This Key Facts page is designed to give you the information you, your family or other representatives need to make an informed choice before moving in to our care home.
Birchwood Heights is a purpose-built care home located in Swanley, Kent offering 77 individual, private en-suite rooms.
Care homes within the Oakland Care group accept both self-funded and some Local Authority funded residents and our homes provide residential care, memory care and nursing care together with respite care.
There is a key coded lift for residents and family members to use. All of our bedrooms are en-suite, with a wet room type shower. In addition, each room has its own telephone point, television, storage and are fully furnished, including a bed designed to support your needs.
In the event that your wellbeing changes, we are able to support you with specialist equipment to support your individual requirements.
The homes offer the facility of a fully equipped assisted bath on each floor with a built-in chair hoist. There is a fully accessible bistro for residents use in each home. The bistro may be used for both small family gatherings and activities. The accessible gardens offer a wide range of uses for residents who enjoy gardening as a pastime or outdoor space for relaxation. Birchwood Heights has a robust management structure and a 24-hour call system installed in all our residents’ rooms. In addition, we have personalised neck alarm pendants available for our residents’ safety.
All our employees are carefully trained to exceed legislative requirements. Our staffing levels are tailored to the needs of our residents and are reviewed regularly. We do not work to fixed ratios of staffing as this does not provide us with the flexibility to respond to the changing needs of our residents.
A dedicated Lifestyles Manager and their team organise internal and external activities for all residents to enjoy. We have regular outings available and often visit local places of interest.
The latest CQC report for Birchwood Heights will be displayed in the reception area of the home and also noted on our website. (www.oaklandcare.com).
Prior to moving into the care home, we require all new residents to provide evidence of sufficient liquid funds to cover all care home costs for a minimum period of two years. Unfortunately, we will not be able to accept any resident who is unable to satisfy this minimum funding criteria.
A four-week refundable deposit is required at move in. We hold the deposit as security against non-payment of fees and damage. We repay it, minus any deductions, within 28 days of the resident leaving the home or passing away.
Unless there are exceptional circumstances, direct debit forms must be completed on move in to cover ongoing fees.
Our fees currently start from:
- £1,400 per week for residential care
- £1,450 per week for memory care
- Respite care is charged per day or part thereof, depending on care needs – a two-week minimum stay is normally required.
Prices quoted above reflect the typical range of fees and are indicative only as care fees are subject to us undertaking an individual care needs assessment.
Our fees are routinely reviewed annually on 1 April. We will give you at least two month’s written notice of increases in fees. Your fee level may also change if your care needs materially change from your original assessment. We review care needs on an ongoing basis through our care assessment and planning processes. We will include you or your legal representative in the assessment process and if your care level has materially changed, we will advise you of the change in care level and fees in writing. Under extreme circumstances it may be necessary to review our fees more frequently than annually.
Weekly fees cover all of the following items and services:
- The costs of your 24-hour personal care
- Your accommodation in a fully furnished en-suite room
- Electricity (e.g. heat and light)
- Food (breakfast, lunch and dinner), snacks and drink (including wine subject to availability)
- Family meals with resident on
- Housekeeping and laundry undertaken on the premises (excluding dry cleaning)
- Labelling of all items of clothing
- Television licence, inclusive for personal use
- Wi-Fi connection
- UK telephone calls
- All in house entertainment and activities
- Use of the home’s recreational facilities
- Foot health care (once every 6-12 weeks as required)
- Hairdressing (weekly or as required)
- Social outings (local)
Many services will be referred by the GP, however, in the absence of free provision by the NHS, we may provide the following services but we shall charge for these services in addition to the weekly fees:
- Opticians costs
- Dentistry costs
- Physiotherapy costs
- Other privately arranged healthcare
In the event that your representatives or relatives are unable to provide you with an escort to hospital appointments, we will apply a charge of £15 per hour for each member of our staff needed to accompany you.
We will charge an additional fee for the following items or services:
- Dedicated personal care provided through 1:1 service
- Personal items such as clothing, magazines and toiletries
- Alcoholic beverages other than as specified under ‘Services to be Provided’
- Dry cleaning
- Private treatments, such as manicures, reflexology and physiotherapy
- Medication, equipment and prescription charges not covered in full by the NHS (for example, incontinence aids, bespoke chair)
- Specialist bespoke medical equipment not generally available in the home and/or medical equipment that is normally provided by the home on a shared use basis (for example a hoist) which at resident request is to be used solely by the named resident
- Special foods that are not normally purchased by the home for the residents
- Private parties for special occasions
- Theatre trips or other ticketed events
As part of the pre-admission process, we will require you to have valid Power of Attorney arrangements in place where appropriate to ensure someone is authorised to make decisions on your behalf should you lose capacity. A Guarantor may be requested in certain cases to agree to pay any fees payments in the event of a resident defaulting on the same.
If a resident’s financial circumstances change during the period of their stay with us, and their capital resources fall below the level at which they can request assistance with their fees from the Local Authority, we will then require the resident’s family or other representative to enter into a formal Third-Party Top-up agreement with the Local Authority, at that time, to cover any shortfall of fees that arises.
If a resident’s health deteriorates and they are then assessed as being eligible for NHS Funded Nursing Care payment (FNC), you should be aware that the FNC payment is made directly to the home by the NHS. NHS Funded Nursing Care is a contribution to the care home for providing Nursing Care from nurses employed at the home instead of using NHS community nurses to visit the home and provide nursing care. It is in addition to the residential weekly care fees paid by you and so would not reduce your weekly fees payable.
If a resident is granted Continuing Health Care (CHC) funding, the resident may voluntarily purchase additional services (which do not form part of the CHC funded healthcare services). Additional fees will be payable for any such additional services.
Please Note
This information sheet has been specially designed to assist you in making an informed choice as to which care home you might choose. It gives you all the initial key information required by the Competition & Markets Authority. A guide for Consumers summarising this is available to view and to download here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/ media/61b09fbde90e070448c520f0/CMA_care_homes_consumer_law_advice_—-.pdf
Date produced – September 2022
