Get information about the home:

You should be offered information about the services the home provides.

The official document explaining this is called the statement of purpose.

The version for people who use the service - which should be easy to understand - is called the service user guide.

Make sure you are given a copy of both of these.

Ask to see:

• An example of a service user contract with the home, and a plan setting out their own particular needs, whether it's medication, special equipment or a special diet.
   
• The latest CSCI inspection report about the home.

Find out if residents have:

• Their personal possessions in their rooms, such as pictures, plants and furniture.
   
• Privacy, and a clean, hygienic and homely environment.
   
• A choice of what and when to eat every day. Are special diets catered for? And can they invite relatives and friends to come and have a meal with them? Can they prepare food or drink themselves if they get hungry or thirsty in the middle of the night?
• Their religious, ethnic and cultural needs taken care of.
   
• The flexibility to have visitors pop in to see them at any time.
   
• The choice of when to get up in the morning, and when to go to bed.
   
• A telephone in their own rooms to make private calls. If there is a shared telephone, is it in a place where they can talk without being overheard?
   
• The freedom to come and go as they please to the shops, to the pub or a club in the evening.
   
• A range of activities to take part in (if this is set out in the service user's guide).
   
• Confidence that there is a clear complaints procedure and that their complaints will be listened to, understood and acted upon.
   
• A happy and positive atmosphere to live in.