As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly compare care homes near you.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 1 hour until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Write down the person's care needs, mobility or communication requirements, preferred location, funding position and non-negotiable preferences without including unnecessary medical details.
   2. Identify the UK nation where the home will be located, then open the relevant regulator's inspection or registration website and the NHS care-home guidance pages.
   3. Ask a chatbot using the prompt above, adding the town or postcode area and the information you gathered, and request a shortlist rather than a final decision.
   4. For every shortlisted home, open its official website and regulator record, then compare the home's stated services, inspection information, fees and contact details with the chatbot's table.
   5. Phone each home to confirm current availability, total fees, extra charges, staffing arrangements, care capability and how an assessment of needs would work.
   6. Arrange visits to the remaining homes and ask the chatbot's suggested questions, including what happens when needs change, how medicines and falls are managed, and how complaints are handled.
   7. Record the answers from the homes and visits, remove any home that cannot meet a non-negotiable need, and discuss funding or clinical concerns with the local authority, NHS team or an appropriate professional before deciding.

   Prompt

   I am comparing care homes for an older person in [town or postcode area], in [nation of the UK]. Their care needs are: [plain description]. Their important preferences are: [for example, distance, language, religious or cultural needs, pets, outdoor space, nursing care, dementia care, accessibility and room type]. Their likely funding position is: [self-funded, local-authority funded, mixed or not yet known].
   
   Help me create a shortlist, but do not pretend to know current facts. Use only information I provide or sources I ask you to check. Separate verified facts, provider claims, missing information and your inferences. Do not diagnose anyone or decide that a home is clinically suitable.
   
   For each home, compare:
   - the type of care offered and whether it appears to match the needs described
   - inspection or regulatory information, naming the relevant UK regulator for the nation involved
   - fees, what is included, possible extra charges and what I must confirm directly
   - current availability, clearly marked as unknown unless recently confirmed by the home
   - location and practical visiting considerations
   - staffing, activities, meals, visiting arrangements, complaints information and contract points where evidence is available
   - questions I should ask on a call and during a visit
   
   Give me a table with a confidence label for every important claim, then a short shortlist based on the stated priorities. Do not rank a home solely because it has better reviews. Flag anything that needs confirmation from the home, the council or a regulated professional. Tell me what documents and records I should check myself. Do not include personal medical details that are not needed for this comparison.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.