How does residential care work?
The number of residents varies at each of our residential care facilities. Currently, our largest residence is home to 12 individuals, while five people live at our smallest residential care home.
It’s important that everyone is comfortable and gets along with their housemates. So, when a space becomes available at one of our residential care homes, we make sure the current residents are included in any decisions about what happens.
This helps us to make sure any potential new residents and their specific support needs are compatible with existing residents and the way support is delivered at the residence. That way, we can get things right at the very start for everyone.
Will I have my own space and one-to-one support?
Everyone has their own bedroom, so they have somewhere to go to be by themselves and have some privacy.
You will always have the one-to-one support you need, when you need it, as defined in your personal care plan. Some other types of support might be shared with other residents.
There will always be someone around to help you. Residential care homes have staff on-site 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The number of staff at each of our facilities is based on the number of residents and their individual needs.
How is residential care funded?
Depending on your circumstances, your local council might pay for all or some of the costs of providing residential care. To determine how much, if any, of the costs it will pay, your local council will conduct an assessment.
In England and Wales, local councils have a legal duty to assess anyone who appears to need care and support, regardless of how much money the person has. This is called a care needs assessment. It takes into account your circumstances, abilities and needs, and determines what sort of care and support is best for you.
If, following a care needs assessment, your council decides you’re eligible for residential care, they’ll look at your financial situation and discuss with you whether they will pay for all or part of your support, whether you have to pay something towards it, or whether you have to pay for all of it.
This will depend on your circumstances, and the council’s budget and funding criteria.
If you are eligible for council-funded support, you may be able to choose how your money is managed. Some people receive direct payments, which is money paid directly to them to spend on their support. You cannot use direct payments to pay for long-term or permanent residential care, but you can use them to fund short stays in residential care facilities of up to four weeks per year.
Sometimes, the NHS can help to pay towards residential care for people who have specific medical or mobility needs.
How can I access residential care facilities?
We can provide residential care to people over the age of 18, regardless of how your support will be funded. If you are under 18, we can help you to plan the transition into adult support services through our transition support service.
Your local council can refer you to us for residential care, whether or not you are eligible for council funding towards your support costs. But you don’t have to be referred – you can get in touch with us directly.
How do you keep a check on residential care homes?
All of our residential facilities and services are inspected and regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in England and the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW).
This means all of our care homes are subject to regular visits by independent inspectors to make sure we continue to meet minimum standards of care and support. Inspection findings and reports are made public in both England and Wales, so you can find out how all our residential care facilities are doing at any time.
We also work hard as a charity to monitor how we’re doing. We constantly strive to deliver the highest-quality support that exceeds minimum standards and fully embraces our values. Our Quality and Policy team is responsible for auditing the support we provide to make sure we’re doing exactly that.
Our Personalisation team works closely day to day with all the people we support, to make sure we’re doing what we set out to do, providing individualised, person-centred and flexible support that enables each individual to live a fulfilled and happy life.
How can Walsingham Support help me with residential care?
If you, a member of your family, or someone you care for would like more information or advice, or have any questions about residential care and the options available to you, get in touch with us.
We’re here to offer guidance and support, wherever you are and whatever you need.
Call us on 0333 405 1030*
You can also fill out the form at the bottom of this page and we’ll get back to you.
* Calls are charged at your local rate, wherever you’re calling from.
