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A step-by-step guide on changing home providers

Moving care home providers is a big decision to make, and is one that you shouldn’t rush into making. Whether you’re looking to move into care for the first time or are moving from one care home provider to another, there’s a lot to consider as you make the decision. In this article, we’ll guide you through changing care home providers – from the questions you need to ask yourself to what the exact process of moving into a Borough Care home looks like.

Contents

1. Considerations to make before moving care home providers

2. The step-by-step process of moving into a Borough Care home
– Reaching out to the care home provider
– Visiting the care home provider
– Reading online care home reviews
– Organising a pre-assessment
– Making the move into care

3. Welcoming you to your new home
– A red-carpet welcome
– Your six-week check-in
– Our helpful resources

Considerations to make before you move care homes

If you’re looking to move out of your current care home provider and into a new one, it’s important that, when choosing a new provider, you keep in mind the key reasons why you want to leave your current care home. It could be that you aren’t happy with the range of activities available for your loved one, or maybe you’re having issues with the staff, or you could even just want to move to an entirely new location. Whatever the reason may be, be sure to keep it in mind when you’re touring other care homes. Some key questions to ask yourself as you look for a new care home provider could be:

1. Why am I looking to leave my existing care home provider?
2. What do I want out of the new care home? Is it a specific facility, location or environment?
3. Does the new care home offer my loved one the care that they need?
4. How quickly can my loved one move into their new care home? Will there be a delay?

For more information on the types of questions you should consider asking when visiting a new care home, read our guide to moving into a care home.

The step-by-step process of moving into a Borough Care home

No matter what care home organisation you’re coming from or moving to, the process of moving care home providers is always the same. To help give you a better understanding of what the process of changing your care home provider – or moving into residential care for the first time – looks like, we wanted to take you through Borough Care’s process.

Reaching out to the care home provider

The first step in moving care home providers is reaching out to the care home provider that you or your parent/loved one is interested in moving into. This could be anything from an email, an initial message over social media or a direct phone call. But, if you can, it would be best to ring up the care home directly and speak to a member of staff.

This initial contact is a great way to find out more about the home care provider and what they offer, and it will help you see whether or not they could be the right fit for you or your loved one.

Once we’ve taken an initial enquiry for one of our homes, we’ll log it on our system and keep in touch with you afterwards. After our call, we’ll be in touch to find out more about you and your loved one, and a few details about their health/care background. From here, we can plan out the next steps.

Visiting the residential care home provider

After an initial conversation, the next step would be to visit the care home provider and tour the home. You can only get so much of a sense of what a home is like from photos and videos online. By visiting, you can get a feel for the space and consider whether it’s suitable for you and the needs of your loved one. When you visit our care homes, you’ll be welcomed by one of our Care Home Managers who will be happy to guide you through the home and answer any questions you may have.

Reading online care home reviews

Once you’ve toured our homes, we always recommend you go away and take a look through our recent reviews on carehome.co.uk. These reviews are a great way to gain insight into the experiences of our current residents and their families. We want you to feel confident in your decision to move care home providers, and checking reviews will help you be sure that you’re making the best decision for you and your loved one.

Organising a pre-assessment

With the initial consultation and visit all boxed off, it’s time to organise a pre-assessment between our team and you and your loved one. This assessment helps us to better understand your care needs and make a decision on whether we’re a suitable fit for you.

To carry out our assessment, we’ll come and visit you and your loved ones in the privacy of your home. Or, if your loved one is in the hospital, we’ll meet you there and will speak to the staff at the hospital to better understand your care needs. If we’re unable to visit you if, for example, you live far away from our headquarters, we’ll organise a phone consultation instead. However, we’ll always try to organise an in-person meeting where we can, as these give us the best insight into the type of care that you’ll need. The whole process takes about an hour and a half and, at the end, we’ll know if we’re able to provide your necessary care.

Making the move into residential care

If the pre-assessment is a success and we can offer the perfect care plan for you and your loved one, then it’s time to get ready to move into your new care home! Our team will reach out to you to confirm a move-in date that works for you and will get everything ready for your arrival, including important documents, your personalised room and any essentials you need to get settled in.

Welcoming you to your new home

As a specialist dementia-friendly care home provider, we always strive to ensure that our residents feel safe and comfortable in our homes. This is why when we welcome a new resident to Borough Care, we roll out our red carpet welcome.

A red-carpet welcome

Ensuring that your surroundings feel familiar and homely is important for everyone, but it’s even more essential when welcoming a resident with dementia. A red carpet welcome ensures that residents feel comfortable from the get-go.

So, what does a red-carpet welcome look like? Well, it starts with us literally rolling out the red carpet to welcome you to your new home. Then, one of our team members will greet you on arrival and guide you through the home. Usually, we’ll try to ensure that the staff member who welcomes you to your home is the same staff member who carried out your self-assessment – this helps to create a sense of calm and reduces anxieties for the new resident.

We’ll then ensure that your new room is fully kitted-out with welcoming sweet treats and essentials to get you settled in. We’ll even decorate your room with a few special items to make it feel as homely as possible. For example, if we know our new resident loves gardening, we’ll decorate the room with posters of flowers and gardening equipment – as well as a few floral bouquets too!

Your six-week check-in

To round off the process of changing care home providers at Borough Care, we’ll book a six-week check-in with the local authorties, the new resident and their loved ones. The check-in allows us to discuss how the resident is fitting in at their new home and ensure that we’re providing the best possible care we can. At the six-week mark, we hope your loved ones feel settled into their new surroundings and supported in their care needs.

Our helpful resources

For more help and advice with moving a parent or loved one into residential care, visit the resources and advice section of our website. There, you’ll find guides on how to move into a care home for the first time, advice on how to fund your care and support on how to care for a loved one who has been diagnosed with dementia.

To keep up to date with the latest news from Borough Care, and to see how our lovely residents are living ‘Life in Colour’ across our 12 care homes, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.