Guide

Questions to ask when you visit a care home

The questions that get past the sales pitch, plus the things to watch while nobody is answering.

A visit is the single most useful thing you can do when choosing a care home, far more revealing than any brochure or rating. Go with a short list of questions, and pay as much attention to what you see and hear as to what you are told.

Questions for the manager

The manager's answers, and how comfortably they give them, tell you a lot.

What is your staff turnover, and how much agency staff do you use? High turnover and heavy agency use are warning signs, because good care depends on staff who know the residents.
What is the ratio of carers to residents, during the day and overnight?
How do you handle a resident whose needs increase over time? Would they have to move?
Can residents keep their own GP, and how do you arrange medical visits, prescriptions and appointments?
How do you involve families, and what is your complaints process if I am unhappy?
How do you look after people at the end of life?

Questions about everyday life

This is what your relative will actually experience, day to day.

What is there to do on an ordinary weekday afternoon? Ask to see an activities plan, then ask whether it really happens.
Can residents get up and go to bed when they choose, or does the routine run on the home's clock?
What is on the menu this week, and what happens if someone does not like it or will not eat?
Can my relative bring their own furniture, and decorate their room?
What are the arrangements for visiting?

What to watch while you walk round

Some of the most important information is never spoken. As you are shown around, notice:

Are call bells being answered promptly, or ringing unanswered?
Do staff speak to residents, by name, with warmth, or talk over them?
Is the lounge full of people asleep in front of a loud television, or is there life in the place?
Does it look and smell clean, without a heavy chemical smell masking something?
Do the residents themselves look well cared for: clean, comfortable, appropriately dressed?

Go more than once

Try to visit each shortlisted home twice, and make one visit unannounced and around a mealtime, when a home is busiest and hardest to stage. Mealtimes reveal staffing levels, dignity and whether people actually get the help they need to eat.

Afterwards, cross-check

Compare what you were told against the home's CQC inspection report and its rating history on InspectedCare. If the sales pitch and the inspection do not match, believe the inspection. And if a place simply felt wrong, take that seriously: a gut feeling on a visit is often picking up something real.

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This guide is general information from InspectedCare, an independent site. It is not advice. For the official record of any service, see cqc.org.uk.