What Is The Difference Between A Care Home And A Nursing Home?
If you’re considering extra support for a loved one, understanding the difference between a care home and a nursing home is important. The different homes will provide various levels of care, so you need to know which one will provide the level of care your loved one requires. This will enable you to make the best choice for you and your loved one.
The first thing that needs to be understood is that the question of differentiating a care home from a nursing home is inaccurate. This is because the phrase “care home” is the umbrella term used to refer to all types of homes where loved ones live to receive extra support with their daily routines and medical needs.
The question actually being asked is “What is the difference between a nursing home and a residential home?” This is the question that we’ll be answering below.
What Is a Care Home?
Before delving into the difference between a nursing home and a residential home, let’s explore what a care home actually is.
A care home is somewhere where a person can receive personal care and accommodation together. They provide a place for someone to live when they are unable to live independently, providing assistance and care when the person requires it. A care home aims to empower and encourage individuals to remain as independent as possible, giving them the confidence to do so as they know they have the support should they need it.
Care homes assist with personal hygiene routines, helping with bathing and going to the toilet, as well as everyday health care, such as healthy eating and social activities. Every care home is able to deal with basic medication requirements. However, this is where the difference between residential care homes and nursing care homes becomes relevant.
What Is a Residential Care Home?
Residential homes offer a place to live that is staffed 24 hours a day. This means your loved one has constant supervision and assistance when they need it.
These homes provide personal care support, helping with bathing, going to the toilet, getting dressed and brushing hair.
Additionally, they will have a dining room and kitchen and other facilities to provide three meals a day to ensure a balanced diet and nutritious meals.
Finally, a residential home will arrange a programme of activities for residents to participate in, amending them to the physical capabilities of the residents.
Residential care homes can provide limited medical assistance, simply monitoring medication being taken.
These settings are appealing to those who have limited mobility and age-related physical decline, which makes it difficult for them to maintain a clean and safe environment at home or to feed and wash themselves.
What Is a Nursing Home?
For the most part, a nursing care home is the same as a residential care home. They are somewhere for a loved one to live, where they will receive support when they need it at every point in the day.
Nursing homes will provide nutritious meals and arrange activities for residents to engage in, promoting socialising and encouraging independence where possible.
The defining feature of a nursing home is that they have registered nurses on-site at all times. This means they deal with more complex medication needs and those living with physical or mental health issues.
Some nursing homes even specialise in specific types of care, such as dementia, Parkinson’s, stroke or neurodegenerative diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis.
Having a registered nurse on-site at all times means they can create care plans and monitor these, ensuring your loved one’s medical needs are constantly being updated when they should be. They are also able to perform medical tasks such as administering injections or IV medication or providing post-operation care.
Which Is Right for My Loved One?
Choosing the right type of care home comes down to the level of care they need.
Residential care homes are the right choice for your loved one if they are dealing with age-related health issues, such as reduced mobility or frailty. As they are unable to provide comprehensive medical care, residential homes are a good choice for those who don’t require complex medical attention but are unable to keep themselves safe and comfortable at home.
Meanwhile, a nursing home will be the right choice for your loved one if they are living with a specific health condition or require a high level of medical care. If your loved one currently has daily visits from medically trained nurses, you should look at nursing homes for them.
Premier Care at Primrose Lodge
Primrose Lodge Southbourne is a luxury residential home on the outskirts of Bournemouth on the South Coast.
We offer day-to-day support to our elderly residents who are unable to live independently at home due to becoming too frail or reduced mobility. This care can either be long-term care, where a resident moves in with us full-time, or respite care, where they join us for a period of time where their carers at home can have a break, and the care receiver can enjoy a change of scenery.
Primrose Lodge is passionate about providing an excellent quality of life and creating a lifestyle that all our residents can enjoy. With a range of activities and outstanding facilities that encourage residents to socialise and live the life they want, we keep everyone in our residential home engaged and happy.
Our rooms are furnished and spacious, allowing residents to personalise them and truly make them their own. Each of the 28 rooms has an en-suite, most of which are wet rooms, making it easy for residents to wash.
Discover our home and get a feel for it to gauge if it is right for your loved one with a visit. We love welcoming you to our home and showing you the activities our residents get up to and how each resident has personalised their room.
Book your visit today by calling us on 01202 429514 or complete our contact form. We look forward to meeting you.