How to choose a care home

A practical, step-by-step approach to choosing a care home in England: working out the care needed, shortlisting, visiting, checking fees, and trusting what you see.

Published 2026-06-16 · A general guide, not legal, medical or financial advice.

Choosing a care home is one of the harder decisions a family makes, and it often comes under time pressure, after a fall, a hospital stay or a crisis. A calm, structured approach makes it manageable and helps you avoid the most common and costly mistakes. Work through it in steps rather than trying to decide everything at once.

Step 1: work out the level of care needed

Start with a free needs assessment from the person's local council. It clarifies whether they need residential care, nursing care, or specialist support such as dementia care, and it is the basis for any council funding. Getting the level right matters: choosing a home that cannot meet growing needs often means a distressing second move later, so think about the likely future as well as the present.

Step 2: shortlist by area and rating

Use CQC ratings as a first filter, then read the reports behind them rather than stopping at the headline word. Consider location carefully. A home close to family and friends will get more visits, and regular visitors are one of the strongest protections against poor care, as well as being better for the resident's wellbeing.

Step 3: visit, more than once

Visit at different times of day, including a mealtime, and at least once unannounced if you can. Things to notice:

• How staff speak to residents, whether they use names, and whether call bells are answered promptly.
• Whether residents seem occupied and at ease, or simply parked in front of a television.
• Cleanliness and smell, and whether rooms can be personalised with a person's own things.
• How openly staff answer your questions: willingness to be open is itself a good sign.

Step 4: check fees and the contract

Before committing, get the fees in writing: what they cover, what costs extra, how and when they can rise, the notice periods, and what happens if the person's funds run low or they need to leave. Care home contracts are legally binding and some terms catch families out, so read our guide on contracts and fee red flags and take the contract away to consider rather than signing on the spot.

Step 5: trust your visits

Ratings and reports tell you how a home was performing at a point in time. Your own visits, and conversations with current residents and their families, tell you how it feels now. Where the two disagree, weight the recent first-hand evidence, and take independent advice on funding and contracts before you sign anything.

CareRadar helps with the research half of this: search by name or town, compare ratings, per-question scores and full rating histories, and find well-rated homes near you. The visits, and the final judgement, are the part only you can do.