Very nice assisted living facility for elderly. Lots of outings, events. Office experience has been excellent. Quality care but could be improved with more/better training. Dining food is good and occasionally stands out. Can order off menu if daily/noghtly menu dishes are not desired. read more

My husband was brought from the hospital to get stronger with physical therapy. He had been able to stand and walk . Two weeks later he could neither walk nor stand. He also left with a large bed sore. I would never bring anyone to the Buckingham. The therapy is non-existent and he should never have had a bed sore. read more

My mother recently spent a month at the Buckingham's Plaza skilled nursing unit after a pelvic fracture. The experience on the whole was not good, but there were a few bright spots. The worst thing that happened was that my mom became severely dehydrated while under the Buckingham's primary physician and head nurse's care and had to be admitted to the hospital for a week. The Buckingham's physician evaluated her and concluded that she was having a stroke. However, after an exhaustive list of tests performed at the hospital, it was determined that she was dangerously dehydrated - totally preventable had she been monitored properly by the Buckingham! I will begin with the positives: 1) Very friendly and helpful lady working the front desk. 2) The PT facility and the therapists there were wonderful! 3) Food was pretty good. Now for the negatives: 1) The primary physician and head nurse were extremely difficult to get a hold of. After making several requests to speak to the doctor, I had to sit in the lobby for 45 minutes so that I could catch him once he was finished with a conversation. I had to chase after him. 2) The nursing staff were often impatient and rude - maybe they were overworked? 3) Communication between the staff and the patient's family members was very poor. 4) It took 48 hours for my mother's prescriptions to be called into her pharmacy after her release. Was supposed to be done the same day. read more

My father spent his last days here, and I am forever scarred by the experience. The day staff was outstanding. Night time was another story. My father had cancer and lost the ability to do many things for himself, but his mind was 100% in tact. At night, he was yelled at, ignored, or humiliated by one particular staff person when he needed help going to the bathroom. At first, she yelled at him to get up himself (he couldn't), then ignored (soiled himself), she would occasionally help him to the bathroom and either left him for HOURS (he couldn't walk) or stared at him to humiliate him. Finally, he asked them just to leave him in a diaper at night. It was humiliating and infuriating. He cried to me. He had been trying to handle himself by talking to her, and finally let me know and I informed staff. I was encouraged to file a formal complaint and I was told they knew exactly who I was talking about. They self-reported to the state and I received calls from the head of the buckingham and the state. I was told this wouldn't happen again. My father died soon thereafter so I was not able to get full resolution. Our family spared no expense for his care and thought this was the best facility. It certainly looks 5-star by day and by the sales pitch. Today, I heard from someone whose loved one is currently there and they are having the exact same experience at night! I have encouraged them to file a report with both the facility and the state. To The Buckingham, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE put in precautions to protect our loved ones at night! read more

I have put off writing this review but I feel I need to so if a loved one is there you really need to be diligent to what is going on. I don't have any experience running a senior nursing facility or assisted living but they do not have enough help and the help they do have are not properly trained. While my mother was there she had diarrhea and after testing they discovered she had c. Difficile infection which is an infection that is contagious. It seems most people get it in hospitals or long term care facilities. When my mother had her diarrhea attack she was probably at The Buckingham for 7-10 days. She may have caught this at the hospital, which she had been at for 4 days. Nonetheless once they diagnosed her my mother was given antibiotics which eventually cured her but during this time she needed to go to the restroom often. My mother was at The Buckingham for rehab because she had fallen in her apartment and couldn't get around. She needed help getting to the bathroom. The people there wouldn't come when she needed to go and Patricia, the rehab person who my mom thought was wonderful, found her laying in her soiled bed. My mother was so frustrated with the people who worked there. By the way, my mothers room was right outside the nurses station where they all sat. The Buckingham also wrote on the outside of my mother's pants that she wore with some ink that couldn't be removed so when they washed clothes they would be returned to her. This ruined a favorite pair of her pants which they eventually mailed her a check for $50 . They also lost another pair of pants of hers and tried to give her a pair that was a different size and definitely not hers. They never paid or found this lost article of clothing. The care of my mother was 0-1 except for the rehab people whom my mother thought did a good job. I would definitely try to find a place that was better staffed and better trained unless you plan to be there all the time assisting with your parents needs which I couldn't do because I lived in a different town. read more

I have my 89 yr. old Mom at Buckingham for rehab after a fall that fractured her femur. She has COPD also. The Skilled Care facility is new and very nice, private room with shower. The food is outstanding, but the most important thing is the care provided. The staff is AMAZING! They are so kind and gentle with my Mom, the ratio of nurses to patients is very good, the therapists are top notch (especially Joe and Brooke)! We have only been here a few weeks, but I am so impressed with this facility. I feel that my Mom is getting the best care available and the team is committed to getting her able to come home again. I hope that no one needs to go to through this type of situation, but if it happens i would highly recommend The Buckingham, and if you are fortunate to be aided by Tara, Temi, Alice, Linda, Fascia or Tutu you will be in very capable hands. read more

I am writing after my mother's second stay at the plaza. The staff are all so caring there and everyone seems to know my mom. The therapy staff are very encouraging and really know how to motivate older people. The nurses are kind and I am happy to see that the same people are still around from the first time that mom was here. I was delightfully surprised to see the administrator at the station all the time and knowing all the patients names. The woman who was the head of all the nurses was also available and was there really late some nights too when we had questions. I hope mom doesn't get sick again but if she does I am bringing her back to the plaza. read more

If I could put zero I would but let me explain why. I'm sure the place is a very nice. It was a beautiful place as it showed online. As soon as my husband and I walked in we were impressed. We were very excited to finally find a nice place for assisted living from my mother in law. The residents that we saw actually seemed very happy to be there. We were given to the sales rep (which I want mention his name- this isn't personal) and talked with him briefly. He asked questions about my mother in law and the type of services she required. I told him we were referred through United Health and that we were looking for Assisted living due to my MiL's heart condition. I explained that she is only 66 and does not want to be in a nursing home environment. The salesman insisted that the ins co meant for her to be in skilled nursing home. I said no we only talked about Assisted living. He said that Assisted living was 100% private pay. We said okay. So he proceeded to show us around. He took us away from the beautiful residential area and took us to the "skilled nursing facility" (aka nursing home). It looked and smelled worse than a hospital/nursing home. Then he asked us if she had assets and we said no. The tour was then completed. He took us to the front door without showing us any amenities or the floor plans for the Assisted living. The tour ended at the front door with a hand shake and telling us to call the housing authority to get referrals. (Government Assisted housing... who said we needed that). So we left there without knowing how much the apartments were for private pay, without a brochure or anything. It's funny because this salesman has no idea who or what he turned away...he made an assumption but on our appearance and I'm not talking about our dress. He has no idea that there was no limit to what we were willing to pay privately. He didn't even give us the opportunity to sit down and discuss. It was a big waste of time. It appeared that he was only interested in getting pensions and assets from the elder. All along I thought these places cared about the elderly, but it seems they only really care about the money. read more

I am writing this review of "The Buckingham Senior Living" based on our initial experience with the "admissions coordinator" Lily. I believe 10% of Lily's rudeness came from their being a slight language barrier, perhaps due to English not being her first language. The rest of Lily's rudeness I believe came from her/Buckinham not wanting our business and greed, likely due to training she received from upper management. Not only was Lily rude and uncaring from the outset, but she was sincerely offended because she felt we were asking to many questions about the 'skilled nursing facility/short-term rehab" at Buckingham that we were considering placing a family member in. Lily was also offended at the type of questions we were asking. For example, when inquired about having a family member stay overnight to assist the person that we would potentially be placing there, Lily responded, that while it's allowed, that they strongly prefer family members to not spend the night b/c it may interfere with the person's care, and b/c they are still responsible for any injuries, and injuries are likely to occur when family members stay overnight. To me that screams, that the facility doesn't want any witnesses to any mistreatment that may occur of persons receiving services from Buckingham. Also, while Buckingham is an "in network provider" for my family member's insurance, Lily said that our insurance company doesn't like to cover anything/patient costs, and that she couldn't guarantee that there would be no out of pocket costs during the first 20 days. Even when I told her that said family member went to another skilled nursing facility in the recent past for another issue (without any problems), and that there were no out of pocket costs at that time during the first 20/21 days (as is always the case with 99% of skilled nursing facilities that accept any type of medicare), Lily insisted that our insurance company doesn't like to cover patient costs. To me that screams, that either Buckingham doesn't know how to code properly to receive proper payment, OR that Buckingham is trying to cheat its residents whenever possible. Lily also told me that that a committee makes the decision about which patients get admitted to Buckingham and that she is not part of that committee, but based on the questions I/we were asking that we likely wouldn't be a good fit, and that's why there are so many facilities around so we could pick and choose. How absurd, that by asking questions to ensure the well-being of our family member, she deems us NOT to be a good fit. I doubt that all the families of the elderly people at said facility simply threw their loved ones into Buckingham without asking any questions, so perhaps there is some other less than positive reason for Lily's non-sensical statements and behaviors towards us. Also, from the other online reviews, it seems that Buckingham has a practice of trying to cheat its residents. Seemingly the only plus about Buckingham is that the outside, and lobby/entrance are aesthetically pleasing, and perhaps the food may be good. read more

I saw the negative reviews of this facility from other people including some from this year and could not disagree more. This is a great place for rehab and nursing care. My mother was at this facility for the second time from July 1 to August 3 for rehab after a fall. The facility itself is clean and very comfortable. The rooms are large with the ability to spread out. I stayed with my mother the entire time she was there and they brought me a roll away bed to sleep on. The staff was very accomodating to my mother (as well as myself even though I wasn't a resident). I became friends with quite a few of the patients there by just walking around the building for exercise and they all were very happy from what they told me. The staff is friendly their appearance is neat and clean and the facility itself is very clean. The therapists were very gentle in working with her and helped her without hurting her. The nursing staff, the CNA's and the Medication Aides were knowledgeable, well trained and very nice and respectful of my mother and myself. The food is very good like a high class restaurant and they will even try to make something different if you ask them. I cand not say how much I appreciated the help my mother received during her last two stays at this facility. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a place to go and because I stayed the entire time with my mother I can honestly say this -- THIS PLACE IS AMAZING IN THEIR STAFFING AND THE WORK THAT THEY DO. I just want to say something to the families of the residents here -- Please visit your family member because even though they are in a hospital like setting it is not an acute hospital and therefore they may need some things from home that will make their room and experience more personal. You are allowed to bring anything - within reason - to decorate their rooms to make it more comfortable for them and the staff here does everything they can for all the residents but it is alway better to see a family member once in a while so make time for them because some of them do get lonely while they are there. read more

As lovely as this facility may seem, don't be fooled. Administrators are all about the money. The admissions counselor would not give the time of day for us to explain what type of care was needed or about the issues causing the need for care. She would only go back to her original question of "how will you pay?" This facility is listed on medicare.gov as accepting medicare, and we all know that after medicare pays its portion, the remainder will be paid at an 80/20 split. Admissions would not even discuss payments, or billing, or the like. During our short conversation, she would only repeat the same questions over and over - how will you pay?, how are you planning to pay?, what funds to you have available? Pretty sad for this 'not-for-profit' business. I do not recommend these money-hungry folks to take care of your loved ones. If money is all they care about, the chances of them giving necessary care, meds, foods, etc. are pretty low - because those things might actually cost them a dime. read more

If you have a loved one here, don't assume because everything looks lovely that the management actually cares. There are some very wonderful staff members, but when my mom needed hospice care the caregivers there had no idea (while we were waiting for hospice) how to treat her gently and they were very physically rough with her to the point that she was screaming and growling. You would think "the best place in Houston" would have a clue about end-of-life care. They act like they know everything but when it is suggested that they might want to learn more they are dismissive. I'm very insulted after years of explaining our needs but things did not improve in terms of care. They need to quit advertising like they are the best unless they decide to actually be the example rather than the norm. If it would not have killed my mom to move her, I would have moved her. Many many many many many times of telling them they needed to keep her call button by her because she could not go across the room to get it never seemed to work to the point of my own physical and mental distress. That is only one example of the simple things that a nursing home should take care of especially when you are paying the high price for "the best place in town". I'm insulted and sad. So although I know many people will go there just beware that operationally it's no better than the rest.... advocate for your loved one!!!!!!! read more