New social care comparison service launched

Choosing Care

The Government has launched a new service which aims to provide a comprehensive source of information on care services. The site, a part of the NHS Choices service, allows the comparison of residential care homes as well as other care services. It brings together information from a variety of sources including:

• official information from the Care Quality Commission inspection reports on care services
• information from care providers on the specialist services and facilities they offer, with details of staff and other useful information such as sample menus, photos of rooms and gardens
• comments from the public, service users, residents and their families on their own experiences of the care provider, including links to other comment sites
• from next month, the ability for the public to give services star ratings
• official Ofsted-style rating for care services, when they are introduced

Currently there is information on over 8000 providers with more being added.

The site also features information about choosing care services, explanations of different care options and on getting help with the costs of care.