Relocating from home into a residential care facility can be a difficult time, including for family members who want their loved one to feel safe, well cared for, and happy—while navigating the emotions involved in having a relative who isn’t able to look after themselves independently.
The first advice we’d share with any family is to stay as involved as you can.
Care transitions are often smoother when everybody actively participates, from adding important details to care planning to helping decorate and furnish their loved one’s new space and setting up a regular visiting schedule to ensure they know when and who will be coming to see them.
Care planning is an incredibly important aspect of managing the care of any resident and goes far beyond the basics of mobility and health requirements. It’s all about getting to know every person as an individual, recording their likes and dislikes and making note of any changes to ensure care continues to be personalised and flexible.
Understanding How Care Planning Works for Care and Nursing Centres
Many families are familiar with care plans but assume that they act as a list of instructions detailing the medications and therapies a person needs or setting out any conditions or diagnoses, including dementia, diabetes, a heart condition, or Alzheimer’s.
While this is correct, it’s important to clarify that a care plan is a record of every piece of information that dictates the way in which we offer support.
That might be around emotional assistance, respectful personal care, companionship and hobbies, ensuring we’ve organised anything from watching a favourite TV show, following a sports team, or enjoying a regular crafting session that adds value to a resident’s quality of life.
Care planning isn’t a one-time exercise or the same as an initial care assessment. It is an ongoing task where we’ll revisit care plans if anything changes, whether a resident decides they’ve recovered sufficiently from a joint replacement, for instance, and wants to manage mobility unaided or has discovered a new flavour or food they’d like to have included regularly within their meals.
Another essential and often overlooked element of care planning is that this isn’t a document our care professionals write autonomously—it’s something that everybody has a role to play in, including the care recipient and their loved ones.
Even when a new resident can’t vocalise their wishes, nobody will know them better than their closest loved ones. This is where we often rely on family members to share information we might otherwise not have known, ensuring we deliver high-standard care with a full picture of the individual’s personality, preferences and wishes.
Which Areas of Residential Care Centre Planning Can Families Assist With?
Care plans are designed to offer guaranteed consistency of care, which means they are readily available to all the staff, including qualified nurses, visiting therapists, care professionals and centre management—and there is never any likelihood that a routine, rota, schedule or preference will be forgotten or missed due to a change in staffing or during a busy community event.
Equally, families are welcome to access care plans where permissions are in place, and residents can be as involved in these plans as they want to be and can be.
A care plan is confidential in terms of protecting the person’s privacy, but it is also a collaborative, strategic plan that isn’t withheld from those with the right to be involved.
Why an Outstanding Care Centre Encourages Collaborative Care Planning
Any relevant details, wishes or information you can share could be slotted into the following aspects of a resident’s care plan:
- Personal care requirements, such as the help a resident wishes to receive with washing and bathroom visits, any assistance required with meals, and the types of foods, flavours and textures they prefer to eat—all of which loved ones can contribute to.
- Medication management is often updated through local GP practices or other healthcare providers, covering dosages and prescriptions. Families might, though, want to express a preference about how a medication is administered or advise that a resident feels better having their medication alongside a meal.
- Social and enrichment activities, hobbies, entertainment, and pastimes. As we’ve indicated, knowing what a resident most enjoys gives us a great way to tailor their care and make the right arrangements to ensure they have access to all their preferred entertainment.
Family contributions to care planning can be particularly vital when a cognitive condition is involved. The transition to a residential care centre, however well managed and welcoming the centre, might mean a resident needs time to adjust and settle in.
During this transitional stage, knowing about memory aids, consistent routines or ways family members communicate can be hugely beneficial, giving us the ability to provide better consistency and support the transition in a gentle, focused way.
Discussing Your Relative’s Care With Forest Healthcare’s Care and Nursing Homes
As an award-winning, private, and well-regarded network of professional, dedicated nursing and care centres, we pride ourselves on fostering settings that are inclusive, warm, friendly, and inviting.
We regularly welcome friends and family into all of our centres. If you intend to visit or wish to sit down with one of our centre managers before a loved one completes their move, please don’t hesitate to mention any concerns or discuss how ongoing care management works, because we are here to put your mind at ease.
These discussions matter because they mean residents and their families feel comfortable and confident making requests or opening discussions, from decorating and personalising a private suite to feel homely and familiar, attending care planning meetings where appropriate, and asking questions as and when they arise.
If you’d like to learn more about how our care planning processes work and how you can get involved, you can get in touch with your local Forest Healthcare team at any time or chat about care planning and our broader services during an in-person guided tour.