In order to get more information or a quote, you need to first decide what it is that you want. The dilemma that you may be facing, is whether you need just respite care or maybe its care that’s more regular.
Whatever you want it’s highly likely that we can provided it but you do need to give some thought to what you’re going to ask for, for example:
- I need support getting up in the morning and getting ready for the day
- I need a little help lunchtime and tea-time
- I need somebody to take me out shopping or a social visit
- I would like some support with my medication
- I need some assistance evening time when I go to bed
- I need somebody with me all of the time
First contact is often on the telephone (but you can also complete the online request) where we will talk to you about why you want care or support, what your needs are and how you would like us to help. We will also give you advice during the call and talk about your options, we’ll explain who we are, what we do as an agency, how we could help and what you would like to do next.
Should you wish, the next stage is to come and visit you with more information, possibly with family or others present and talk in a little more detail about what you want, our experiences and how we could help. You are under no obligation but often clients want to go ahead with care and we move on to the assessment but if you do not go ahead we are happy to leave you with information, so you can make a decision in your own time.
Should you wish to go ahead we visit you and start the assessment, which is essentially about:
- Talking to you about the care you need, possibly giving you advice on what might work
- Are there any risks, where we need to consider your safety and the safety of others
- Thinking about the most appropriate care staff to provide your care
- What other considerations are there, to produce your plan of care
We take this information back to the office, where we use it to generate an individualised person-centred care plan, which has been tailored just for you.
We run through the care plan with you to ensure that it includes and reflects everything you want done, including when you want it done and how you want it done and also the goals to be achieved. If you agree the Care Plan, we ask you to sign the Consent page to signify you are happy with the contents.
Once you’ve agreed the care plan, the manager then de-briefs the coordinator team, who considers further the most appropriate care staff. The Coordination team briefs the care staff, regarding your needs, so that when they turn up they will likely have considered your care. They will read the Care Plan when they arrive for each visit.
After identifying the start date of care our coordinators start to match the most appropriate care staff to your care, and all this information is entered into our comprehensive scheduling and care software package, thus ensuring that staff turn up on time, to look after you.
All of our staff receive ongoing training and supervision, where we speak with them about care and how we or they could improve the care they provide you with. We also visit client homes to conduct spot checks and competency audits (to ensure that we have a continuous method of monitoring and improving the quality of what we do).