Rest homes, care homes, residential care - are they the same?
The short answer is, ‘sort of’ – but not quite.
Care homes and residential care refer to a type of service i.e., a home where care is provided for those who require it (an assessment determines eligibility). These are generic terms.
A rest home applies more specifically to a type/level of care within the care environment however, just to be confusing, it is also widely used by the public in a broad sense to refer to care homes and residential care. (Types/levels of care are: rest home, dementia, hospital, psychogeriatric.)
The differences can be understood by the following example: A car is a generic term for type of vehicle. A ‘hatch-back’ is specific type of car.
None of the above are terms for retirement villages although retirement villages may be able to offer these services in addition to their village services.
