I need a care home urgently: what should I do?

Your parent might have had a fall, been admitted to hospital, or become too confused to be left alone. Perhaps the person who cared for them is ill, or home care is no longer a workable solution. However it happened, your parent can’t safely stay at home any longer, and you need a care home urgently.

You may never have wanted them to move into a home, and now you have to make that choice quickly. Finding a care home at short notice is often possible, but a free room isn’t enough on its own because the home has to be able to meet your parent’s assessed needs safely.

This guide takes you through each step.

Work out what type of care your parent needs

Before you start ringing round, decide what kind of care your parent needs. That way you can ask the right questions on each call and avoid wasting time on homes that can’t take them. Keep in mind that the first bed you’re offered might not be the right one.

Care homes offer four main types of care:

• Residential care: help from care workers with washing, dressing, meals, and medication.
• Nursing care: personal care plus a registered nurse on site day and night.
• Dementia care: staff trained to support people living with dementia, often in a secure unit.
• Respite care: a short-term stay in any of the above.

If your parent needs urgent dementia care or nursing, fewer homes will be able to accommodate them. If you’re not sure whether your parent needs nursing or residential care, ask their GP or ward staff for advice.

Search for suitable care homes with availability

You don’t need to wait for an assessment before you start looking. Instead of a general search for ‘care home near me’, use carehome.co.uk to search by town or postcode, filter by the type of care your parent needs, and compare each home’s services, facilities, and reviews from residents and families before you call.

When you’re finding a care home for a parent at short notice, it’s natural to hope the first home you call will say yes. Realistically, though, calling five or six suitable homes on the same day gives you a better chance of finding a space and gives you options to choose from.

Care home vacancies change daily, so a home with no room on Monday may have one by Thursday. Ask each manager to ring you if a room comes up.

Tell each care home the placement is urgent

Let care home managers know early in the call that you need an urgent care home placement and when your parent needs to move.

Have this information ready so managers can take your details straight away and get back to you sooner:

• Why care is needed now
• Medical conditions, current medication, and any nursing needs
• Mobility, including whether they need a hoist or two people to help them stand
• Memory problems or confusion, and how these show up day to day
• Help needed with washing, dressing, eating, or continence
• Dietary needs, including any special diet, food allergies, or swallowing difficulties
• How they communicate, including hearing, sight, or language needs
• How care will be paid for, if you know

The manager will then assess whether their staff can meet your parent’s needs safely. If they aren’t able to accommodate your parent, ask whether they know a nearby home that might suit.

Ask the council for an urgent care needs assessment

Your parent can get a free care needs assessment from their local authority, which assesses what help they need day to day and whether they qualify for support. In England, the council’s adult social care team carries it out; in Wales, the council’s social services; in Scotland, the council’s social work department; and in Northern Ireland, the local Health and Social Care (HSC) Trust.

You, your parent, or their GP can ask for one. When you phone the number on the council website, explain that the situation is urgent, ask for a care needs assessment and describe what’s happening in detail. ‘She’s fallen twice this week and can’t get up off the floor on her own’ will get a faster response than ‘she’s struggling’.

If your parent isn’t safe at home, call now rather than waiting for things to get worse. Councils can speed up an assessment for someone at risk, or put temporary support in place while they arrange it. The assessment is also the first step towards council help with care costs.

What if you can’t cope with caring anymore?

Call your council’s adult social care or social services team today, explain that you can’t keep caring safely, and ask for an urgent assessment of your parent’s needs and your own. Your parent’s GP can also ask for one if you can’t get through.

Many carers reach a point where looking after a parent at home is no longer safe for either of you. Your parent might need help through the night, or your own health might be suffering. You don’t need to feel like you have failed when you tell them this. It’s the information the council needs to hear to act quickly.

If you’re not sure who to call

• Call 999 for a medical emergency, such as a collapse, chest pain, breathing problems, a bad fall, a head injury, or signs of a stroke.
• Call NHS 111 (in England, Scotland, and Wales), or your GP out-of-hours service in Northern Ireland, if they’re unwell and you’re not sure what to do.
• Call the council’s adult social care or social services team, or its out-of-hours emergency duty team, if no one can safely care for your parent tonight. Tell them your parent is at risk of harm, as councils have a legal duty to look into this.

Carers UK’s helpline (0808 808 7777 weekdays 9am to 6pm) and its guide getting help in an emergency can help. Age UK runs a free advice line on 0800 678 1602, open 8 am to 7 pm every day. Age Scotland, Age Cymru, and Age NI offer advice in the other nations.

What happens if your parent is in hospital?

The hospital discharge team plans what support your parent needs after leaving hospital and works with social care to arrange it. If returning home isn’t safe, tell the ward and the discharge team in writing. Your parent shouldn’t be sent home without a safe plan.

You don’t have to find a permanent care home before discharge. In England, hospital discharge guidance sets out a ‘discharge to assess’ approach: people leave hospital with short-term support and long-term decisions follow once they’ve had time to recover.

In England and Wales, this short-term care (called intermediate care or reablement) is free for up to six weeks. If you live in Scotland, personal and nursing care is free for anyone assessed as needing it, although your parent would pay for accommodation in a care home. In Northern Ireland, the local HSC Trust provides free reablement, usually for up to six weeks.

Ask whether your parent has been screened for NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC), which the NHS fully funds in England and Wales when someone’s main needs are health-related. If your parent is offered a place in a care home after hospital discharge, check whether it’s temporary, so you can keep looking for the right long-term home.

Could respite care help if you need a care home urgently?

A short-term care home stay can provide safe care while you look for a permanent home or decide on long-term care. Many care homes take respite residents for a week or longer, and some keep rooms set aside for it.

Urgent respite care can step in if you or another family carer suddenly can’t provide care. It gives your parent time to recover after illness or a hospital stay, and gives you time to decide on longer-term care, with a chance to try a home before committing. Councils may fund carers’ breaks and respite care after an assessment. If your parent is living with dementia, look for homes offering respite dementia care, where staff can help them settle somewhere unfamiliar.

How quickly can someone move into a care home?

Some homes can admit someone within a few days when they have a suitable room and can complete their assessment quickly. Others may take a week or more, so don’t rely on a next-day move.

Your parent’s chances of moving into a care home quickly depend on:

• Whether a home has a suitable vacancy
• Your parent’s needs, and whether they need nursing care (nursing beds are often harder to find)
• How quickly the home and the council can complete their assessments
• Whether council or NHS funding needs approval first
• Whether your parent agrees to the move, or a decision has to be made in their best interests because they lack mental capacity

If your parent can’t make the decision themselves, the person named in a health and welfare lasting power of attorney (LPA) in England and Wales, or a welfare power of attorney in Scotland, can decide for them. Without one, the process can take longer as professionals make a best interests decision after speaking with the family. The law behind this is the Mental Capacity Act 2005 in England and Wales, the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000, and the Mental Capacity Act (Northern Ireland) 2016.

What if you can’t find a suitable care home with a vacancy?

Widen your search area, contact more homes that offer the right type of care, and ask about waiting lists. A temporary respite placement can bridge the gap, and the council or hospital discharge team can help if your parent’s needs are complex.

Hearing ‘no’ from every home on your list is hard, but it doesn’t mean you won’t find a place. Looking 10 or 15 miles further out can turn up homes with space, and your parent can move closer later. When you search carehome.co.uk again, take a second look at homes you passed over the first time.

When you’re exhausted, any free bed can feel like the answer. If the home can’t manage your parent’s needs, though, you may be searching again within weeks, and for someone living with dementia, every move brings fresh confusion and distress. A respite stay while you keep looking can be kinder than a permanent place that isn’t right.

If you need to find a care home urgently

1. Identify the type and level of care your parent needs.
2. Search for suitable homes in your preferred area.
3. Contact several homes and explain that the placement is urgent.
4. Ask what information they need to assess whether they can provide the right care.
5. If you need professional help, contact the council’s adult social care or social services team, or the hospital discharge team.

You can search for care homes on carehome.co.uk and contact the homes that fit.