House Clearance Help & Advice: Moving into a nursing home

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Eventually the time may come when your loved one can no longer live alone and look after themselves, this is the time when you will have to consider whether or not they would be better off in a care home or nursing home. While no one likes to think of putting their elderly parent into the care of others and taking them from their home, sometimes it is the only sensible and safest course of action.

You should talk with your Doctor or healthcare visitor who takes care of your elderly relative and ask their advice and how to go about seeking help for care homes. Sometimes you can get a supplement towards the cost of the nursing home after having a means test and medical assessment. There are many factors to be taken into consideration when thinking of and choosing a nursing home for your loved one, the first is of course the quality of the home.

You should never feel rushed into choosing the home for your parent and where possible take your parent with you to visit several before making any commitment to choosing one. It is essential that the person feel comfortable within the environment as this is going to be their new home.

Of course adapting to their new home is going to take some time and there can be problems particularly if the choice of going into a home isn’t down to the parent. In some cases such as if your parent should be suffering from such as Alzheimer’s disease then the choice of going into a nursing home could be down to your and the Doctors or carers advice. If this is the case then this is the hardest decision you will probably have to make and you will be torn between the love for your parent and what you know in your heart is the right decision.

You should visit several homes before choosing, any reliable nursing home will welcome your visit with open arms and any that don’t you should be very wary of. However some nursing homes will ask that you make an appointment before getting the full tour, this doesn’t mean they have anything to hide, but just that they are through and need to make arrangements in order to give you their full attention.

A good thing to do is to wander around the home and take notice of what the other residents are doing and if they seem happy. Ask if it is ok to sit among them in the sitting room and talk with some of them to get a good idea of what the place is like. Also take into account of what’s on offer, for example is there any special activities that the residents can take part in, does the home have a chapel, where those who like to attend religious events can visit?.

If you can take your loved one with you then this is even better, if not then you are going to have to put your head before you heart and decide what is going to be in your loved ones best interests.

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