If a family member needs help with medicines, transfers or eating, the useful question is what help they need, how often and from whom. A diagnosis alone does not identify a suitable home. Take the care plan or discharge summary to the assessing team and ask them to explain which setting can carry it out.
What the categories describe
| Category | Service distinction |
|---|---|
| Care-and-attention home | SWD describes residential and personal care with limited nursing care. Some places provide a continuum of care as needs change. |
| Nursing home | For assessed needs that cannot adequately be met in care-and-attention homes, while not requiring infirmary-level intensive medical and nursing care. |
| Home-for-the-aged listing | A directory category is not a referral recommendation. Ask the assessing worker whether that specific service is an option for a new application and the person’s current needs. |
Turn the care plan into questions for the home
- Nurse coverage: which qualifications are on site during the day and overnight, and what happens when the nurse is absent? A visiting service is different from a nurse on the premises.
- Medication: who checks the hospital discharge list against the existing list, obtains repeat prescriptions and documents each administration?
- Transfers and personal care: can the required equipment and number of trained staff be provided on every shift?
- Clinical changes: which situations lead to contacting a clinician, calling an ambulance or arranging transfer to another service?
These are questions to put to professionals, not a way to diagnose the person or select a treatment yourself. If two homes give different answers about accepting the same needs, take those answers back to the care team before choosing.
Ask what happens when needs change
A promise of ‘ageing in place’ needs detail: which changes can the home accommodate, which attract a higher fee and which require reassessment or a move? Existing subsidised service users can ask their worker/provider about reassessment when the current service no longer meets their needs. Get any private-home transfer and notice terms in writing.