The comfort of strangers
Looking for a nursing home? Clifford German examines a scheme to sort the good ones from the bad
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Choosing a nursing home for an elderly relative, or even for oneself, is a task which millions of adults and children devoutly want to avoid. But perhaps one in four will need to go into a "home", and the proportion is set to rise as people live longer, and families become smaller and more scattered.
When the need arises, there is little information available to make an informed choice. Local authorities are responsible for vetting standards in nursing homes in their area and can provide lists of addresses. But they are not allowed to recommend one home over another, and most people are forced to make a hurried choice based on the views of friends, or even doctors, who rarely have any information on which to compare one nursing home with another.
Yet many established nursing homes failed the quality standards devised by BUPA earlier this year as part of its Carefinder programme, which hopes to create a national register of approved homes. Carefinder rates homes on the basis of comfort, individual choice - especially of food, clothing and activities - nursing standards, personal care planning, staff training and complaints procedures.
The review attempts to identify homes which offer residents an individual style and treatment and an overall quality of life, and avoid an institutional feel. One in three of the 150-plus homes so far visited by BUPA failed to meet the criteria; failures included some of the more expensive homes charging up to pounds 600 a week.
So far Carefinder covers only a fraction of the 6,000 or so nursing homes in the UK, but BUPA expects to have countrywide coverage over the next 12 monthsn
Information on the Carefinder programme is available free to the public (0645-600300). Calls are charged at local rates.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments