's behalf, and a hospital social work team can start the process for an inpatient.

Who pays and what it costs

Where capital and assets sit above the national threshold, a placement is funded privately. Below it the authority contributes on a means tested basis, and the resident retains a protected weekly allowance for personal spending. Continuing healthcare funding sits with the health service and follows a separate route. Weekly fees differ between the homes here according to the support involved and the type of room, and no single local figure applies, so ask each home in writing what its fee covers, what it excludes and how often it is reviewed.

Choosing a provider and what to check

How the three homes compare on inspection

Old School House holds a Good rating from the Care Quality Commission. Icknield Court is rated Requires Improvement, which describes the position at its most recent inspection rather than a fixed judgement, and the report sets out precisely what inspectors wanted put right. Springford has not yet been rated, so the usual shortcut is simply unavailable and the questions have to be asked face to face instead. An absent rating is not a warning in itself, but it does put more weight on what you see and hear in person.

Reading a rating properly

Each overall rating summarises five separate judgements about whether a home is safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led. A home rated Good overall may still have been marked down on one of those five, and the full report says which. It is the single most informative document available about any provider, and it can be opened from each profile on this page.

What to check when you visit

Go at a time that has not been arranged for your convenience, ideally around a mealtime, and watch how staff talk to residents when nobody is being shown round. Ask how long the people on shift have worked there, what the staffing looks like overnight and at weekends, and what happens if a resident's needs increase after the move. Ask the manager directly about anything the inspection report raised.

Care Homes near Princes Risborough

• Aylesbury
• High Wycombe
• Tring