Care Home or Nursing Home: How to Choose the Right Option

If you are searching online for a place that’s properly equipped to take care of an aged family member, you have likely come across both terms. Since the facilities themselves do not always define what separates a nursing home from a care home, the act of choosing may feel like guesswork. To provide you with better context, here’s all that you need to know about the differences between nursing homes and care homes in a nutshell.

Structure

The primary difference that separates the two is in how they are structured. A care home is just that, which is to say that it is a residential building (home) that has been modified to best suit the needs of its residents. They may vary in size and capability, but a care home should always be a home first. A nursing home, on the other hand, is structured as a senior healthcare facility which is fully prepared to house senior patients in need of constant, professional medical care and supervision. A nursing home may not exactly look like a residence for that reason.

Residents

Nursing homes usually, but not strictly, house residents who are either unable to live without 24/7 medical care, or elders who have been deemed to no longer be in any degree of acceptable control of their mental and/or physiological faculties. Residents of a care home are generally elders with symptoms of dementia who require moderate to severe professional care, supervision, and assistance to lead a better life.

Some care homes are better equipped to take care of residents with neurological illnesses such as vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s than others, so do your research first. If you are looking to place your beloved family member in a homely environment that’s properly equipped and staffed to care for seniors with dementia, check stpetersbury.com for more information on specialised care homes.

Expenses

As medical facilities with medical infrastructure and medical staff, you can expect nursing homes to charge significantly more than a care home will. Care homes are comparatively more affordable because they act more as a specially equipped home for their residents, rather than being a fully equipped and staffed medical facility. Some of the better care homes may also have an impressive medical setup for both daily care and emergencies. However, a good nursing home will almost certainly be better equipped to medically treat patients with life-threatening conditions and developments.

Is One Better than the Other?

Care homes are designed to be residential in structure and the staff are there to care for and help the residents, as and when they need it. Nursing homes are designed to house and treat senior patients with severe mental and physical conditions. So, the answer is no, one is not better than the other universally. It’s all about choosing the facility that best suits the resident’s specific requirements.

Care homes can be considered the better middling option if you are not entirely sure that the concerned senior really needs to be admitted into a nursing home. All good care homes are connected to fully fledged healthcare facilities as well, so rest assured that he/she will receive better medical care, if and when needed.