What’s it like to live in a care home?

Between January 2016 and April 20172 the Healthwatch network visited 197 care homes. These homes collectively provide care for almost 3,500
residents ranging from elderly people with dementia to those with severe learning disabilities.

During these visits local Healthwatch spoke with residents, their families and staff, compiling people’s experiences with their own observations to produce 140 reports. These have all been shared with the providers, the public, CQC and Healthwatch England.

With more than 16,273 care homes and nursing homes operating across the country 24/7, our work can only provide a snapshot of what it’s like to live in residential care.

However, it does provide a unique picture of how feedback from residents and families is generally being used by staff, managers and those running large groups of homes.

We want this evidence review to help raise standards by promoting good practice and showing how acting on feedback can help homes provide consistently good care.

Why do Healthwatch visit care homes?

Local Healthwatch have a legal power to carry out ‘Enter and View’ visits to health and social care providers, so they can see these services in action and advise those in charge about how to improve.

Local Healthwatch use this power in different ways. For example, they may visit a provider where people have told them about concerns, or visit all the providers in one area to find out about how those services are working overall. With the consent of a care home, a visit gives local Healthwatch an important additional opportunity to talk directly to families, carers, and staff about their experiences.

Healthwatch is not a regulator and has a different primary focus from the CQC. We do not usually look at the quality or safety of care, we concentrate on the experiences of people using services. Our findings are therefore designed to complement those of the CQC.

From the public’s perspective, reports by local Healthwatch provide a useful tool when choosing a home, providing more information about what day-to-day life is like. This is part of the broader role local Healthwatch have in informing their communities about local services and helping direct them to the right places.

Listening to what local Healthwatch have to say and responding publicly is therefore a great way for homes to show that they put residents at the centre, that they’re open to feedback and that they’re focused on providing the best possible care.