Frequently Asked Questions

You are welcome to come in and have a look around at any time during the day, early evening or at weekends.

With management available 7 days a week and sometimes through to 8pm in the evenings, there will always be someone who can spend some time with you to go through life at Bay House.

If you require specific information or have something in particular you would like to discuss then it is advisable that you book an appointment with us.

You are also welcome to join us for lunch to get a feel of the home.

Whilst certain rooms command a premium, fees are largely dependent on the level of nursing and personal care that an individual requires, and this will be determined following an assessment.

Fees include the following: Accommodation – including all bills

• Nursing Care provided by Qualified Nurses (if required)
• Personal Care provided by Healthcare Assistants
• Medication Administration (if required)
• 24hr Housekeeping and full laundry service
• Meals, Beverages and Room Service
• Maintenance and Insurance
• Lifestyle & Social Activities

As a guide the above non-care costs are charged from £125 per day (or part thereof). Care costs will be determined by other factors also, such as risk of falls, high level of clinical input, challenging behaviour and special communications needs.

How fees are paid for depends on your own financial situation. If your assets which include money in the bank, other investments and any property are valued more that £23,250 you will be responsible for funding your own care. If you have less than this amount you may be eligible for financial support from the Local Authority with you paying a small contribution from your state pension.

If you are assessed and entitled to require nursing care, we will charge the local NHS directly for the Funded Nursing Care Contribution, so you will not need to pay this.

If you pay for your own care, we will require certain documents to evidence that you are able to fund your care entirely and taking into account annual inflationary uplift for a minimum of 2 years.

If you have property you may need to sell it to fund your long-term care although sometimes families, consider other options such as renting out the property or taking out a Care Annuity which will cover care costs for life.

One thing, relatives need to be mindful of is, if there has been a deprivation of assets by money or property being passed down in the past. Local Authority have the powers to check for this and will include this in any future assessment when an application for funding support has been made.

If you are paying for your care yourself then prior to admission, we would have asked you for proof that you were able to fund your care for at least 3 years. If your funds diminish to the point where you are not able to meet the fees charged, at this point the relative should apply for a full financial assessment and funding support from the local authority who will decide whether you are eligible for support and whether they are able to meet our fee rate to continue with the placement.

Apart from what we include in our fees the below is a list of any other services that are charged as an extra.

• Escorts for hospital appointments or trips out
• Hairdressing
• Chiropody
• Massage Therapy
• Physiotherapy
• Any other holistic therapies
• Newspapers & Magazines
• Special requests for food or beverages
• Any special equipment which is required to meet the care needs not previously known

Our skilled team can care for mostly anyone who requires personal and/or nursing care.

We can confidently look after those living with:

• Frailty and Immobility
• Dementia
• Organ Disease or Failure
• Cancer
• Enteral Feeding
• Incontinence
• Sensory Impairments
• Mental Health Disorders
• Learning Difficulties
• Physical Disabilities
• Brain Injury

It is important to note that we will only have an insight into whether we can meet a person’s needs once we have carried out a detailed assessment prior to admission.

Yes, we do.

Subject to availability, we can accommodate anyone requiring a period of short stay or respite after a hospital admission or perhaps to give a family carer a break.

We also provide a Day Care service that can be flexible to meet specific situations and needs.

We do not have set visiting times, but it is important to consider the following times as fairly busy times to avoid:

Mornings – between 8am-10am
Lunchtimes – between 1pm-2pm
Evenings – between 5pm-6pm
Night-time after 10pm

You are of course always welcome to join your resident relative for lunch or supper – just let us know in advance.

We offer a variety of ways you can keep in touch with your resident relative, and these are:

Phone calls.
We have a number of cordless handsets located around the home that allow your calls to be transferred. Alternatively, you can choose to have a direct line installed into your bedroom. Many families are also choosing to provide a mobile phone to a resident relative who is able to use it and keep it charged.

Video Calls
As the home has wi-fi throughout, we can facilitate receiving and making video calls. The resident can have a mobile tablet brought to their chair or bedside.

Emails & Post
You are welcome to send in emails, letters and cards and our staff will arrange for them to be printed/delivered/read to your resident relative.

Bay House has a fully structured management team consisting of department heads specifically for Housekeeping, Maintenance, Lifestyle, Catering & Hospitality, Care and Business Services; who all report to the Registered Home Manager.

The Registered Manager is a fully qualified nurse and is on duty over 5 days and sometimes into the evening up until 8pm

We have over 40 permanent staff at Bay House.

In order to ensure our home is fully staffed at all times, our company employs a full time Recruitment Manager who hand picks the best to join our Bay House family and work in our care homes. Through this we can proudly say that we do not use agency staff unless required in an emergency- and even this is rare.

We can positively say that we have more than adequate staff on duty at all times and only adjust the levels when there is a significant change in the numbers of residents.

Morning to evening we have on duty:

Clinical Team – Qualified Nurse and 1 Clinical Assistant
Care Team – 1 Lead Healthcare Assistants and 6 Healthcare Assistants
Hospitality Team – Head Chef, Sous Chef and Kitchen Assistant
Lifestyle Manager
Housekeeping Team – Head Housekeeper, Housekeeper and Laundry Assistant
Maintenance Manager
Business Services Manager

Overnight we have on duty:

Clinical Team – Qualified Nurse
Care Team – 1 Lead Carer and 2 Healthcare Assistants

How often a resident is checked on depends on their needs and on how much monitoring they require due to potential risks. In addition, it is important to recognise that some residents prefer not to be disturbed at certain times. Checks, where required are usually carried out at between 1 and 3 hour intervals.

If further monitoring is essential, then a re-assessment of needs may be required; and further charges should be discussed for extra care.

At the point of initial enquiry, we will ask some questions that will give us an idea if this is an appropriate home from the person concerned. If we feel it is not, we would inform you at that point. However, if we think that we can support your relative then we will invite you to meet us and have a further discussion. If our home is to be chosen, we would go ahead and arrange carry out a formal pre-admission assessment. This in-depth assessment would identify the individual’s specific needs. If through the assessment, we find that we are able to meet these needs we would then proceed with the placement knowing that we could provide the appropriate care.

How will I know if my relative is going to like it at Bay House?
As the relative responsible for choosing a home for the individual, there will be no one else who will know better whether or not they will be happy at Bay House. You will have the opportunity to ask many questions relating to any aspects on the running of the home prior to admission. Please feel free to put forward suggestions on how we could ensure that our new resident is content and feels at home.

We will always keep you and all those concerned updated on any changes to health of their resident relative. If there any significant changes or deterioration, we will have further conversations with the doctor and families to form a plan for further treatment or intervention if appropriate.

It is extremely rare that we would have to move the resident to another home as we are adept and equipped to manage most care needs with the appropriate resources made available to us.

If there are major changes that require more clinical or personal care input, there may be the need to review the fee currently charged.

Our residents can choose to keep their own GP if they are already registered in the area. Bay House holds a strong and trusting relationship with all GPs and their surgeries in Bexhill.

We also can request ad-hoc visits where required and where a telephone/video consultation would not be of benefit. To avoid an unnecessary emergency service call out we also have access to out of hours doctors who will visit if required.

Mealtimes are something of a passion for our team and quality of food and service is taken very seriously.

All meals are personally served by the chefs either in the dining areas or bed/chair side.

The Breakfast Bar is laid out with fresh juices, fruit, pastries and cereals every morning which residents can enjoy. Full cooked breakfasts are also available.

Lunch seems to be the main meal of the day for most and a daily menu card is presented to each resident to choose from.

During the evening a 5 Star Supper is served which has a selection of 5 different main course options which include hot meals, sandwich platters and soup/salad combos.

Ultimately, with such a flexible approach we can cater for mostly every palate, taste and cultural preference: it’s just a matter of finding out what your preferences are.

Yes, it is.

All mealtimes are flexible, and the resident can choose to enjoy their meal in the comfort of their own room at a time that suits them.

Residents are also welcome to invite family and friends and entertain them in our private space.

Our entire programme of social engagement and lifestyle activities is designed and delivered by our Lifestyle Manager. She plans her days based on the resident’s preferences organising social group activities for those who wish to take part or spending one to one time for those who prefer this.

Programmes include:

• Daily Exercise Class with Chair Yoga
• Crafts Sessions
• Cooking Clubs
• Gardening Projects
• Music Classes
• Bridge, Chess and other team games
• Themed Events & Entertainment
• Trips out – Pub Lunches, Bowling, Afternoon Teas, Garden Centres, Cinema & Theatre

Residents who are assessed to be safe when alone can request to access the garden at any time. There are always staff available to assist residents who wish to make use of the outdoor space.

In fine weather, the Lifestyle team arrange for lunches to be served on the patio and organise outdoor games and gardening activities for the residents.

Families and friends are more than welcome to make use of the garden spaces when visiting including the pergola which they can reserve for private parties and BBQs.

As long as we have assessed that it is safe to do so, you are able to take your resident relative out at any time that you and they choose.

Just let us know when you are planning an outing so that we can be sure that your relative is ready when you are. We will need to ensure that medication or special diets have been suitably arranged for and that any necessary transport has been booked.

You may wish to organise a staff member escort to go with you in which case you would need to request this in advance. A charge will be applicable for certain durations.

Please let us know when you are leaving the building and when you return. It is necessary to sign out and in for safety and legal reasons.

If you are using a wheelchair for your journey the safety belt and foot plates must be in place at all times.

An individual resident’s faith and spiritual beliefs as well any cultural preferences will always be respected by our team.

As long as it is deemed as safe and appropriate, we can:

• Accommodate most practices and support religious activities such as attendance at Church or other places of worship.
• Accommodate visits from religious group leaders and can provide private space to conduct any services.

We take pride in providing many extra services to our residents to meet their lifestyle and grooming preferences.

We are able to offer the following:

• Hairdressing
• Barbering
• Chiropody
• Therapeutic Massage
• Reflexology
• Audio and Visual Impairment Services
• Physiotherapy
• Hydrotherapy
• Foot Spas
• Manicures
• Facials
• IT and communications support
• Newspapers & Magazines
• Mailing and Posting
• Personal Shopping
• Holiday Planning
• Escorting Service – for family events and hospital visits
• Occupational Therapy support (if returning home)