Advice
Your rights, on one page.
Care in Wales runs under the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014. These are the parts that matter when a care home is being discussed.
Your rights in Wales
Seven rights, in order.
- An assessment of their needs. Your loved one is entitled to one, and it should cover the whole person: their wellbeing and their relationships as well as the help they need day to day. They, or you on their behalf, can ask for it. If it was done quickly at a bedside, it can be done again.
- Needs met, once assessed. Where the assessment finds eligible needs, the council has a duty to meet them, and the care offered has to meet those needs rather than fit a budget.
- A choice of home. When the council is helping to pay, it must arrange the home you prefer, provided the home suits their needs, has a room, and will contract with the council. If it costs more than the council’s usual rate, someone can pay the difference; that is covered on Funding. The choice is not limited to the council’s own list.
- More than one option. For that to be a real choice, the council should have more than one suitable home available at its usual rate. If it has only one, it should pay for the home you prefer itself.
- Time after hospital. An urgent discharge means they need somewhere safe now. The first place need not be the permanent one, and the full assessment can follow once they are settled.
- Their best interests, if they cannot decide. The decision then has to be made in their best interests: their past and present wishes, their relationships, and the effect a move would have on them. Ask for a best-interests meeting. You are part of it.
- Everything in writing. Ask for decisions, and the reasons for them, in writing. It helps everyone remember what was agreed.
Read them applied to the moment they matter most: when the home costs more than the council’s usual rate.