Nursing Homes in Reading

Matched to this search are six nursing homes in Reading, each registered to deliver care with qualified nurses on the staff rota rather than personal support by itself. Five of them hold a Good rating from the Care Quality Commission and one has no published rating yet, having registered too recently for inspectors to have visited. Reading Borough Council is the authority responsible for carrying out a care needs assessment, for agreeing what level of care is required and for contributing towards weekly fees where a financial assessment shows that someone qualifies. With most of the grades identical and one home yet to be judged, the published reports and a direct conversation with each manager will tell you far more than the summary words can. Open the profiles set out below, read the findings in full, ask what has changed since inspectors called, and let the answers decide which homes are worth seeing in person.

Planning and Paying for a Nursing Placement in Reading

Why assessment comes first

Ringing round homes before an assessment tends to waste effort, because the assessment is what establishes whether nursing care is genuinely required and what should be funded. Reading Borough Council social care team carries it out and decides what support follows. The assessment is free, it is not means tested, and a relative, friend or advocate may request one where the person cannot. An assessor looks at mobility, medication, continence, nutrition, memory and supervision through the night before producing a written support plan.

Contributions and means testing

Capital and income are examined next to fix the weekly payment. Where savings exceed the national upper capital limit the placement is normally funded privately, and where they fall below it the authority contributes towards an agreed rate. Nursing placements may also attract the NHS funded nursing care payment, which covers the registered nursing element of the fee and goes directly to the provider. Where a health condition dominates, ask for an assessment for NHS continuing healthcare.

What drives the weekly figure

Fees reflect the room, the nursing time a resident needs and the staffing a home chooses to run. Ask for the figure in writing for the actual room on offer, together with anything billed separately, the notice period and how often charges are reviewed.

Choosing a Nursing Home in Reading and What to Check

Reading the record

Beacher Hall Care Home, Florence Care Reading, Northcourt Lodge Nursing Home, Parkside Care Home and The Devonshire hold Good ratings, while Signature at Caversham is not yet rated. For the unrated home, ask when an inspection is expected and how the provider performs at its other locations. For the rest, the safety and leadership sections of each report will tell you more than the headline does.

Questions worth asking

Ask how many registered nurses are on duty by day and overnight, how the home covers sickness and how long the manager has been in post. Ask who decides to call an ambulance when a resident deteriorates unexpectedly and how soon relatives are told. Ask how staff are trained for the particular condition involved.

Before deciding

Visit while the day is busy, and go more than once where the choice is close. Watch whether residents are occupied rather than simply seated and whether call bells are answered calmly. Set what you saw against what inspectors described, and put any difference to the manager directly.

Related searches

• Care Homes in Reading
• Home Care in Reading

Nursing Homes near Reading

• Henley-on-thames
• Wokingham