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Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Equity Method Investments (Details) - AIC	Dec. 31, 2015
Equity method investments
Equity Method Investment, Ownership Percentage	14.30%
The entity owns less than this percentage of an equity method investment	20.00%

X

- Definition

The entity owns less than this percentage of an equity method investment.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	snh_EquityMethodInvestmentOwnershipPercentageHeld
Namespace Prefix:	snh_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

X

- Definition

The percentage of ownership of common stock or equity participation in the investee accounted for under the equity method of accounting.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 323
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6382943&loc=d3e33918-111571

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_EquityMethodInvestmentOwnershipPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

X

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ScheduleOfEquityMethodInvestmentsLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_ScheduleOfEquityMethodInvestmentEquityMethodInvesteeNameAxis=snh_AffiliatesInsuranceCompanyMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: