How much do care homes in Dorset cost?

With lots of people retiring to the county every year, it’s not surprising that care homes in Dorset are extremely popular.

And when people find it hard to cope at home by themselves, as often as not they look for a care home nearby. It makes sense many of us are keen to keep our friends and established communities close by when deciding which care home to move to. For many people this extends to clubs, church and even their trusted hairdresser.

What are care home costs in Dorset?

But have you ever wondered how much it costs to move into a residential care home in Dorset? Or whether there’s even such a thing as an affordable care home? When you’re researching care homes, all the different options and choices can make it all feel a bit baffling.

We’re pleased to say that there are a lot of high quality, affordable care homes in Dorset.

At Agincare we’re proud of our nine Dorset care homes. Although each one has its own identity and character, all our care and nursing homes offer a safe and comfortable home-from-home at an affordable price, supported by a professional and compassionate care team.

There’s an Agincare care home in Dorset to suit you – whether you’re looking for a rural location or somewhere closer to the centre of Weymouth, say, or Christchurch.

What level of support do you need?

Which of our care homes in Dorset is right for you and how much it would cost depends on your care needs – how much support you need. ‘Support’ covers a variety of areas, such as eating and drinking, moving around, communicating with others, getting dressed and going to the bathroom.

As each person’s needs are different we can’t give you a price here for each of our care or nursing homes in Dorset. Instead, we’ll let our free online care home cost calculator do the maths.

Care home cost calculator

Our care home cost calculator is a really smart and easy-to-use tool that asks you 10 questions about your care needs (or those of the person you’re researching for).

Then, based on the information you give the calculator, it gives you an indicative figure, so you get a pretty good idea of how much your/your relative’s level of care would cost at one of our care homes. And on top of that, it emails you costs for your nearest Agincare care or nursing homes.

Paying for a care home

Once you’re clearer about the weekly care costs you’ll move on to thinking about funding your care. See our information on care home costs and funding for general guidance on local authority (council) financial assessments for care home costs.

It also explains about the savings threshold for care home fees (currently set at £23,259 in assets), and how these assets are taken into account when the council works out how much you may have to contribute. The page also describes what does not get taken into account in the local authority’s calculation.

What about a short-term respite stay in a care home?

Sometimes people come and stay in our Dorset care homes to give their regular carer a well-deserved break, or while they’re getting back on their feet after a hospital stay.

Council funding for these stays are calculated differently than for a permanent move to a care home, as they are planning to return to their home after their temporary stay.

Your council’s social services financial assessment team will be able to advise you on the cost to you for a short-term stay.

For more information about our Dorset care homes, please call us on 0808 256 6038.