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My elderly neighbour is about to be released from hospital to a residential not nursing home. I've been given a list by Social Services and told to pick one for her but wondered if anyone had any recommendations of good homes or ones they would avoid. Preferably in North Wirral to make visiting easier. If they could take her dog in too that would be a miracle!

Hi there,
If you go on to the CQC website and put the residential postcodes in you can view what the inspector has said about the various homes. Also just call round without making an appointment just to see if the home is being run well.you can pretty much tell when you go in and speak to the staff whether you rate it as being of a high standard. Also let your neighbour go on a trial basis and if she likes it she can stay or vice versa. Ask them if they take pets as well as a lot do

Thanks Catmando, that's really helpful, I was trying to find reviews on care homes without much luck but will definitely try the CQC website. The social Worker says that she will have to be referred to the Court Of Protection to handle her finances as he doesn't have any family, which is a good thing but I would want 100% of her house and meagre assets to be spent on her care, so I'm looking for a care home with gold standard care. Unfortunately I'm new to all this so any advice is much appreciated.

We spent many weeks looking round care homes for mother in law a few years back.Some you instantly recoil from when you go in the door.We found Summerfields in Rock Lane Rock Ferry (645 1573) finally and she was well looked after there.I think they did take pets but I am going back 5 years.It was brand new and purpose built unlike most which are converted houses.It is not an easy task but as mentioned above CQC reports are helpful.Good hunting.

We recently visited a number of homes in Wallasey for my mum (though as it turned out her condition deteriorated and she ended up needing nursing care rather than residential). Of the ones we visited, we were most impressed with Sandstones, on Penkett Road. It was modern, clean and well staffed, rooms were a good size with an en-suite in each, and we were made very welcome. We spoke with a few of the residents and they were all very happy.

A good website is Carehome.co.uk, which lists all types of care home, with facilities, contact info and a link to the CQC report for each individual home. Residential homes in the Wirral are at http://www.carehome.co.uk/care_search_results.cfm/searchunitary/Wirral/searchchtype/carehomeonly

Agree with the above - always visit unannounced. If they are reluctant to let you in, be suspicious (though it may be best to avoid meal times, as it is hard for the staff to give their attention to a visitor when they also have 30+ residents to get meals organised for, and it can be disruptive for the residents. Draw up a list of questions which are appropriate to your neighbour, so you make sure you ask the same questions everywhere you visit. We were given a booklet which had a list of possible questions, we found many were not appropriate so reduced it down to our own list.

Good luck finding somewhere, it's a difficult decision to have to make.

eta - if you can, visit on a weekday, as the matron/manager is often not there at weekends. There were a few places where the person who showed us round couldn't answer all our questions and had to get the matron to call us on the Monday.

If he can afford it the Manor at Upton is excellent very expensive.
Nazareth house in Birkenhead is very well run with additional features such as quiet rooms.Hard to get into long waiting lists.
If your neighbour has memory problems you may need an more enclosed home.
Look at staff ratio, do they have an events co-ordinator,choice of meals and size of rooms.Is there any quiet place away from endless television.
Good luck your neighbour is very lucky to have you to care for him

Thanks for all your advice, I ticked off all the homes on the list which had a bad rating on the CQC website and then this morning rang round a load to see if they had vacancies. Unfortunately I've learned that most homes have top up fees and my neighbour can't use her saving to fund them. She has to go fully self funded i.e about £500 per week and Social Services wouldn't permit this or a home with no top up fees. I saw two care homes which were great but needed top up fees and one without top up fees in Liscard where I wouldn't have put a dog in there. Eventually I went to Upton Grange and really liked it there. Hopefully she will be accepted and settle in well.

We put my Dad in Lezayre in egerton park for a month's respite, they were fantastic in there. My friends Mum is in heyberry house by birkenhead park and she's pleased with it.there's another one opposite the old park high think it's park house?? Had good reports
About there. Hope something get a sorted and your neighbour is happy.