Nursing and Residential Care Home FAQs

People with dementia often experience fear due to a deep sense that something is not right with their thinking and memory. This fear can lead to behaviour that can be hard to understand. Our care staff are trained to recognise and address fear in our residents, helping to reveal their personality and identify their strengths and weaknesses. 

We work closely with the people in our care, their families, and other professionals to gather information about their personality, likes, dislikes, life history, experiences, and influences. This information helps us to better understand the person’s behaviour and build relationships with them. 

 We strive to make the people in our care feel safe and comfortable in their new home, so they can truly live life to the fullest. We focus on maintaining the abilities that are least affected by dementia while supporting the person in areas where they are weakest. By taking this approach, we believe we can make a real difference to people’s happiness and well-being.

As we get older, it’s normal for our vision to deteriorate. It can be harder to see certain colours, see well at night, use our peripheral vision, and distinguish between objects with weak colour contrasts. In older people with dementia, these sensory changes cannot always be communicated or understood easily. They may make ‘visual mistakes’ while trying to understand what they are seeing, leading to disorientation, fear, and behavioural changes. 

To help reduce confusion, we’ve paid special attention to lighting, signage, and other visual cues when designing our homes. Our team have designed special bedroom door plaques with each occupant’s name, and a picture that can assist the resident in finding their room. Each of our corridors is decorated with colourful images depicting different themes, such as a street, garden, or beach, that help stimulate residents’ visual senses and make it easier for them to recognise where they are. Our handrails are all topped with a brightly coloured band to make them more visible and increase residents’ safety and independence while walking. Our bedroom and toilet doors are painted in bright colours to help those with vision loss or difficulties identifying contrast colours. 

Outside the homes, our gardens serve as a peaceful retreat where residents can relax and enjoy the sights and sounds of nature around them. Our gardens are protected by walls and wooden gates that are securely locked with a keypad, making them safe places to sit, stroll, and unwind. 

There’s a lot to consider when choosing a care home, so we welcome you to visit our homes as often as you like. Come and meet us, sample a meal, or join in with an activity session – our staff and residents are always happy to show you around and answer any questions you may have. If you would like to speak with our manager or deputy manager and discuss your requirements in detail, we recommend that you give us a call in advance to schedule an appointment. 

During the pre-admission assessment process, we’ll gather all necessary information about your loved one’s care needs, including their physical, psychological, and social care requirements. We may also consult with relevant professionals and family members to form a comprehensive picture. After the assessment, we’ll meet to decide whether we can meet those needs and inform you of the outcome in writing. 

We’ll create a comprehensive care plan based on the information gathered during the pre-admission assessment, as well as any additional information obtained after admission. This will make sure that all aspects of their care needs are met by our staff. 

For peace of mind, so that you can be sure our homes are the right fit, we offer a trial period of two calendar months. At the end of the trial period, we’ll work together with you and your loved one to determine if they would like to become a permanent resident. If for any reason during the trial period, you or your loved one feel that our home may not be the best placement, we only require a one-week notice period. 

We also want our residents to feel at ease with the decor of their room, so we’ll ask about their preferred colour scheme before they move in. 

We kindly ask that all visitors sign themselves in and out using our Visitors Book located in the Entrance Hall. This helps us to keep track of who is in the building at all times.