Not an easy choice to make for any of us, but one that someday some of us will have to make. For families, it may be hard to accept that a loved one requires extra help and the best option would be to look at either a nursing or residential home. If you are faced with this decison, it may help to know what each of these options involves.

NURSING
Full 24 hour care with on site nurses and qualified staff to care for the client
who requires specialist care and full time assistance.

RESIDENTIAL
Full 24 hour assistance for the person who can still manage most things but just requires minimal assistance with little things and wants the feeling that somebody is always there.

Although there are always more underlying reasons to choose either one of these options, you should always look into exactly where and how to go about this.
In the UK, all homes now (whichever category) have to be registered with the National Care Standards, which has gone a long way since the early days of care and have improved the quality of life as we get older.

For a different way of looking at the options then the web sites www.care solutions.co.uk and www.careline.org.uk are very good and offer a wide range of advice and routes to take and offer ways to view care standard reports which is also an important factor when choosing.