Care Homes - Does size matter?

Large Versus Small

When you are choosing a care home the number of people it can take should factor into your decision.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both and I'll try to cover these factors as comprehensively as possible.

Large

A large care home can seem more impersonal.  It can be very difficult for staff to know all your needs, likes and dislikes, when they have a lot of other people to care for.  Even if the home has certain staff working in the same areas, there will be times when they will have to work elsewhere to help cover for staff holidays or sickness.  If there are different staff it will be more difficult for you to get to know them, especially if you have a memory problem.

But a larger home generally has a larger pool of funds to dip into for equipment.  If you need a profiling bed for example (this is a bed that can be lowered almost to the floor and is used for people at risk of rolling out of bed to minimise the risk of injury) then a smaller home may have to delay purchasing it until funds are available.  They should, in fact, buy any equipment you need, but sadly in practise this is often not true.

A larger home should also have a larger pool of staff to call on at short notice if someone calls in sick.  There are nursing agencies that will supply staff to homes to help maintain staffing levels, but they don't know any of the residents, the lay out of the building, or your normal routine.

Larger homes tend to be purpose built and so are designed with you in mind. They have larger corridors and bathrooms for easier wheelchair access and the layout of the bedrooms and communal areas can be easier for people to find their way around.  Purpose built homes generally have a large number of fire escapes.  Any care home being built now in Scotland has to install a sprinkler system and all bedrooms have to have en suite shower rooms.

Small

A smaller care home is one catering for around 30 residents or less.  Here it is far easier for every member of staff to know all your details.  They can, for example, remember how many sugars you take in your cup of tea. But, in a smaller home, everyone seems to know everyone else's business.  The staff will do their utmost to protect your confidentiality but the residents are only human and there will be some among them who enjoy a good gossip.

Whilst there will be some smaller, purpose built home, most tend to be conversions from hotels, or large country houses.  This may mean the layout is not ideal, rooms may have irregular shapes and may not have en suite facilities.  But this may also help if you have memory problems.  In a home with different size corridors and doors it may be easier for you to find your room than one where all the corridors and rooms look identical.  Care homes often put the name of the resident on their bedroom door, but this won't help if you have a visual impairment.  

Another advantage of a home that has been converted is that they often have a more homely feel, rather than an institutional one.

Decisions

It is probably better not to rule out a home at this stage because of it's size, but simply bear these points in mind for when you come to make your decision. 

If you have started a spreadsheet, you could use the next column to add the size of the home.  This information can be found on the inspection reports.  Click here to go to the page where I talked about spreadsheets.

What do you think?

Are you already in a care home?  Do you prefer a large or a small home?  Was that an important factor when making your decision?

I'd love to receive your comments