Choosing the right care home
When you’re choosing a care home for a loved one, it’s important to establish what type of care they require. We can help you to find the right care home for your relative.
Who we support
At Exemplar Health Care, we care for some of the most complex and acute individuals, who would often be in a hospital setting if not placed with us. This enables them to stay in the community, closer to family and friends, and reduces hospital and secure facility admission.
Many of the people we support have been deemed to have behaviours that are considered ‘too complex’ for mainstream nursing and care services.
We support people on their journey from being in hospital or living in a secure setting to community-based living, as well as offering longer term support for people living with degenerative or life-limiting illnesses.
Funding for care
Before a decision is made as to whether a person can be placed in a care home, it needs to be clear how the care will be paid for.
People with ongoing signification health needs, which are complex and/or severe, may be eligible to have their care paid for through a scheme called NHS Continuing Healthcare.
To be eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare funding for complex care, an individual needs to be assessed, by their local Integrated Care Board (ICB), as their primary need bring health related.
For those who aren’t eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare funding, you can seek funding through their local authority.
The majority of people who live in our care homes have their care paid for through NHS Continuing Healthcare or joint funded with the local authority.
How do I qualify for assistance?
The first step is to speak to your GP or local social services team.
A Nurse or Social Worker will visit your relative to assess their needs and decide if they need a full NHS Continuing Healthcare assessment.
If your relative is referred for a full assessment, they’ll gather information from a range of professionals about their medical, physical, mental health and social care needs, and send it to the ICB that’s responsible for funding care in your area.
The ICB will confirm its decision to you in writing and will discuss the suggested package of care with you and your relative.
Your right to choose
Your ICB or local authority should always involve you in the assessment process and take your views into consideration when finding a suitable care home.
If it’s agreed that a care home is the best option, you should be provided with a choice of homes that have the suitable facilities, experience and specialist teams to meet your relative’s needs.
It’s important to remember that, even if you are granted financial assistance, you do not have to choose the care home that is suggested.
Visiting care homes
Before making a decision, it can be useful to visit suitable care homes to ensure that you’re happy with your choice.
Exemplar Health Care homes offer a trial stay for up to two nights, plus five additional visits to your chosen care home.
This allows you and your relative to meet and talk to other people living in the home, take part in daily life, and get a real feel for what life would be like in the home.
If you’d like to arrange a visit, please contact our Referrals Team who can help you to find the right home for your loved one.
Moving into an Exemplar Health Care home
If your relative chooses to move into one of our care homes, one of our clinical assessors will arrange a meeting to assess their care needs, usually within five working days of the referral being made.
As part of this process we do a ‘community fit’ assessment to ensure that the home is the right ‘fit’ for your relative, and that they’re the right ‘fit’ for the home and other residents.
The assessor will write a report which outlines the care that we can provide to meet their needs, and our Compliance Team will review it to ensure that we have the right facilities and expertise.
We’ll then send a report to the ICB or local authority, who will approve the funding.
Once funding has been agreed, we’ll work with you, your relative and their care team to make arrangements for moving into the home.
Our Referrals Team is on hand to answer all of your questions throughout the process.
A warm welcome
When your relative moves into one of our care homes, our trained teams will take the time to get to know them and develop a care plan that meets their personal needs and goals.
They’ll also be offered the chance to have a buddy when they first move into the home. Our buddies are service users who has lived in the home for a while, and can answer any questions about daily life there.
Our homes have an open door policy and we welcome family and friends to take part in everything that happens in them.