About Bestcarehome.co.uk
- What is bestcarehome.co.uk?
- How is the Quality Index calculated?
- Doesn’t CSCI provide this information?
- How do I choose a care home?
- How do I use the watch list?
- How do I request printed brochures?
- I have concerns about a care home.
- Contact BestCareHome.co.uk.
Information for providers
- Why use BestCareHome.co.uk
- Is this service Free?
- How do I edit our house profile?
- How do I use care home updates?
- How do we use Request Brochures?
- How do we use Request Callback?
- How do we improve our Quality Rating?
- We have concerns about our Quality Rating?
What is bestcarehome.co.uk?
Bestcarehome.co.uk is a UK based website to help you find the right care home for you, your family member or client.
Our database includes extracts from government inspection reports as well as information supplied by care homes, offering more detail than any other directory of care homes.
We provide a powerful search engine to narrow your search, with results ranked by our unique Quality Index. Unlike most other care homes sites, we do not push houses up the ranking just because they pay.
The site also provides tools to help you request more information about a residential care home and can notify you by email when new inspection reports are published on the care homes you care about.
How is the Quality Index calculated?
We have analysed every available inspection report for the last three years, along with information from care home providers.
Our scoring system rewards homes that have high marks from the regulator in their most recent report, but have also shown good performance over several years. We also reward care homes for being involved in quality improvement schemes such as Investors in People. Although some care homes may pay for enhanced features, such as videos or extra pictures on their profile, the Quality Index rating is based entirely objective criteria rather than payment to the site.
A score of 100% does not mean a care home is perfect, it does mean that on the criteria we use that it has done better than a house scoring, for example 75%. The scores are recalculated each week so houses might move up or down as new information becomes available.
Although we make every effort to ensure accuracy, it is possible that errors are made. Use this website as a guide, but read original inspection reports and visit the home before your final decision.
Doesn’t CQC provide this information?
Bestcarehome.co.uk has many benefits over the website provided by the regulator, including:
- Faster and more flexible search engine
- More detailed information about each care home
- Ranking based on our unique Quality Index
- Side by side comparison of houses to help you shortlist
- Ability to monitor care homes over time, by email notification when new inspection reports are published
- Other tools such as Request Brochure and Request Callback
How do I choose a care home?
Finding the best care home for you depends on many factors, such as location, price and facilities. Most important of all is whether the care home provides a safe and nurturing environment.
- Draw up a list of ‘must have’ requirements. For example care needs, maximum price and region of the country.
- Draw up a second list of desirable or preferred characteristics, such as whether it should be in a rural setting, maximum size of house and so on.
- Use the search page on bestcarehome.co.uk. Using the care needs, location and more options links to set your ‘must have’ criteria.
- Click on houses to take a closer look. Add to the compare list to see how they measure up against each other.
- Spend time requesting brochures and visiting your preferred short listed houses.
- For your chosen house (or several if you want to take your time over the decision) add to watch list so you will be informed about new inspection reports.
How do I use the watch list?
The watch list allows you to keep a list of houses you are interested in, making it easy to monitor their progress. You can also be sent emails notifying you when new inspection reports are published on these services.
To use the watch list, you must register on the site. Click ‘sign in / join us’ on the main menu, - it only takes a couple of minutes and opens the door to the other free features described in the following sections.
When you have logged in, find the house you are interested and click the ‘watch this house’ link. If you then go to the ‘watch list’ on the main menu you can see the house. When you log back in on another occassion, this care home will still be on your list.
How do I request printed brochures?
You need to register on the site and log in. If you have not yet done this, click ‘sign in / join us’ on the main menu. When you register, make sure you tick the Request Brochures option in your settings.
When you have logged in, find the house you are interested and click the ‘Request Brochure’ link. This is only shown if the house has opted in to the request brochures scheme.
I have concerns about a care home; what do I do?
If you or your relative is resident in a care home and you have concerns about the service:
- Ask the home for their feedback / complaints procedure. Usually this will suggest you write to the manager and to the ‘head office’ if you are not satisfied with the response.
- If you have a Care Manager (Social Worker) talk to them immediately.
- If the issue is serious, you should consider contacting CQC immediately or contact social services via your local authority.
Why use BestCareHome.co.uk
To increase the visibility and occupancy of your house:
- Benefit from the heavy promotion and public relations work carried out by BestCareHome.co.uk
- Show off your house with photos, details of your facilities and even video
- Engage with stakeholders using the many tools on the site
Is this service free?
The following services are now and will remain FREE:
- Display of your house profile, including information about price, facilities and services that you add to our database.
- Display of one photo
- Allowing site visitors to click through to your website
- Listing of all 19,000 English care homes registered with CQC
- Display of details extracted from inspection reports
The following services are currently free, but may be charged for in future:
- Display of up to 20 photos
- Display of up to 4 videos
- Request Brochure
- Request Callback
- Send Email
- Care Home Updates
At present you can use all of these features at no charge. You will be under no obligation to continue with these services if they become chargeable.
How do I edit our house profile?
BestCareHome.co.uk takes care to protect the information displayed about care homes, so we must �validate� that you are authorised to do this. This means that you must be or have the permission of the manager of the home.
- Firstly you need to register as a user on the site and log in. Click the sign in link (on the yellow post it note) and follow the instructions (make sure you identify yourself as a �provider�). You will be sent an email with a link to click, which validates that you actually own the email address you have entered.
- Login to the site, with your email address and password.
- Use the search tools to find your site and click the �Do you run this house� link on the profile. This will take you to a series of pages that allow you to request authorisation to edit this house.
- If you have the Access Code already, click yes and enter this into the box. If you don�t already have the access code, click no.
- If we have an email address on file, the site then offers to send the Access Code to this address. If we have a fax number, we offer to use this. If neither are available we will write to you at the home or call you on the phone.
- When you have the access code, revisit the site, go back to your house profile, click �do you run this house� again � but enter the Access Code when requested.
After you have entered the Access Code, your house will be listed on your Settings page � you can then edit the details of the house; upload photos and whether to participate in the Request Brochure and other features.
How do I use Care Home Updates?
The Care Home Updates system makes it easy you to communicate directly with your stakeholders. If you choose to use this tool, you can send an email update or newsletter to all the site users who have your house on their Watch list.
How do we use Request Brochure?
The Request Brochure scheme allows users of the site to click a link on your house profile to ask you to send them a printed brochure. On your house summary page, you can set an email address for requests to come through to.
When you receive a Request Brochure email, it includes the name and address to send the Brochure to. It is a condition of use of the site that you do not retain this address for future use.
How do we use Request Callback?
The Request Brochure scheme allows users of the site to click a link on your house profile to ask phone them back. On your house summary page, you can set an email address for requests to come through to.
When you receive a Request Callback email, it includes the name and phone number of the person to call. It is a condition of use of the site that you do not retain this number for future use, unless the person provides explicit permission for you to do so during the phone call.
How do we improve our Quality Index rating?
The main dataset underpinning the Quality Rating is the CSCI / CQC inspection reports over the last three years. We take account of the inspector�s judgement on each outcome area, whether there were statutory requirements and whether outstanding actions remain since the previous inspection.
To improve your Quality Index score, you need to improve your performance in the inspection system.
The Quality Index also rewards membership of Quality schemes (such as ISO900 / iip). At present this is a small contributor to the overall score and the actual �weighting� of different schemes will be refined in the next few months. If you are a member of such a scheme, make sure you update this on your profile so that you get credit in the ranking.
How do we improve our Quality Index rating?
The formula for the Quality Index is designed to treat all care homes equally and should result in fair treatment on the site.
It is possible that the formula may be occasionally miscalculated or based on incorrect data. For this reason, we allow providers to review the information we use to calculate the Quality Index. This is available from the care home summary page, if you register to edit a care home profile.
If you have concerns about your QI rating, you are urged to check the scores we have extracted from the inspection reports with the data in the original PDF. If you identify errors, you should bring this to our attention as soon as possible. We cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage to any care home for such an error so the sooner it is brought to out attention, the better.