It’s only natural that you have questions

Non-medical home care is a package of support for those who need a little extra help to remain safe and independent in their own home, regardless of any medical conditions which they may or may not live with. Examples of non-medical home care include support for vulnerable adults, companionship for the elderly, household help for families with children or relief for family carers.

All Somerset Care home care services are open to anyone who needs them, regardless of age or medical conditions.

Hospice home care is specialist care for those nearing the end of their life, and wishing to remain in their own home.

All of the care we provide is person-centred and tailored to your individual needs and wishes. We know that time spent with loved ones in familiar surroundings is precious, and our home care teams are dedicated to providing high-quality, reliable, consistent, and compassionate end-of-life care.

The cost of nursing home care will vary according to the level and type of nursing care an individual needs to meet any complex or long-term medical conditions in which they live with.

Nursing home costs will generally be calculated by combining a fixed accommodation fee, with the cost of providing your bespoke nursing care. Your individual financial circumstances and nursing care needs will determine who pays for your nursing care.

Pre-assessments are completed for all new residents and respite visitors by a member of our Senior Care Team. This is so that we can accurately determine your individual care needs and make sure we can safely support you at the Halcon Centre. This assessment is used to determine the care element of your weekly fees, which is combined with your accommodation cost to form your overall weekly fee.

We have a very clear fee structure for all of our care homes, which are based on accommodation costs and a dependency cost to provide a banding for a weekly fee.

Dependency costs are determined as a result of our assessment process, all of which can be shared with you and explained in full, upon request. 

Pre-assessments are completed for all new residents by a member of our Senior Care Team. This is so that we can accurately determine your individual care needs and make sure we can safely support you within our care home.

This assessment is used to determine the care element of your weekly fees, dependent upon your individual requirements.

Your support team will monitor your progress and wellbeing on a daily basis. If a significant change in your care needs is identified, a member of our Senior Care Team will re-assess you to ensure you are receiving the right level of support. We will consult with you and/or your representative about any subsequent changes to your tailored care plan, and any resulting fee increases or decreases. Re-assessments will occur whenever required to meet your changing needs, and any fee changes are separate to the annual fee review.

We always recommend that you make contact with your local Adult Social Care department in your local authority who will be able to organise a care needs and financial assessment, to determine if you are entitled to any support.

As a general rule, if you have over £23,250 in savings or assets, you are classed as self-funding.  If you have below this amount, you may be entitled to some support or fully funded care.

We recommend you contact the adult social care team regardless as there are a number of benefits that you may be entitled too, which can support you funding your care needs.

Your Local Authority (LA) can assess your financial status and advise if you are entitled to financial support to cover some or all of your care home costs. Please note that LA funding may need to be supplemented (either by yourself or a third party, as appropriate) to meet your full accommodation and care costs.

If you have been diagnosed with certain long-term complex health needs, you may qualify for NHS funding towards your care costs via the Continuing Healthcare (CHC) scheme. Your GP or other medical professional will be able to advise if you may be eligble. Our nursing homes are able to accept CHC funded clients.

The NHS pay a contribution to care homes that provide nursing care, called Funded Nursing Care (FNC). If applicable, the FNC contribution can cover part of your weekly care home fees. If FNC arrangements are not in place at the time of your admission, you will be charged the full weekly fee until this is in place. Once the backdated FNC has been received, the equivalent refund will be credited to your account.

• Fully-furnished accommodation
• Food and drink tailored to your dietary requirements
• Full use of all communal areas, including lounges, dining rooms and gardens
• Full use of the on-site recreational facilities
• Comprehensive activities programme arranged by our in-house team
• All utilities including central heating, electricity, lighting and hot water
• Bed linen and towels
• Laundry services, including ironing
• Team on site 24/7 to support as needed
• Grounds and buildings maintenance
• Daily and weekly cleaning services, alongside regular deep cleaning as and when required
• Insurance of the building and supplied furniture
• Internet access
• Concessionary TV License scheme (if applicable)

• Hairdressing (available in all homes)
• Toiletries (purchasable from the in-house shop)
• Clothing
• Newspapers/Magazines
• Dry cleaning
• Care and maintenance of pets
• Insurance for personal items
• Private transport to access services and attend
• appointments (e.g. hospital, dentist, optician)
• Private telephone lines

We would love for you to bring your own furniture and creature comforts, to make your new home feel as comfortable and familiar as possible. Our rooms are decorated to a high standard but our in-house maintenance team are also on hand to support with any reasonable requests that you have.

Yes, we can certainly connect your smart speaker to the free wifi in your care home so that you can use this in a way that suits you. This could be to control other smart devices, use it to check the time or the weather, or listen to music, for example.

Most smart speakers need to be connected to a personal device such as a mobile phone or tablet, as well as the home’s wifi network. Some may also require an online account to be set up to give you full access to all of the smart speaker’s functions. We are more than happy to arrange a visit from our Care Technologist, who will be able to help you set up and start using your smart speaker.

Yes, we support people living with dementia to enjoy technology of all sorts, from music to videos, and also to complete video calls. We also understand that what works for one person, may not work for another, so our care teams are on hand to provide you with as much or as little support as you need to stay connected, whether on your own device or using the computer and tablets already in the care home.

Yes, of course. Your care team will be able to support you to get the tablet set up, connected to our free wifi network, and help you to make and receive video calls. If you would like us to, we can also make a note in your care plan to check that your tablet is regularly charged up, and is near you whenever you are expecting a call.

Of course! All of our care homes have access to on-demand TV packages, so that you can keep up-to-speed with the programmes which matter to you. You can even bring your Smart TV with you if you like, and we will help you to get this set up in your room and connected to our wifi network.

If you are experiencing an issue with a particular device, such as a mobile phone or smart speaker, we have a three-stage technology support process to help you.

1. Care home support – the team in your care home will be able to carry out initial checks for you, for instance making sure that the device is successfully connected to wifi and the appropriate settings are in place.
2. Care Technologist support – if your care home team are unable to resolve the issue for you, then they will engage our dedicated Care Technologists to investigate the matter for you.
3. IT support – if for any reason our Care Technologists are unable to fix the problem, our centrally-located IT team will carry out further checks to determine the best solution.

If the problem with the device cannot be resolved, it may be necessary to replace it. If the item belongs to the care home, then we will replace it at no cost to you. If the item is your own personal property, for example your mobile phone, then the responsibility to replace it will fall to yourself or your loved ones. Whilst we cannot make specific recommendations on particular makes and models, we can support you with general advice on the purchasing of a new device, if you would like us to.

We all need a bit of technical support sometimes, whether it is troubleshooting a mobile phone, connecting to wifi, setting up a smart speaker, or getting to grips with on-demand TV. Our dedicated Care Technologists are on hand to support you with the set up and use of technology that supports your wellbeing, helps you to stay connected with loved ones, and makes you feel at home.

Residents in our care homes are welcome to connect their tablet or smartphone to our free, managed wifi network. Each device is limited to 5MB, which is more than fast enough to watch videos and make video calls, whilst still ensuring fair usage and making sure all of our residents can access the internet as and when they wish to.

Nothing. We believe that technology is a natural part of everyday life, and that when you move into a care home you should still have all the same creature comforts as you would in your own home. All of our care homes include free wifi as standard, which you will be able to access from all areas of the home, including communal areas and your own personal space.

Absolutely. All of our care homes have free wifi access throughout, covering not just indoor and outdoor communal areas, but also the private rooms of our residents. Once you have connected your tablet or smartphone to the free wifi network, you will be able to make video calls and access the internet from any area of the home.