What is a Residential and Nursing Care Home?

There are many terms and definitions used for types of social care, including ‘care home, ‘residential home’ and ‘nursing home’. Generally speaking, ‘Care Home’ is the umbrella term and refers to residences which may provide accommodation along with personal or nursing care.

There can be many types of care home, but the main two are known as Residential care home and Nursing care home.

A care home providing residential care (formerly known as a Residential home) will provide personal care for the resident throughout the day and night.  This can involve help with washing and dressing, provision of meals and help with eating, and helping a resident get to the toilet.  Residential care homes are ideal for a person who needs some support but who has a level of independence and a certain ability to tend to their own needs.

A care home providing nursing care (formerly known as a Nursing home) goes one step further with the degree of care provided.  It will provide accommodation and personal care but also provides qualified nursing – in fact by law, nursing homes have to have a qualified nurse on duty 24 hours a day.  Nursing care homes tend to be more expensive due to the additional cost of nursing care.

A Residential and Nursing care home (usually those for elderly residents) have beds registered as residential care and other beds registered as nursing care.  This is ideal for those who enter a care home with their spouse but need different levels of care.  Equally, many choose these homes to avoid having to change homes if their needs change from residential to nursing.

Care homes can be run by private companies (individuals or larger groups), charities or local authorities.  Whoever owns them, all care homes should be registered and monitored by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Mark Sadler